UTC Regional (NOT competition results) (Thoughts - Suggestions - Improvements)

[Brian(1)]

1) It was very awesome..
2) This years social was a lot better then last years
3) I would like to see a camera mounted somewhere on the field - like under the balls, or from the projector
4)I would have liked more of the screens displaying the scores in the stands.
Maybe turn the music down a bit.. it was hard to talk to people next to you if you were anywhere near the speakers

[Gabriel]

Traffic control was actually pretty impressive this year. I know that the Meadows people put a lot of pressure on the volunteers to make sure the aisles are clear and the volunteers than put that pressure on the teams to move quickly. The volunteers doing traffic control were occasionally nasty, but they were very effective, this was a lot better than in past years.

However, I think FIRST needs to get out of the Meadows, its a terrible site for the competition, the pits are cramped and having the playing field on a raised stage just doesn't work. I wish we could get the civic center of Gampel pavilion at UCONN but I think the NCAA gets preference over those sites. At least its better than the New Haven Colliseum where they won't let you move a table but the meadows is a lousy site.

[Gabriel]

Oh and the Meadows vendors were terrible! $2.00 for a Mountain Dew that expired in 2001!?

[Brian(1)]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

Oh and the Meadows vendors were terrible! $2.00 for a Mountain Dew that expired in 2001!?

Yea, I got a pepsi that expired in 2001.. but I didn't notice until I finished it, so I couldn't do much.. but I did check the other sodas I got after that..
I remember getting an expired one last year, so this wasn't a one time thing

[Mike Persico]

Originally Posted by Brian(1)

Yea, I got a pepsi that expired in 2001.. but I didn't notice until I finished it, so I couldn't do much.. but I did check the other sodas I got after that..
I remember getting an expired one last year, so this wasn't a one time thing

I didn't bother to check... but I'm not dying so I'll asume the sodas were fine... I hope...

[kid robusto]

with the congestion in the pits, they should do like what they did 4 yearsago, and just move some of the teams outside (under tents). anyone who was there should remember the flooding, but that was the rains fault,not the set up. pits half outside made a lot of room for people and robots to move around in

[cybrsabr]

Originally Posted by kid robusto

with the congestion in the pits, they should do like what they did 4 yearsago, and just move some of the teams outside (under tents). anyone who was there should remember the flooding, but that was the rains fault,not the set up. pits half outside made a lot of room for people and robots to move around in

I remember that, it was quite nice. Not only was there plenty of room to move around when walking through and looking at other robots, the pits weren't squished together. We had a little more room to spread out. I dont remember flooding exactly, more of just the ground was a little damp. You wouldnt want to throw your coat on the ground but it wasnt a problem for most of the equipment used in the pits.

Edit: and on another note i kinda thought the music wasnt loud enough.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

Oh and the Meadows vendors were terrible! $2.00 for a Mountain Dew that expired in 2001!?

In NJ we paid 4.50 for sodas that were very watered down with ice. Be glad that you got a good deal.

Originally Posted by cybrsabr

I remember that, it was quite nice. Not only was there plenty of room to move around when walking through and looking at other robots, the pits weren't squished together. We had a little more room to spread out. I dont remember flooding exactly, more of just the ground was a little damp. You wouldnt want to throw your coat on the ground but it wasnt a problem for most of the equipment used in the pits.

And all I have to say to you is, ARE YOU INSANE?? You were obviously not one of the teams that had to camp out in the flooded pits all weekend long like some of us had to. Some teams like 236 were relocated because of the water puddles in their pits. Water and robots do not go very well together in a FIRST environment.

That set-up totally sucked. Tell you what, if you want to have your pits outside next year, we can arrange for that. But as for my team, we are staying in the lobby. (even though it was pretty warm in there compared to the stands) But better than 2001 in the flooded pits.

I remember we had signs in the doorways that said "Welcome to Florida" when going into the lobby, and "Welcome to CT" going into the tents....

[cybrsabr]

we were positioned outside that year. maybe we didnt have a problem because we werent far from the door, only about 20 ft outside i would say. also are robot wasnt very tall so we kept it up on the cart, so no problems there. i didnt realize other teams had problems, oops.

[MrToast]

My suggestion:

The cue-ers were nazis! Why were they cueing robots 5 matches in advance? That means that at any given time, more than 52% of all the robots there were on stage! Ridiculous! IMHO, you don't need to cue more than 3 matches ahead....

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by MrToast

My suggestion:

The cue-ers were nazis! Why were they cueing robots 5 matches in advance? That means that at any given time, more than 52% of all the robots there were on stage! Ridiculous! IMHO, you don't need to cue more than 3 matches ahead....

actually, this was a good thing. No one was ever late for a match. Every match was on schedule. And even if you got nothing else out of this, you got an extra 10 minutes to strategize with allaince partners.

[MrToast]

Originally Posted by ToMMan b182

actually, this was a good thing. No one was ever late for a match. Every match was on schedule. And even if you got nothing else out of this, you got an extra 10 minutes to strategize with allaince partners.

Maybe that was a good thing for the drive team, but it means the pit crew loses 10 minutes to work on the robot....

[Heretic121]

you do have a point tom but Tom there was one time where we were in match 47 and 50... we need to change the battery, and reset the hook and tehter our arms back to starting position... SO... we had to run back and forth up and down the ramp to get 2 of our pit crew onto the stage to fix it... we also ran out the "interviews and guests only" door a few times because its convient to run out of to get to the pits rather the other way... LUCKILY... one of the 157 guys gave our pit crew member his badge which cause another problem!!! lol... the stage crew thought we had 5 members up (which we did but with one 157 badge) so we got yelled at for that too!!! UGH!!!

so then we had to find our 2 members of our team to give them back thier badges before match 49 ended to get on the field and find the 157 driver!!! so then i ran through the door again we aren't suppose to so i got yelled at for a good mintue plus and this was when they were starting to reset the field so i had to run back down and around the staging to get to the field and set up the robot, then was kind of yelled at to hurry up on the field =( oh well... i think there needs to be AT LEAST a 6 match diffrence between every match to at least give teams 1 match in the pits to reset and make the robot up and running for the next match... but thats scheduling so oh well =(

[Tom Schindler]

Originally Posted by MrToast

My suggestion:

The cue-ers were nazis! Why were they cueing robots 5 matches in advance? That means that at any given time, more than 52% of all the robots there were on stage! Ridiculous! IMHO, you don't need to cue more than 3 matches ahead....

In the meetings we had Wednesday night, and Thursday morning, we chose to have 4 matches in the queue, in addition to the current match that was playing. The design of the meadows, and the tricky ramps make it very risky to queue any less. If we only queued two or three matches, by the time your "second call" came around, you would already be on deck.

If you think hte cue-ers were nazis, i suppose you are entitled to your opinion, but remember they were just doing their job, and that they were volunteers. From what i saw of the direction of these folks, they were doing it with a friendly attitude and a smile.

Beyond that, i just wanted to say that the teams were incredible in being where they were supposed to be at the right time. You guys sure made my job, and the jobs of the queueing people a heck of a lot easier than it could have been.

As it has been said in a few other threads-- all the teams at UTC were awesome, very competitive, but also very gracious. You guys rule.

Tom Schindler

[K.Shaw]

hey life is life. you do what you are told and what you are told is usually for the better. Though it did become hectic it ran smoothly. the only big problem i saw was the conjestion in the pits with the spectators walking through and everyone else walking through the narrow paths