[moderated] 469 Entanglement / Bad Refereeing on Galileo

[Sean Schuff]

Good Monday Afternoon All!

Now for Team 93's “mentor-not-on-the-field, like-to-look-at-the-big-picture, really-knows-what-FIRST-is-all-about” point of view...

First off, let me make it clear that I respectfully agree and disagree with many of the things said here. However, I will not be attacking anybody personally and would appreciate it if you would all do the same. I also feel you should all know that turning our team's misfortune into personal attacks against one another is not in the spirit of FIRST or gracious professionalism. (And don’t make me start in on the other CD post that refers to GP as mere lip service for the sake of winning awards – I couldn’t disagree more with that concept!) If you have a problem, fix it. If you would rather gripe about it and not propose any solutions you are merely becoming a part of the problem and not a part of the solution. Please don’t use the NEW Apple Corps’ misfortune as your own personal or team soapbox. We’re big boys and girls with broad shoulders and WE WILL RETURN!!

To quote the late, great Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers, the best defense is a good offense. This is the philosophy our team followed in designing our robot. We wanted to score points, oodles and oodles of points. If your robot is strictly defensive, points don’t come too easy. Las Guerillas (469) had a great offensive robot. Unfortunately for us their defensive maneuvers were a bit rough. Is that their fault? Most likely not. Perhaps the result of a rookie operator who, in the heat of battle, didn’t operate the claw as gingerly as she should have. Which brings us back to the whole concept of “intention”. No one can tell what is going on in another person’s head so we really can’t judge what someone’s intentions are or were. All we can do, and all the refs can do, is make a call based on what they see. Was it a viscous attack on our robot? Yes. Was it malicious in it’s intent? No. It was a defensive move that went bad quickly. And unfortunately for us we wound up on the short end. But, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug! The big picture – we had an awesome robot that did what we wanted it to do (most of the time) and we got beat by simple misfortune. Bummer.

I am disappointed in the way we were eliminated and feel there was some game play that was a little too “spirited”. Our robot survived two regional events and the national championships with only minor side panel damage from all three. We even had other robots reaching over our “laundry basket” and trying to block balls from dropping into it without inflicting the kind of damage Las Guerillas did in the elimination rounds on Galileo. We took some serious hits and sustained some major damage in our final match of the season. But that’s life and part of the game. Am I disappointed? Yea, a little bit. Am I bitter? I was for a while but I’m over it. Do I get it? You bet I do. It’s not about the end result – it’s about the process. And, most importantly, my students are wiser because of the experience. Great post Tyler! I’m proud of you!! The big picture – my students get what FIRST is all about and are better people because of the experience.

So, who is to blame? Las Guerillas? No! They played a heck of a game out there. I was always impressed by how their robot operated. Blame the refs? No. Pointing fingers at them is unfair. I agree that they should have been a bit more aggressive and, more importantly, consistent, in their play call on the field, however, they aren’t to blame. I did not personally observe any inconsistencies, however, both of my parents were volunteers on Galileo and witnessed these inconsistencies first-hand. Most inconsistency was from ref to ref and not a result of one ref playing favorites or not taking their duties seriously. Now, they may be a bit biased towards team 93, however, I can confidently tell you that my 70+-year-old parents (in their golden retirement years) get no benefit or satisfaction out of telling me about these things. They just told me what they saw and heard. And it bummed me out. FIRST needs to impress upon all refs the need for consistency. I like the idea of a video that illustrates what constitutes game play within the rules and outside the bounds of good sportsmanship. The big picture – the refs do their job out of generosity and dedication to the ideals of FIRST and do the best they can.

I’ve heard this before but it definitely bears repeating. FIRST needs to be less ambiguous with their rules. We ran into this same issue two years ago with the whole “getting-tangled-in-another-teams-tether” debacle. It cost us the title at IRI but wasn’t the fault of the refs – the rule was too “loose” to be interpreted effectively. Perhaps FIRST can leave the words “intention” and “intentional” out of their rules and just call it straight. If you damage a field component, whether intentional or not, you’re DQ’d. Be careful next time. If you use netting on your robot (as we did), be prepared for the consequences of entanglement whether it is intentional or not. We did not build our robot to be an entanglement hazard – we used the netting because it was light. I don’t want us all to begin building aluminum and Lexan plain-Jane boxes because we fear entanglement – that would be just plain boring! Just be prepared for the consequences. And be prepared for the calls of the ref! The big picture – the rules need to be crystal clear to all teams and all refs.

The bottom line is that the FIRST Robotics Competition, like the rest of the world and life itself, is not perfect. We want things to be black and white but it just isn’t that easy. Like I said before, I’m disappointed with the outcome of the matches in question but I’m over it and already looking forward to 2005! Great job Las Guerillas on getting to the national finals. You had a sweet robot! No hard feelings and best of luck next year.

As for this thread – my hope is that this is the last word and we can all move on to more constructive discussions on ChiefDelphi.

Can’t wait to see you all again in St. Louis, Chicago, and Atlanta!!