Lessons learned 2005: The positive

[Koko Ed]

So what did FIRST do well this year?

[Beth Sweet]

I was very impressed this year at FIRST's ability to change things during the year when they discovered that there was an issue. I remember that they changed a rule when they found it to be a problem, and they also made it so that there was a shield over the drivers' heads at Championships (I was getting nervous at regionals).

FIRST also had very good communication this year, sending out all information in a timely matter. They responded well to plights voiced on these forums and at Kickoff provided everyone a place to go (here!) to share successes, frustrations, and overall FIRST gab.

I think FIRST did fantastic this year. Give yourselves a pat on the back y'all, job well done.

[Koko Ed]

Besides giving us a spectacular exciting game I was pleased with..
- The kitbot which helped so many teams out.
- I want to give a bigtime shout out to Andymark Inc. for their great motors. They were a huge help.
-I like the new location of the pits. Much better flow for the spectators.
- The afterparty was good. It's not FIRSTs fault that the weather was cold.
- I like the intergration of the Vex and Lego league competitions with the FRC.
- The Hall of Fame was much more visable this year.

[Allison K]

(The negative thread was getting much too long. We must overcome it)
Listed in no particular order.

- The kitbot really helped out a lot of teams, and enabled them to focus resources (time and money) on manipulation
- I liked how the battery wasn't included in the weight limit
- Both regionals I went to (Pittsburg and Detroit) I thought that the inspection process went quite well.
- The game in general.
- It seemed as if the behind the scenes stuff was more organized than last year. (Example, I didn't hear nearly as many teams this year that had missing kit parts)
- Didn't get firsthand experience with this, but it sounds as if Wednesday uncrating went well.

~Allison

[cbolin]

I had a great time at Atlanta. I really enjoyed the entire venue.
I liked...
- The 2 practices fields...could we have one practice field for each division next time? Lots of teams could have used more programming/tweaking time.
- Overhead protection for our drivers (great idea!)...we almost hit our own drivers with our own out of control bot at one of the regionals :-)
- Lego. Two years in FRC and this was my first time to see Lego competitions. Enjoyed meeting teams from Norway, Germany, Alaska (is that a US state?), etc.
- VEX was really cool! Students and adults enjoyed winning T-shirts, hats, and driving those little bots. I am ready to start some robot clubs with these little guys.
- Judging...really nice people..qualified to judge and interested in robotics
- Volunteers...very gracious and kind
- 320 FRC teams...all cool and different. My wife spoke to all of the teams about their stories, teams, she related several of them to me. Keep it up.
- Team buttons...we collected nearly 140 of them...gonna create a robot wall for my family...really neat.
- It wasn't too bad walking between pits and stadium. Last year it seemed to take a lot longer to walk around...am I remembering correctly?
- Patent and Trademark Office speech...good reminder that we should protect our intellectual property rights...Google speech made us speculate on cool ideas to make us that first 'million'..
- Woody's smile. Always gracious and friendly...kids really dig him.
- The end of Dean's speech :-) He was thought provoking in stating that the next great thing in 10 years probably hasn't been thought of yet...any of us have a chance.
- Team 342. Our students worked very hard from setting up our elaborate pit, competing, talking to judges, strategyzing with other teams...made me very proud to be part of this team.
- Team 342 mentors...you guys are so cool! You know how to mentor and encourage kids to get excited about all of this...without it seeming like such a chore.
- Our sponsors for providing $$$ for us to travel to 3 competitions this year.

Regards,
Chuck

[Kevin Sevcik]

I haven't come up with much that hasn't been mentioned, but:

- Fix-It-Window and the spare parts rules. Probably not perfect, but definitely a large step in the right direction towards levelling the playing field and making things make sense.

- Four CIMs and no drills. They're a little harder to use, but no more exploding Bosch trannies.

- Significantly less kit problems this year.

- Nifty IRI Breaker Panel. Definitely useful when diagnosing problems. Next year a serial interface to find out which breaker tripped and it's even better.

Can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure it'll come to me.

[AmyPrib]

Among many other things positive, I thought it was benficial that Aidan posted a "championship ref question" thread in moderated section. I think that should be done in the future as well, and hopefully more people will take advantage of it.
However, though I was told by one ref that all the fields would announce the answers to these questions, we didn't hear any rule announcements or clarifications on Newton. I'm not sure if they went over it in opening ceremonies either, or even fully answering them in the drivers meeting, but it would be helpful to let the audience know the resolutions to the controversial and highly discussed issues.

A few other things:
-The spectator walk in Atlanta was much better than last year, so hopefully the pits can remain in that building.
-The wrap-up party was good, too bad the weather wasn't great.
-Seeing Andy Baker and Paul Copioli duking it out in the jousting balloon, and Paul's feet in the air as he gets bounced out.
-Implementing the driver station barrier in Atlanta. I hope that FIRST will continue to listen to the team suggestions and concerns.
-Allowing Wed nite uncrate to help ease Thurs morning stress. If this is going to be done in future years, let teams know early in the season so they can make travel arrangements accordingly if necessary (though I'm not exactly sure when it came out this year).
-Music at competitions seemed to have more variety than previous years.

[Andy Baker]

There are soooo many good things that happened this year. Although this list is long, there are many more.

• Kit gearbox, 2 provided to each team (effort led by Paul Copioli & IFI)
• Kit frame, 1 provided in each kit (effort led by JVN & IFI)
• IFI Distribution panel - awesome addition
• More freedom of additional materials to design robots
• Defining what an approved "VENDOR" for a FIRST team was (aka the AndyMark issue)
• The addition of 5 excellent new regionals, with a new favorite regional of mine being the Boilermaker Regional
• The fact that FIRST Game Design Committe stuck to their guns on the penalties and made teams play more offense by limiting defensive strategies
• The addition of the driver station roof at the Championship was excellent.
• The fact that enough people volunteered to help run each event, for a game that demanded many volunteers (more referees needed, more field reset, etc.)
• A great game that did not include balls
• A vertical game that awarded teams who could design more than just a drivebase
• The electrical hardware system for the field is better than ever
• The robot inspection checksheet, process, and equipment are better than ever
• The new sponsor banners at the Championships were very good
• Lighting at the Championship event, especially for the opening ceremonies and the finals were very good, providing a much more professional appearance.
• The introduction of VEX Robotics to the FIRST community was good
• The pit layout in the Georgia Dome Convention Center was great, especially our pit location
• The increased attention for the Championship Conference Sessions
• The fact that 3 great teams of purely admireable people won the FRC Championships
• The fact that although many of us disagree on specifics of how FIRST should conduct events, design a game, and facilitate as much fairness between teams as possible, in the end we still greatly enjoy each other's passion for FIRST and provide genuine respect for each other

There are many more... too much for just one post.

Andy B.

[DarkJedi613]

- Much shorter walk to the pits from the stadium
- No food tickets!
- Cool FIRST store stuff
- Uncrating Wed. night
- I saw the FLL stuff this year, which is good (though I didn't get a chance to really look at it too closely - but hey thats my fault not theirs)
- Driver's Meeting Forum thing - it was a step in the right direction, I guess FIRST can't help it if people ask really specific questions that are very "what if" situations.
- Screens for each division in the pits seemed to be in better spots
- Practice fields were awesome! (Maybe we can use radios on them next year? )

[Doc Wu]

Let me preface this by saying this was only my second FIRST Championships, so I can't compare it to anything before Atlanta...

As always, I found the volunteers to be exceptional. They, in my experience, have always been pleasant and a pleasure to deal with. Every one seemed to be really enjoying being a part of the Championships and would help out however they could and if they couldn't, were genuinely sorry and seemed disappointed.

Some of the nicest people I've met at the competitions are the people doing the queuing for the matches. After you go through a few times they seem to be like old friends.

It was also nice to see some of the same volunteers we met a regionals again.

[Kyle]

There were lots of positive things
-Each division had a screen to watch matches, I loved it since I had to stay in the pits
-The pits were ginormus
-Every thing was so easy to find
-Food was much easier to get this year
- VEX and FLL were amazing
-The volunteers were awesome once again
I cant think of all the great things right now, but I struggle to think of many bad things.

[Emily Pease]

The negatives thread is getting pretty lengthy! Here are some positives to try to even it out a little:

- I was SO excited to see Larry Page! I am in love with all things Google and check the Google Labs website at least a few times a week.

- Dean Kamen had an interesting speech. My boyfriend is an International Studies major and after Mr. Kamen's speech, we had a great discussion about outsourcing and how, after time, it actually could make the world a better place. Very interesting.

- The afterparty was really fun, and I liked the food! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate!

- The volunteers were so helpful and friendly!

- I loved the Lego League kids, and I was so encouraged by the huge range of nations represented! I especially loved the outfits of the Japan team and the S. Korean team!

- The Vex setup was great, and I thought the miniature version of last year's game was way too cute for words. Is that weird?

- I was relieved to notice that there were relatively few noisemakers. At the Manchester regional, I was mostly headache-ridden due to the drums and horns and other loud noisemakers.

- There are plenty more good things from this event, but I can't think of them all!

[Billfred]

I loved how FIRST reacted this year to folks, especially when they had well-thought issues. Like the loading zones for human players--folks were having real issues doing the job safely, so FIRST decided not to be a slave to style and made that 36" triangle a 48" box. And we had far fewer penalties for it.

After the first week of regionals, IIRC, the refs were saying that trying to remember non-counting tetras (because of loading zones) was a pain in the butt. So that part was deleted, and the game didn't fly to pieces.

Then there was the rash of capping incidents--drivers, not goals. Refs sorted it out at the regionals, FIRST handled it for the Championship with those oh-so-fine guards. (Although I guess the bars themselves should've been secured a bit better--there was that one match on Curie where the bars came crashing down.)

Finally, that last group of team updates, where FIRST explained the rationale behind each revision. To whoever writes the team updates, THANK YOU!

And I, too, loved the new robot stuff. The kit gearboxes saved the world from another window motor drivetrain, the IFI breaker panel was nice and easy to mount (anyone else note that it had the same hole pattern as the RC?), and the four CIM motors is heavenly--and hopefully enough to inspire teams to take the plunge and try an omni or swerve setup.

[KTorak]

I do have to say there were some good things.
-Getting my FIRST segway ride...it was awesome.
-The Omni Hotel was pretty nice...I liked having a massive food court near by and being so close to the GWCC and Dome.
-The pits themselved were also layed out nicely...good amountwalking room and such.
-Having a practice field, but I didn't like not bieng able to use a radio...my team didn't have a really long tether so we were limited on what we could try to work out on the PF.

[katiyeh07]

I've been inspiered to try to get a FLL of Jr.FLL started in Enfield, we used to have a FLL team at the middle school, but it got dropped. After seeing the FLL competition, it made me want to get involved. So I'm hoping things will go through and work.