Team Forum

[Andy Baker]

Nate covered most of the stuff we discussed. Here are my notes:

Over 80 people showed up as Bob Hammond (director of FIRST Robotics Competition), Hut Snow (Director of Engineering), and Lori Ragas (Team Coordinator) conducted the meeting. Bob did most of the talking. It was a very good meeting. This is the third year I've attended one of these meetings, and usually we don't cover all that is needed. But, we did at this meeting. What was discussed can be divided up into two parts:
Information told to us from FIRST
Stuff that the teams told FIRST


Here are the things FIRST told us:
1. There will be more "head to head" competition next year
2. 2002 competition dates will be out before Labor Day
3. Registration will be from 9/17 - 12/7
4. Kickoff will be 1/5/02, and will most likely be held at various locations
5. Ship date will be about the same (I'm guessing 2/19)
6. Regionals - new sites MAY be: Cleveland, Seattle, Toronto
7. Regionals will take place over 5 weekends (4 weekends in 2000 and 2001)
8. Nationals will probably take place later in April (date not set yet)
9. Yearbook page is critical (only 35% of teams completed it)
10. Most kit parts will be available on-line as CAD parts (MD Cybercad... it was avail. this year, but most teams didn't know it)
11. Manuals at Kickoff - 1 hard copy and 1 CD - possibly
12. No more special "lock/store/ship" deals for teams... everyone must use Drayage. A better deal with Yellow Freight will be made in 2002.
13. Chaperones must be at parties to monitor students
14. Teams need more diversity. The people/companies/organizations who are giving money to FIRST want teams to be more diverse (more women and minorities). Linking with professional organizations, celebrities may help
15. (not sure about this yet) Teams may not be able to register for Nationals without going to a Regional. Only 7 teams attended only Nationals last year.



Here are the things we discussed, as FIRST asked questions and wrote down our comments:
GAME
1. Make the game simpler or easier to understand (we pounded on this one), this included making it media friendly to compete with Battlebots.
2. Competition is needed (although they promised it, we pounded it also)
3. Field blueprints were terrible and need to be dramatically better
4. Difficult to deal with the Small Parts' gear/sprocket/belt/chain restrictions in 2001, since they were unrestricted in 2000. FIRST's comments: we want you to use SPI, as they are a great supporter of FIRST. Sure, their catolog list prices are high, but we get 50% off up to $1200 and the first $200 free. All of the parts and service offered at competitions are free. We said that it's fair, but it's costly for everyone. We also should be able to use SPI parts from past years.
5. Inspections on Thursday need to go faster. Veteran teams may be called on to do "peer inspections" and to help other teams more.
6. The pre-match negotiations in a very short amount of time was not good
...6a. Some people wanted no adult coaches
...6b. Some people wanted no student coaches
...6c. Give us more time to plan the match (all day is good)
...6d. 4 team alliances were too much... too dependent on other teams
...6e. Telling other teams that their robot was not as good as yours was a downright mean part of the game, but it had to take place

ORGANIZATIONAL
7. SharingFIRST and/or a discussion board may be incorporated into the FIRST website
8. Inter-team mentoring needs to increase.
9. Team leaders need a way to contact each other through FIRST by letting FIRST give out their email addresses (optional).

COMPETITION EVENTS
10. Regionals (and Nationals) - must have at least 7 qualifying matches
11. Regionals - let us bring food into the arenas (may be a moot point)
12. Regionals - more things to do at team party
13. Regionals - no more "tunnels" during awards... inappropriate behavior was taking place. We all took this very seriously.
14. Nationals - Size is getting to be a problem and Disney wants to cap attendance (words from FIRST)
Our comments:
...14a. Disney said they would "build it if we come" let's make them
...14b. Break up Nationals to two weekends
...14c. Limit the number to Regional winners and "first come, first served"
...14d. Break up National to two locations
.....west coast/east coast
.....Epcot/MGM etc.
...14e. Move away from Disney
...14f. Don't ever move away from Disney
...14g. More seating needed in indoor fields
...14h. Have the final matches during the awards
...14i. Don't drag out awards so much
...14j. Hold "performance events", like drag racing, tractor pull etc. off-line of the competition
...14k. Faxing hotel needs really was bad... many teams not accepted
...14l. Don't let teams bring soooo many people. Some teams bring cheerleaders, bands, etc. (local teams?)
...14m. Divisions were good
...14n. Division award ceremony was OK
...14o. Give us more time to pick teams for the finals
...14p. Teams should have to qualify for Nationals
...14q. All teams should be able to go to Nationals if they wish
(as you can see, there was alot of opposing opinions on this... FIRST has alot of work to do, dealing with the size of Nationals... expect some changes)


Regards,
Andy Baker

ps... keep in mind that these are my notes, and not my opinions, nor the opinions of the TechnoKats. Some of the points are blunt. If you want more explaination, I'm sure that Nate, myself or any others who attended can also elaborate.