Vex Championship Tournaments - what would you like to have?

[KathieK]

Many Vex Championship Tournaments are in the planning stages right now. What would you like to have at such an event? What things are important to you?

[gblake]

Originally Posted by KathieK

Many Vex Championship Tournaments are in the planning stages right now. What would you like to have at such an event? What things are important to you?

Opportunities for the team members to socialize and swap ideas/stories. Tough to do in a 1-day whirlwind. Perhaps have a night-before scrimmage or practice or robot-beauty-contest or ....

Blake

[DanDon]

Originally Posted by 1885.Blake

Opportunities for the team members to socialize and swap ideas/stories. Tough to do in a 1-day whirlwind. Perhaps have a night-before scrimmage or practice or robot-beauty-contest or ....

Blake

Maybe you could have a mini team social, perhaps right after the award ceremony.

[Lil' Lavery]

One in Virginia...
Actual stands of some sort. I remember at Peachtree last year the crowd just stood behind some velvet rope, and it was very hard to see, especially if you weren't right near the arena.

[nonother]

This might be too tall an order, but if it was possible to mount a camera (perhaps directly above aimed down?) in a good position to capture all of the action and then distribute DVDs or tapes to the teams so they can review their game play and show it to others.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by nonother

This might be too tall an order, but if it was possible to mount a camera (perhaps directly above aimed down?) in a good position to capture all of the action and then distribute DVDs or tapes to the teams so they can review their game play and show it to others.

Indeed, some Vex version of SOAP would be awesome.

(Looking back, the center goal from Half-Pipe Hustle would've been an awesome place to tuck a camera in. CMUcam mount, anyone?)

Aside from video, I'd really like to see a little more coverage of the autonomous field (assuming there's one in this year's game). Last year, pretty much the autonomous matches only came up when it came time for the Connect award. As a ref who did all the autonomous matches at the Championship this year, I can definitely say that there can be some interesting runs.

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by nonother

This might be too tall an order, but if it was possible to mount a camera (perhaps directly above aimed down?) in a good position to capture all of the action and then distribute DVDs or tapes to the teams so they can review their game play and show it to others.

The camera has been discussed at great length and FIRST, The GDC, and our Affiliate Partners are all well aware of the need for improved lines of sight. While the DVD distribution won't likely happen, some field orientation considerations, crowd control, and possibile cameras should help things out. Of course each venue is different and first year affiliate partners will have their hands full just geting events off of the ground, but look for improvements in this area.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Aside from video, I'd really like to see a little more coverage of the autonomous field (assuming there's one in this year's game). Last year, pretty much the autonomous matches only came up when it came time for the Connect award. As a ref who did all the autonomous matches at the Championship this year, I can definitely say that there can be some interesting runs.

Agreed. The autonomous field dealt with 50% of your rankings, yet it got almost no coverage as far as webcasts and audience viewing was concerned. My opinion may be biased as FVC 18 was the only team (that we know of) to score 7 points in every single autonomous match they participated in.

[santosh]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

One in Virginia...
Actual stands of some sort. I remember at Peachtree last year the crowd just stood behind some velvet rope, and it was very hard to see, especially if you weren't right near the arena.

Yeah. Bleachers of some sort would help a ton. It was very difficult to see the matches if you were in the back of the room.

[petek]

Add my vote for better spectator viewing of the fields. How about standing-room only "bleachers" around each field? Like the raised platforms sometimes used by choruses.

[Madison]

I'm sure this is well beyond possibility, but it seems to me that it's a bad, bad idea to hold Vex tournaments in the middle of the FRC season. 488 would be much more interested in participating in Vex competition, as it seems a great way to introduce new students to the team, but with the Washington state competition happening in March, we don't have the resources to manage that effort.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

but with the Washington state competition happening in March, we don't have the resources to manage that effort.

Hmmm,

Can't you build and test your bot any time before March and then send a handful of students and one adult to a one-day competition in March?

Surely that takes no more resources in March than does attending an FVC competition any other time of year; and surely your team can spare the people for one day.... Is that one day really impossible to find (FRC build season is over)?

Come on! Make it happen!

Blake