Robot Cool Down Period...?

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by Pavan

(PS. Did anyone notice that on the Bayou Regional statistics page it only lists 3 matches in the semifinals instead of 4?)

It is the same way for the Midwest regional (5 finals matches). It only lists decisive Elim matches, never ties. Probably has to do with how the scoring software is written.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

It is the same way for the Midwest regional (5 finals matches). It only lists decisive Elim matches, never ties. Probably has to do with how the scoring software is written.

Section 9.4.5 specifies that tied matches are replayed, so the tie score gets replaced with the new score.

[Protronie]

Just a suggestion from any outsider looking in. Why don't you pack a small fan with you and use the fan between matches to cool down your motors?

[redbarron]

1270 definitely could have used these cool down periods in the finals at Florida. We pulled it off but it was definitely hectic because when the match was over they were telling us to hurry up while we were walking to reset/ refresh batteries. I also see the point about battery charging. We have a box that charges 4 at a time and holds 10 and whenever we get to the finals we have all 10 charged and bring them all to the field to share among the alliance. This year we stored them in 86s full toolbox robot cart.

[Tom Line]

I would definitely like to a standardized time between matches for the eliminations round.

In one case in Detroit, we had to make a program change because our arm was loose on the set screws - but they started our next match too quickly - perhaps 4 minutes after our last one ended.

We ran that match in manual, and during the match our opponent damaged his arm. Then, in between, before we got to play our final match (we were tied one-one) they had everyone doing line dancing on the field.

Gracious Professionalism says I should probably keep my mouth shut - but I have to admit it was frustrating for them to get the time (though accidental) to fix their arm when we didn't have the time to fix ours in the previous matchup.

Standardize it at whatever time you like to make it fair - short or long. It just needs to be consistent.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

It is the same way for the Midwest regional (5 finals matches). It only lists decisive Elim matches, never ties. Probably has to do with how the scoring software is written.

There also wasn't much of a "cool-down period" between those matches. The number 1 seed alliance played 11 elimination matches. By the end, 648's motors could have been glowing red hot. I've never seen anything like it.

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

I just got home from watching the UTC elimination rounds today from Hartford. Being that I drove in the elim's at FLR, I think that the FLR elimination rounds were run much better. At UTC the time in between matches got to a point where it just seeemed like stalling. At FLR, the head referee actually had a stopwatch going for everything in the elimination rounds that needed to be timed such as these cool-down periods. FLR is a very by the book regional and though maybe they should lengthen the time between matches, they are doing EXACTLY what FIRST says to do.

[PandaMan]

Originally Posted by BRAVESaj25bd8

I just got home from watchi ng th UTC elimination rounds today from Hartford. Being that I drove in the elim's at FLR, I think that the FLR elimination rounds were run mice better. At UTC the time in between matches got to a point where it just seeemed like stalling. At FLR, the head referee actually had a stopwatch going for everything in the elimination rounds that needed to be timed such as these cool-down periods. FLR is a very by the book regional and though maybe they should lengthen the time between matches, they are doing EXACTLY what FIRST says to do.

The head referee at UTC also used a stop-watch to handle all of the time issues (timeouts and cool-down periods).

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

Even though the head referee may have had a stopwatch the entire time, are you sure that he was following the time contraint rules extremely meticulously? At FLR, we almost had to go out in the finals with only 2 robots on our alliance because of one robot barely making the time constraint.

I do think, however, that while the competition must keep moving, FIRST should sometimes be a little more leniant to the time constraint issues, especially in the finals.

[Bharat Nain]

I am glad the referee's at UTC followed the rule book and gave the robots a cool down period. Your motors can run powerfully for only so long before their performance degrades.

[Bcahn836]

The time between final matches are a bit hectic, always have a fresh battery or two standing by, if needed ask to borrow one from another team, you should have no problem getting one. Also i know team 836 a few years ago, back when we were using the dewalts had some spare fans rigged up with some spare parts just to cool down the motors every second we could. You could fry an egg on the dewalts after a good finals match.
By having so little time in between matches you really get to test the durability of your robot. Think of your robot as a stock car racer running and running and not a drag racer that has to be rebuilt and fixed after one time out.
But I haven't been around first in about a year i am sure some things have changed since my high school days.

[Steve Kaneb]

I don't know the exact system for timing that they had at SVR for the finals, but there were videos between some of the matches. The video between the first and second match was particularly helpful, as it allowed us to find the disconnect in the distribution block and fix it without calling a time out.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Luckily, we had enough time between the semis and finals to fix our drive. Our chain had fallen off and we were about to approach 111 about "lending" us their timeout... luckily we didn't need it.

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by Budda648

Luckily, we had enough time between the semis and finals to fix our drive. Our chain had fallen off and we were about to approach 111 about "lending" us their timeout... luckily we didn't need it.

You actually can't "lend" timeouts this year. The end of T20 shocked me when I first read it

Originally Posted by T20

...There are no cascading time-outs. An opposing ALLIANCE may not offer their unused TIME-OUT to their opponent.

With all the talk of GP and helping your opponents, why would they actually put that in the rules? I think it was probably to prevent 2 consecutive timeouts.

Of course, there is nothing stopping Wildstang from calling a timeout to touch up their tie-die paintjob provided it wasn't following another timeout.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by The Lucas

You actually can't "lend" timeouts this year. The end of T20 shocked me when I first read it



With all the talk of GP and helping your opponents, why would they actually put that in the rules? I think it was probably to prevent 2 consecutive timeouts.

Of course, there is nothing stopping Wildstang from calling a timeout to touch up their tie-die paintjob provided it wasn't following another timeout.

Wow... I didn't know that. It's all good though, they ended up needing it after the third finals match, I believe.