Disqualifications

[archiver]

Posted by Jason, Coach on team #252/254, Bay Bombers/Cheesy Poofs, from Broadway High and NASA Ames.

Posted on 2/28/99 10:44 PM MST


In Reply to: Judges playing it safe? posted by Ben Chui on 2/28/99 1:13 AM MST:



: I was pretty disappointed to see 192's robot DQ'd in the semifinal round. Here is my viewpoint of what happened: 192 (Gunn High "G-Force&quot was trapped behind the puck on the wrong side of the playing field. They were attempting to get on the puck for the triple points (being the only direction that they could go, anyways). One of the opponent robots was trying to get on the puck as well, apparently. G-Force was the only robot at the West Regional that used a lever arm... and thus they used it to block above the puck. The other robot had the _entire_ playing field behind them to back up as they attempted to elevate to 8ft in the last seconds. G-force was waving its arm over the puck with _zero_ ground velocity (it was cornered!). The opponent ran into the waving arm toppled over. Hmmm... very interesting call after that one. We (I am a T192 vet) came to the conclusion that a) the judges want to strictly regulate at the regionals, and/or b) the judges misunderstand the design of our robot (being the only robot with a robust arm amongst a crowd of elevators, we have a distinct advantage).

: I started FIRST in '97 with Toroid Terror, and I have seen many instances of seemingly "arbitrary" judging:
: in 97 our robot was _forklifted_ 2+ ft into a tangled mess in the tree (no judgement)
: in 98: NASA Team 122 vs PCHS Delphi... nothing if not beligerent behavior (no DQ) (can't say I wasn't pleased though... sorry)
: and now this. There were 2 DQ's in the semifinal rounds. G-Force's DQ contributed to their eventual loss. I'm wondering if the other one did as well. Sounds kinda lame to me if both finals competitors' came from beating DQ'd opponents
: Interesting to note: the west coast finalist alliances both sported identical robots... some robotic darwinism at work?

: I'd like to hear some opinions! especially from eyewitnesses...

: I am a Gunn Robotics Team veteran... now going to Berkeley and studying Mechanical Engineering. I am nothing if not a product of FIRST's objective... after the '97 competition I was sure. Never looked back! (except in longing to be back in high school... building awesome robots... yeah... Nothing comes close in college so far... whine whine... I still go back and cheer my team!!!)

: Thanks for reading my thoughts.


Ben,

Wanted to clear up one or two things from our match yesterday. It was a very close call and it was an unfortunate situation because no matter what they decided,
one team would have been undeserving of a loss in that match.

Since the puck was up against the controller station, I know it was hard for the audience to actually see what happened. Most of your points are valid, except for two.

First - Gunn was already completely on the Puck and was not trapped or trying to get on - they had complete control of the Puck and a triple.

Second - Our robot was not trying to get on the puck. We can't. Our robot is not designed for that - only pole grabbing (which your team was aware of since we had teamed together in the qualifying round and won with a huge score)
We had backed off the puck and were no longer pushing it.
We stopped, raised our floppies, and 20 seconds after we backed off the puck we were tipped. It was all done in the heat of battle I understand, I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of the circumstances that led to the DQ.

We have the utmost respect for your team. And don't forget, we are one of the teams who refused to sign the petition which was passed around objecting to
your robot in the middle of the qualifying rounds. And I still would refuse.

regardless, you guys are an incredible team, with great sportsmanship shown by
your students and coaches. I know you guys didn't agree with the decision, and were obviously disappointed. Yet after the finals some of your team members and a coach (all seperately and clearly on their own) came up to us, congratulated us, and shook my hand. Gunn not only designs and creates incredible robots each year, but more importantly is a team of class and respect.

If we don't have the opportunity to ally with Woodside again in the Nationals, there is no team we would rather be teamed with than Gunn. If we can't make the playoffs at Epcot (and the odds are we won't) than I hope you do - you guys deserve it.

Anyway, this will be my last posting regarding this. There are so many ways this competition is rewarding. Every team has so many things to be proud of and to look back on regardless of their seeding or finish.

Speaking of which, congratulations to you. my sister went to Cal and I know how hard it is to get into and what a great school it is. You should be proud - of getting into CAL and of being a "product of FIRST" as you put it. It's great that you still come back and show your support - that shows just how valuable and rewarding the competition is.

Hope to see you at future competitions,

Jason