Walls on Practice Field

[Matt H.]

Having attended the Arizona regional and being most disappointed to find that the practice field had no walls what so ever I'm curious as to if all practice fields are without walls.
This lack of walls effectively prevented us from testing our hybrid mode as it relied on ultra sonic positioning off of both the inner and outer wall and made even testing a dead reckoning code hard because there was no designated starting wall.
I realize that regional planning committees have a great deal on their hands, but is a real practice field to much to ask for?

[Guy Davidson]

In effect, you're asking the comittee to provide an entire second field, compared to what is needed right now, which is an overpass (which many teams already have built) and some carpet.

I don't know enough to tell you if most regionals can afford another field and the volunteer time to set it up and tear it down. However, I do know that many regionals don't even have the space of a whole field is a a practice field, making this request less than feasible.

[Matt H.]

I agree that the logistics of having a second field are daunting. Why not then allow teams (on a strict sign up basis) to use the competition field for testing after the days matches? As the fields become more and more complicated it becomes more and more important for teams to have a complete field to work with.

[Guy Davidson]

I don't think the field is becoming more and more complicated - I'd argue it's far simpler than the monstrous rack last year, and also simpler than the triple play field.

As for that? I don't know. You'd have to ask the regional committee or GDC, I assume, to get a good answer.

[Boydean]

I don't think the field is becoming more and more complicated - I'd argue it's far simpler than the monstrous rack last year, and also simpler than the triple play field.

I have not competed in FRC before this year so please correct me if I'm wrong.

I would agree that in the physically the fievil) plus the facts that the other side is filled with three old is simpler, but programming wise the field is much harder to navigate. With the turns(the middle wall is ether robots, for all you know know one of them might not have a hybrid and are just sitting there waiting to be hit by a blind robot. With out the green lights the field supplies very little reference to were you are, other than the walls and use of gravity based sensors(but then again they did supply us with the IR).

On that note, I would agree that it can be difficult to set up a second field for practice.

[rachakate]

At FLR we hung white table clothes up for walls. We also taped off the finish line, and the starting locations. I never heard anyone specifically say that it helped a lot, but I did stop hearing complaints.

[XXShadowXX]

There were no walls at flint, which is the same stuff that will be used in detroit, west michigan, and (other michigan, i stink at spelling and won't try).
Our wall was me and 3 mentors .

[EricH]

At least last year, the practice fields did not come with walls. Barriers were usually created by tables, if at all. So I'd say that for practice fields, it's bring your own wall.

I'm not sure if the competition fields can be opened after practice matches. It should be possible, but I'm not the one to make the decision.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by XXShadowXX

Our wall was me and 3 mentors .

Ouch - I wouldn't want to stand in the way of your robot!

[Kims Robot]

Kate already mentioned we didnt have walls, but what we actually missed was having a full floorspace, as our robot can autonomously cross 3+ lines, and even once knocked both balls off the overpass, without a full field its hard to test a lot of this, without chopping code up.

My thought to the regional committees would be to talk to all your local teams, if you have the space in your venue, see what they can lend you. We had a full field set up for our preship event, and being made of PVC and metal piping, was transportable... Maybe teams and the planning committees could work closer together to get full setups available at the regionals... it would reduce cost and provide more value IMO.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

Kate already mentioned we didnt have walls, but what we actually missed was having a full floorspace, as our robot can autonomously cross 3+ lines, and even once knocked both balls off the overpass, without a full field its hard to test a lot of this, without chopping code up.

My thought to the regional committees would be to talk to all your local teams, if you have the space in your venue, see what they can lend you. We had a full field set up for our preship event, and being made of PVC and metal piping, was transportable... Maybe teams and the planning committees could work closer together to get full setups available at the regionals... it would reduce cost and provide more value IMO.

Many venues, BAE GSR for example, just does not have the space for a full practice field. BAE GSR only had an overpass and a small carpeted area (about equal to 1/4 of the field) with no proper walls. This made testing any auto-code almost impossible.

Allowing teams, on Thursday after the day's practice matches, onto the game field (scheduled 5 minute runs) might help, but that would have to be coordinated with all the regionals.

[rachakate]

Great idea Kim. I'll forward that along for next year. I think the venue still has the room for a full field in the corner. And for teams not looking to try both lanes, we could have had two teams on the field at once.