Rookie Team impressions from Kettering

[John Hooper]

We are back from the rookie competition at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, and I was asked to pass along my impressions of the competition.

As co-leader of the MiGHT Robotics team, I found the event to be wonderful. There were some nasty technical difficulties in the beginning, but the arena electronics problems were completely unprecedented in the history of FIRST, so live and learn.

I thought the event, the announcer, the referees, and the teams that came just to help out were really great and created a very positive impression for rookie teams.

If I were going to complain, it wouldn’t be about the event, it would be that certain aspects of the game were completely wrong for the teams and spectators. Games should not be decided by the referees after the game is over. I can’t think of any sport that consistently forces referees to decide the outcome of matches. Spectators want to be in the moment, and waiting to find out who “really” won after the match, based on penalties, is a big negative. Also, the penalties seemed overly harsh and capricious. In real sporting events, teams are penalized for doing things that give them an advantage. Accidentally “breaking the plane” of a line you have crossed conferred no advantage, and was penalized very harshly in a game where it is difficult to score. It would be like if the NFL had a one touchdown penalty for an offensive linemen stepping back with his right foot first instead of his left.

Imagine how the team (and particularly the individual driver) felt who lost his or her team and alliance the final match by “breaking the plane”. Why in the world is that a TEN POINT penalty!

So, I thought the event was great, but I think the rules of the game should be more balanced and reasonable, and referees should only very rarely be reversing the outcome of games. For the record, our team had very few penalties, so this isn’t just grumbling.

We had a great time and learned a tremendous amount, so thank you to all those who worked so hard to put on an invaluable event just for us rookies!

John Hooper
MiGHT Robotics