Rookie Team impressions from Kettering

[John Hooper]

Originally Posted by Dan Swando

Seperately, the inspectors mentioned that most teams were glad for the shutdown, because though it was boring for the spectators, the pit crews used this valuable time to greatly upgrade their robots, which resulted in a more exciting competition than what would've happened otherwise. Just a point that a waste of time for some was very valuable to others.

Our robot, and five others, were kept on the track for hours, so the long delay was both boring to the spectators and a disadvantage to our team and others.

The result of all of the penalties being called was more disciplined drivers. As the competition went on, the referees threw fewer and fewer penalties (The finals didn't have any penalties thrown). It's a learning curve that teams work through, and this group of very green teams performed spectacularly in handling the learning curve and other challanges the game presented.

As I saw it, the referees mercifully relaxed the "breaking the plane" rule quite a bit, which was clearly the right thing to do. We did instruct our drivers to never back up, even if a robot had them blocked in, unless they were absolutely certain they were nowhere near a line. This didn't improve the game, it just meant that people sat stuck at the ends of the track a lot, afraid to back up and go around.

I don't know why anyone wants to argue for a penalty that is obviously far too severe and damages the flow of the game.

I am giving feedback and making suggestions in an attempt to improve the competitions and further the stated goals of FIRST. I am a middle-aged software engineer who is donating a lot of time and money to participate in FIRST because I believe it is a good idea.

Robots can be greatly improved in a few hours, and competitions and competition rules can be improved over time as well -- but not if you spin negatives into positives and live in delusion.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by John Hooper

Our robot, and five others, were kept on the track for hours, so the long delay was both boring to the spectators and a disadvantage to our team and others.

As I saw it, the referees mercifully relaxed the "breaking the plane" rule quite a bit, which was clearly the right thing to do.

Two points here...

1. In retrospect, we should have cleared the field earlier and had those teams come back out when the work-around was put in place. We kept trying to fix it, and kept thinking that the next action was going to make things all better. I agree that this was unfair to the teams on the field. I am sorry that we did not clear the field earlier.

2. No, the referees did not relax G22 as the competition went on. We worked hard to be consistent through the entire event. Clearly, drivers got better. As the head referee, I spoke with many drivers as Saturday's matches proceeded, telling them that they were getting considerably better. The day ended with the final 2 matches being penalty-free, if I recall correctly.

From my perspective, this rookie event was great. This event prepared all of these teams to compete at a high level at their official FIRST events during the upcoming weeks.

Andy Baker

[Kimberly]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

We kept trying to fix it, and kept thinking that the next action was going to make things all better.

LOL I live with a techie and I've heard the "I've almost got it" so many times, I know to prepare not to see him for hours! Sometimes days.

Perhaps the solution here is to let wives write the official FIRST rule for how technical problems are to be handled during competition. My suggestion would be to set a 15 minute time limit for the technical gurus to fix the problem, then the field is cleared and a one hour break begins.

Kimberly