2009 Connecticut Regional

[James1902]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

Oink Oink..

BOOM!!!!!

I'm so mad i couldn't go to this regional, from what I keep hearing and from what i saw of the web cast it was defiantly one of the best this season. I'm sure i'll hear plenty of stories from the students when they get back

[raceteen48]

I had great fun at the regional, and I know our team was surprised that 1902 got as far as they did into the pickings before being picked, we were hoping you would go a couple more spots without being noticed

Congratulations, you guys all had awesome robots, and it was a blast, This was a fun regional (while I did not like aspects of the venue, and such, the actual stuff on the field, what really matters, was the most fun I have had at a regional) We couldn't beat your defense, once you guys got locked in we couldn't separate you two, and also on that last match our front roller actually got knocked out on the end opposite the motor, and when it wouldn't turn to pickup balls we thought it was what had happened in Boston, which was it would randomly stop, but once we switched from a Jaguar to a Victor we hadn't had the problem since. Must have gotten dislodged in our autonomous slam (we did that most matches, we even had our frame bent during the competition, and that is why we didn't let the programmer's add a camera, we didn't want to have to take the bumpers off to get resized in fear of not getting the bumpers back on! also because we didn't want what happened to 694 to happen to us). Kind of funny that both finals we have been in (UTC and Boston) we had a problem in our final match we had never seen before.

I can't wait for some post season events, I know we plan on going to battlecry, is beantown happening this year?


Good luck in Atlanta!

[Jeff Waegelin]

Congrats to 126, 1155, and 1902 on your win. I guess it was Gael Force's turn to win the annual 121-126 showdown!

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

I'm surprised it hasn't been said already. Why were the stands so close to the field? Why were one side of the stands pit entrance closed half way through friday? I felt as if that was a very unsafe situation and very disappointed.

As far as I understand, the wrong truss was sent to the event (that holds the cables above the walkway. It wasn't wide enough to have both people and robots going through comfortably, and the queuing staff had a tough time getting robots in through the narrow passageway with people also trying to get through. Had the wider truss been sent (the one that is normally used), the room left for robots after it was split between people and robots would have been adequate.

Hope this provides some insight.
Jacob

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by jgannon

I heard a rumor that the FTA was on the field *during* an elimination match. Can anyone confirm this and explain what happened?

Sabrina did go onto the field and start playing with wires inside of (126 if I'm not mistaken)'s robot.

Not sure if it was coincidence, but the bot started operating again immediately after she touched it

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by whytheheckme

Sabrina did go onto the field and start playing with wires inside of (126 if I'm not mistaken)'s robot.

Not sure if it was coincidence, but the bot started operating again immediately after she touched it

I was sitting ten feet away from the robot in question (it was not 126) during that match, and absolutely no contact was made with the robot!

[.:Brianna:.]

The Firebirds really enjoyed their first time at the CT Regional. We're hoping to come back next year. Congrats to team 236 on winning Chairman's! We'll be competing with you guys for the National Chairman's in ATL!!!

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by dsmoker

Thanks to Sue Glasspiegel, Mike Sperber, the Kentfields (great job, Jack!!) and all the hardworking volunteers who make the CT regional a great event year after year. While we were disappointed that we didn't fare a little better in the rankings (why oh why does that alliance pairing algorithm hate us so much???), it's always fun competing and seeing all our FIRST friends, and we were honored and thrilled to receive Friday's Judge's Award. Hope to see many of you in Atlanta (where we are praying the algorithm treats us a little better!!)

It's always frustrating seeing some of the alliances randomly selected- take matches 57 (178/177/228 vs. 1902/999/2785) and 58 (126/230/176 vs. 1665/2265/1403) for example- look at the disparity between the years the teams on the red alliance vs. the years the teams on the blue alliance have existed. I know that older does not always mean better, but it came as no surprise to me that the red alliance won both of those matches.

Also, what was your team getting filmed for in the morning Saturday? I didn't want to interrupt to ask, and I didn't get the chance to come visit your pits later in the day.

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

I was sitting ten feet away from the robot in question (it was not 126) during that match, and absolutely no contact was made with the robot!

I can confirm this. She did go on the field to see if there was a robot issue or a field issue, but she did not touch the robot. The joke all weekend was that by simply looking at the robot the right way, it would start working .

While I have volunteered a many off-season and non-FRC events, this was the first time I have ever volunteered at a regional. All I can say is that it was one of the best experiences I have ever had in FIRST. The event was very well run, and all the crew was absolutely top notch. If the event falls in the same weekend next year, I will certainly be returning.

It was also quite exciting to be able to watch so many great teams compete. It was also excellent to see 10 WFA Finalists/winners at Fridays award ceremony.

Congratulations to all the teams. It is really great to see that we did not need to use the bogie wheels on any trailers on Friday or Saturday. I hope everyone had a great time and that you all come back next year!

[Eric O]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

I was sitting ten feet away from the robot in question (it was not 126) during that match, and absolutely no contact was made with the robot!

Contact or not, the idea of going on the field is outrageous. It is extremely unsafe! For the amount of time and money FIRST spends to make sure their events are safe, and that they are promoting a safe culture, having anybody on the field during a match is just idiotic. Not that the game rules are the important part here, but it is also against the rules. If I were on the loosing alliance that match I would have demanded a rematch based on rule G17.

-Eric

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Eric O

If I were on the losing alliance that match I would have demanded a rematch based on rule G17.
-Eric

But you would not have based on the same rule if you were on the winning alliance?
Double standard much?

<G17> Field Equipment - Other than the GAME PIECES, TRAILERS, and competing ROBOTS, no
other items shall be placed on the FIELD prior to, or during, the MATCH.

And are you even going as far as saying a person can be defined as an "item"?

I recall in years past team members were allowed on the field during practice days on Thursdays (which we've gotten away from) & in more recent years (2005 & 2006 specifically) I've seen Referees (Head Referees no less) jump on the field to prevent precarious situations with robots and/or game items.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Eric O

If I were on the loosing alliance that match I would have demanded a rematch based on rule G17.

-Eric

What about <S02>? So it's aimed at the teams. Guess what, the crater was entered during a match. It's a rule violation, by the volunteer in question. Now, if it was the losing alliance's robot, that's another story... you want a rematch for field issues then.

To 1902, I must say that whenever you guys had a match, the Gameday chat started going "Oink oink BOOM!" You had widespread support throughout the FIRST community in the eliminations.

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

It's always frustrating seeing some of the alliances randomly selected- ... but it came as no surprise to me that the red alliance won both of those matches.

Such is probability.

Originally Posted by Eric O

Contact or not, the idea of going on the field is outrageous. It is extremely unsafe!

I wholeheartedly agree. Guess who wins in a fight between a 140 pound robot and you?

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

It's always frustrating seeing some of the alliances randomly selected- take matches 57 (178/177/228 vs. 1902/999/2785) and 58 (126/230/176 vs. 1665/2265/1403) for example- look at the disparity between the years the teams on the red alliance vs. the years the teams on the blue alliance have existed. I know that older does not always mean better, but it came as no surprise to me that the red alliance won both of those matches.

Also, what was your team getting filmed for in the morning Saturday? I didn't want to interrupt to ask, and I didn't get the chance to come visit your pits later in the day.

The thing with "random" matches is that every now and then you get "super alliances" about just as often as you get "rookie alliances". FIRST tried doing an algorithm to "randomly" seed a team into each alliance based upon team number in 2007, but that plan met a lot of resistance from the FIRST community and was discontinued after that season.

FIRST matches aren't truely random. If they were, you might have to play back to back matches. Things like minimum match separation eliminate some of the randomness, and the more criteria you add into the algorithm, the less the results are actually random.

So yes, sometimes you are on the winning side of "lopsided" alliances, and sometimes you are on the losing side of "lopsided" alliances. But as more and more qualification matches are played out, the "average lopsided factor" will converge towards nearly even alliances. It's like flipping a coin a lot of times in a row. For a while, it may seem like it's landing a lot more often on heads than tails, but as you keep going it'll converge to 50/50.

[Elgin Clock]

To add to the discussion Art has mentioned about the alliance pairing generating software, you can follow the conversation discussed here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=66361

You can see that this year's system is a huge improvement over previous years (starting in that specific thread with a discussion of 2008's software) following the dates of the posts, & just keep in mind that every year something is improved to help fix a "hiccup" that is found.
It's a progression, & I even added one suggestion to the end of the thread there for next year as well already.

This is what we call a living system at it's finest!