2010 Lesson Learned: The Negative

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by ttldomination

Things I didn't quite like:
...
4. Practice Fields. I don't know why, but this year more than ever, the practice field was impossible to get onto. I feel like maybe we should be doing one practice field per division. I mean, to expect that a team won't need practice field time because they should be ready is wrong. Everyone wanted, and neeed practice field time, and it was impossible to get any.

By my calculations, over the course of 3 days the practice fields were open for about 20 hours, giving 80 time slots accommodating up to 6 robots each. Shared over two divisions, that averages at just under 3 practice session per team. Of course the demand was huge on Thursday morning and varied throughout the competition. There were many teams that I never saw at the practice fields, and a few who were constantly using the fill line to sub in when scheduled teams did not show up.

Shipping 2 extra full fields to the Championships, putting them up, tearing them down, and staffing them would be a significant additional effort. Perhaps teams could also use Einstein for Thursday practice