Regional Selection Process

[Ian Curtis]

I only competed at Week 1 regionals, but I really liked them. I agree there was occasionally "character building*", but I think its much easier to build a great Week 1 bot than a great Week 5 robot. The feel I've gotten over the past 7 (eep, I'm old!) years, is that if you can reliably score the game pieces you start with in week 1, you'll be playing on Saturday afternoon. Later on in the season, as everyone gets tuned up, you really need to be able to make a 2nd and 3rd trip to the goal. (Obviously, winning isn't everything, but it is more fun to be in the hunt!)

*To be fair though, outside of 2009's static issues, I can't remember any of the other field delays.

[Taylor]

1. The school board only allows us to take township buses within the state border.
2. Charter bus is expensive.
3. We don't have loads of money
4. Boilermaker Regional is the only regional in the state.
----
5. BMR FTW!

[Mike Soukup]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

*To be fair though, outside of 2009's static issues, I can't remember any of the other field delays.

You must not have been around for the failed Hatch experiments. Those were some bad week 1 regionals. Both times.

[kstl99]

Originally Posted by Mike Soukup

You must not have been around for the failed Hatch experiments. Those were some bad week 1 regionals. Both times.

I wasn't arround and now you got me curious. What were the failed Hatch experiments? (All I can think of is Orrin Hatch but I doubt you are talking about him.)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by kstl99

I wasn't arround and now you got me curious. What were the failed Hatch experiments? (All I can think of is Orrin Hatch but I doubt you are talking about him.)

A company called Hatch got the contract to do the field software for several years. By 2006, it was obvious that something was wrong--they still couldn't do the field and scoring software right! Evidence: instead of being able to rely on the goal counters for the winner of automode, human backups were used--and it took until Championships to get a suitable delay in to allow for checking the backups. This caused at least one redo that I know about in eliminations. (I forget if they were also responsible for the Algorithm of Doom in 2007 or not.)

[Mike Soukup]

Originally Posted by kstl99

I wasn't arround and now you got me curious. What were the failed Hatch experiments? (All I can think of is Orrin Hatch but I doubt you are talking about him.)

In addition to the issues EricH brought up, at least one event in the first week of 2005 had incorrect rankings (see this thread for more info), and in 2006 matches had to be restarted when teams scored too many balls in autonomous. I still remember when we paired up with 1625 for the eliminations and we each scored all 10 of our balls in autonomous, only to have the foghorn sound. Multiple times.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Mike Soukup

In addition to the issues EricH brought up, at least one event in the first week of 2005 had incorrect rankings (see this thread for more info), and in 2006 matches had to be restarted when teams scored too many balls in autonomous. I still remember when we paired up with 1625 for the eliminations and we each scored all 10 of our balls in autonomous, only to have the foghorn sound. Multiple times.

What I remember most about Hatch was the 2nd week regionals being as bad or worse then the 1st week because one thing would be fixed and 2 things broken. The Arizona regional (referenced in that thread) was week 2. The FLR regional was 1st week and had no rankings for most of the event.

Not that any of this Hatch discussion is relevant to choosing a regional for 2011.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Mike Soukup

You must not have been around for the failed Hatch experiments. Those were some bad week 1 regionals. Both times.

I was, but I think we got lucky at BAE and avoided most of the trouble. I remember we finished at 5PM in 2005 (Team 501 had just recieved the Chairman's award at 5:01 and the fire alarm went off), and I remember loading the truck while it was still light outside in 2006, which means we also got out by 5:30. By contrast, we left after 7:30 in 2009.

(Those were the years it was Hatch, right?)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

I was, but I think we got lucky at BAE and avoided most of the trouble. I remember we finished at 5PM in 2005 (Team 501 had just recieved the Chairman's award at 5:01 and the fire alarm went off), and I remember loading the truck while it was still light outside in 2006, which means we also got out by 5:30. By contrast, we left after 7:30 in 2009.

(Those were the years it was Hatch, right?)

05 and maybe 07 were Hatch. By 2009, 4FX had taken over the software/hardware for the field controls/scoring. The reason for a late departure in 2009 was probably teams having control system trouble...

[Manoel]

Here's our criteria for this year:

• We're going to two regionals.
• They have to be back-to-back - Maybe going home for two days and competing again is bad, but flying 6000 miles home then back in two weeks is just plain stupid.
• We drive from regional to regional. Less than 375 miles is doable, less than 600 miles is manageable, anything over that is stupid.
• We spend a lot on air tickets, so we have to go somewhere culturally relevant. Events in the middle of nowhere aren't really an option.
• We like tough competition.
• We're from a big city (~ 1.3 million people, 4 million metro area) and from a developing country. What most teams consider "big" or "violent" or "not suitable for students" isn't really much for us.

A personal criteria that some mentors share and that will have to be relayed to the school is that we'd like to go to Week 1-2 events this year. Being that Carnival (country pretty much stops during that time) is on Week 1, that means less work/classes lost by mentors, which surely helps. Yes, shipping the robot on Tuesday and catching a plane on Friday/Saturday will be a bit stressful, but should be a better option.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Manoel

Here's our criteria for this year:

• We're going to two regionals.
• They have to be back-to-back - Maybe going home for two days and competing again is bad, but flying 6000 miles home then back in two weeks is just plain stupid.
• We drive from regional to regional. Less than 375 miles is doable, less than 600 miles is manageable, anything over that is stupid.
• We spend a lot on air tickets, so we have to go somewhere culturally relevant. Events in the middle of nowhere aren't really an option.
• We like tough competition.
• We're from a big city (~ 1.3 million people, 4 million metro area) and from a developing country. What most teams consider "big" or "violent" or "not suitable for students" isn't really much for us.

A personal criteria that some mentors share and that will have to be relayed to the school is that we'd like to go to Week 1-2 events this year. Being that Carnival (country pretty much stops during that time) is on Week 1, that means less work/classes lost by mentors, which surely helps. Yes, shipping the robot on Tuesday and catching a plane on Friday/Saturday will be a bit stressful, but should be a better option.

Sounds like Trenton/NYC would be a perfect fit.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Jared341

Sounds like Trenton/NYC would be a perfect fit.

I think a little love for FLR in Rochester, NY is needed.

We like outside teams!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

I think a little love for FLR in Rochester, NY is needed.

We like outside teams!

Good event, but hours away from the next, so I doubt it would be accommodating for 383.

Shaker enjoyed going but the drive relative to WPI, Boston, and Trenton makes it not our first choice, and being only 1 week before WPI makes it taxing on everyone (except me who would have spring break for both!)

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Manoel

Here's our criteria for this year:

• We're going to two regionals.
• They have to be back-to-back - Maybe going home for two days and competing again is bad, but flying 6000 miles home then back in two weeks is just plain stupid.
• We drive from regional to regional. Less than 375 miles is doable, less than 600 miles is manageable, anything over that is stupid.
• We spend a lot on air tickets, so we have to go somewhere culturally relevant. Events in the middle of nowhere aren't really an option.
• We like tough competition.
• We're from a big city (~ 1.3 million people, 4 million metro area) and from a developing country. What most teams consider "big" or "violent" or "not suitable for students" isn't really much for us.

A personal criteria that some mentors share and that will have to be relayed to the school is that we'd like to go to Week 1-2 events this year.

Not Week 1 & Week 2, but consider Week 3-Chesapeake in Baltimore and Week 4-Washington DC. Lots of sightseeing opportunities in both locations. If you will have a vehicle and therefore can drive to the venues, you can save $$ on hotels by staying just outside of the city. (For example, lots of cheaper hotels near BWI airport, about 5 miles from Baltimore.)

Baltimore and DC are only about 35 miles apart.

[KathieK]

Some things to think about were outlined in the FIRST Senior Mentor call* held on 9/9/10 by Nate Knauss with Frank Merrick: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=10124


We also have a NEMO white paper on this topic: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm

* Very few people seem to be tuning into our calls. The schedule is sent out to team contacts in advance; if you have suggestions for topics you'd like to learn more about, contact your local Senior Mentor or Regional Director (or drop me a message).