FRC Blog - Change Is Here

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http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ange-Is-Coming

I hope everyone had a wonderful Kickoff! We had a great time here in New Hampshire. At the Founder’s Reception, Dean hosted over 600 of his closest friends at his home. And yes, we probably could have squeezed in a few more. Both of New Hampshire’s US Senators showed up to talk about the importance of FIRST and wish us well. The Founder’s Reception webcast had about 3,800 viewers according to the numbers we have now. I think that webcast is going to be a keeper in future years! Also, our local Kickoff here the next day at Southern New Hampshire University was packed with about 800 people in attendance – I saw very few empty seats for the broadcast, and the field, set up in an adjacent gym, was so crowded after the game reveal it was hard to get around. Lots of excitement and animated discussion, it was great to see.

By now, most teams have worked their way through the Recycle Rush rules and seen the several ways in which this game is different. One key difference is that, like many Olympic sports, teams compete on a points basis rather than Win-Loss-Tie. I recognize this is a significant change for our community, as we have grown accustomed to Win-Loss-Tie as the primary means of ranking teams over many years. It can be surprisingly difficult to shift to this new mindset. Even on the GDC, after we had decided we were taking this new approach, we occasionally found ourselves slipping back into WLT thinking, and had to actively work against that.

To help with this mindset change, and to help both teams and spectators understand what the results of matches mean, we’re enhancing the traditional information displayed during play. These are draft graphics, not yet finalized, but I believe we will end up with something very much like these.

The screen that will be displayed when matches are in progress is shown below. Not much has changed on this, and we still are showing each team’s current rank next to their number. We have added a nifty graphic showing if the alliances have earned Coopertition points, though. If the alliances have not earned those points, the handshake graphic will not be displayed. Please note – on this image and all others in this blog, the point values and team numbers are just thrown in as placeholders. The scores are not necessarily realistic. You will note that in this example, teams 2468 and 2789 have a yellow fill, meaning they are coming to the match with a yellow card. Teams 2468 and 2789, we love you, and we’re sure you’re not going to actually get any yellow cards at your events this season! Also, in the images used for playoff rounds below, we display four teams per alliance to show what things will look like if alliances happen to have a fourth team. This will happen occasionally during the regular season, and always at the FIRST Championship!



This next image shows the enhanced match results screen that will be used during qual rounds. Check out the additional information provided. We show the new rank of each team in the match, based on the final score, and whether or not that rank has changed from before the match was played. No longer will you need to go back to the pit display, or pull up an app, to see what that match may have meant to your team. We also show each team’s Qualification Average – called Average Score on these screens to be more helpful to casual spectators – and how that score changed. Note that Qualification Average is likely to change every match, but rank won’t necessarily. Also notice that a final score that helps one team on an alliance may actually cause problems for the other teams. This screen also shows, if Coopertition points were earned, how many were earned.



During playoff rounds, we start to show a traditional leaderboard, as you would see in many sports. Here’s an example of the screen that will be used to show match results during Quarterfinals. Alliances are shown in rank order based on the results of the match just completed. As you know from reading the Tournament section rules, alliances in the top 50% of the ranking at the end the round move on. They are highlighted in green here because they are currently ranked high enough to advance. As you have also figured out by now, results of matches an alliance are not in can still affect their ability to advance. That’s such a key point, I’m going to repeat it and even spend the extra money to put it in italics: results of matches an alliance are not in can still affect their ability to advance. Each alliance is competing against the full field of every other alliance in that round, not just the alliances they happen to be matched against directly. As a final note, you can see that rounds during playoffs are just numbered sequentially, rather than QF1-1, etc, as they have been in prior years.



Here’s the Semifinals version of the screen. Much the same, just with fewer alliances. And, as you also know from the rules, every alliance will play against every other alliance in this field of four.



And lastly, the version of the match results screen that will be used during Finals. As finals matches are Win-Loss-Tie, that’s the information that gets displayed, rather than averages:



If you are interested in handy pdf of all these screens in one document, you can find it here.

Hope your build season is getting off to a great start!

Frank