Brunswick Eruption thoughs and comments.

[Testament-Doom]

So, just got back from the Brunswick eruption. It was the first robot competition I've ever been to. So far, it was great, other than the fact that I really didn't get to do anything . I WAS going to be a shooter but then I was a mentor at one of the games. How'd you like the competition. Oh btw, guess who I was

[Michael Leicht]

Congrats to 222 and the other two teams, sorry about not knowing the numbers. Also i want to thank team 25 for picking us. Your human player is amazing. Maybe ramp riot. Last thing good job henry, cliff, rabbit and your human player good job. Once again you showed me how it is done, good job. Keep up the good work.

[looneylin]

BE was pretty awesome! Thanks to team 25 for letting me temporarily join their team, it was neat. I didn't get to see the end *tear* , so who won? But, from what I did see, teams 25, 222, 1257, and etc were pretty fierce in competition. It was certainly really cool matches!

-P.S. I posted some pics from the competition, check them out.

[Bharat Nain]

Congratulations to the winners(222 271 and 369)! This competition was mind blowing. In the morning I started out helping rookie teams like crazy, that I had no clue of what the state of our robot was, and I can hardly remember the teams I was helping(so many of them), it was fun, I am glad I could help them out.

Thanks to all the teams for coming, the competition turned out to be great with competitive teams like 25, 222, 303, 1257, 1403 etc(sorry if I missed you out, I am too sleepy).

Will post more tomorrow
Now = sleeptime;
-B

[Ian W.]

One thing I have to apologize for was that semi-scoring fiasco in determining the top 8 teams. Since 25 did not rent a FIRST field, we had to write our own scoring program, and it had a few bugs :-p. It calculated rankings correctly, but for a few stupid reasons, it didn't display them correctly on the TV, but we did get the correct rankings after doing a bit of math, coding, and digging through MySQL databases, so it all worked out in the end (with a bit of delay, but hey, more time to fix robots) :-).

And to all teams who competed, congratulations, you guys did a great job, especially the 2005 rookies, team 1546!

[Wayne C.]

Thanks to all the teams who came out and competed and for waiting it out to the end of the day. We need to move those matches through faster but I see a direct correlation between the lateness in the season and the reluctance of teams to get on the field. Many of the robots had seen better days and we were doing patch ups all over the place.

It is now 1 AM and I just got home so I am putting the listing of all the winners off until tomorrow. Suffice it to say that we had some great match ups and a few surprises like a robot accidentally moving the center island across part of the field in the early part of the first final match.

I hope everyone had a good time. It sounded like you did from the pits. And I think we will get two or three new rookies from the crowds in the stands.

I go sleep now.....

WC

[Sidney San Martín]

It was definitely fun. I FINALLY got to drive the 'bot after a year of pleading, and it was great... Except for the fact that I sucked due to the fact that my only practice was driving it around a classroom for 30 seconds a week before

We also got annoyed at some of the judging - we lost a match by one ball that was perched on the end of a goal and had been put there by a bot. The judges wouldn't believe that an HP hadn't thrown it there. We also got DQ'd from our (because of this) final match in the finals because the judges thought that we'd intentionally tipped another bot. We even had video footage to prove our side.

But I'll stop rambling. It was still a great time.

Looneylin, thanks for those pics! I found myself (not a very good picture of me specifically) in the Stadium picture. Look at the left edge, foreground. I'm the button boy.

P.S. Hi, David. Welcome to CD. Great thread.

[sillymoo]

I had a great time at Brunswick Eruption yesterday. It was the last time 1257 will ever be considered a rookie team, but we ended our first year with a bang. Thanks to all of our alliances! We'll see you next season!

Christine
Head of Membership
Team 1257 - Parallel Universe
Scotch Plains, NJ

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Sidney San Martín

We also got annoyed at some of the judging - we lost a match by one ball that was perched on the end of a goal and had been put there by a bot. The judges wouldn't believe that an HP hadn't thrown it there. We also got DQ'd from our (because of this) final match in the finals because the judges thought that we'd intentionally tipped another bot. We even had video footage to prove our side.

Im not sure what you're talking about... *only* humans can score balls. robots can't score small balls.

I fully agreed with every call the refs made, and would support their decision no matter what--their job is MUCH harder than most people give them credit for, and as always they did an excellent job (Well, Rich did give us the wrong score card, but I'd have to say that's the biggest mistake they made all day! )

Cory

[Sidney San Martín]

Originally Posted by Cory

Im not sure what you're talking about... *only* humans can score balls. robots can't score small balls.

I fully agreed with every call the refs made, and would support their decision no matter what--their job is MUCH harder than most people give them credit for, and as always they did an excellent job

Sorry I was unclear... The other team had that ball... It was put on the goal's edge by a bot but the judges had no proof of that and gave them the points and the match.

I usually agree with the judges, but I know our driver well enough to know that he would not tip another team. That disqualification cost us any chance of winning or even getting into the final finals.

[Ian W.]

Originally Posted by Sidney San Martín

I usually agree with the judges, but I know our driver well enough to know that he would not tip another team. That disqualification cost us any chance of winning or even getting into the final finals.

I wasn't a ref, but as scorekeeper I worked pretty closely with them, and I know Rich (the head ref) will probably wander onto this thread soon enough and settle any questions, but I know that they did the best they could, they even skipped the fourth match to come back to it later because a team wasn't ready yet, that's something you will never find in an offical competition.

Bottom line, regardless of what your personal views on the matter are, the refs did the best job they could, and what's past is past. I assume you guys had fun, and big deal, you didn't win, you still came and put out a great effort. Also, perhaps take this experience and remember for next year, because I can't ever remember any FIRST competition, official or not, where refs have looked favorably at teams who have, or are suspected, of intentionally flipping an opponent.

Also, I was a driver myself on my old team, I know that drivers do get caught up in the moment, and unless you are the driver, no one else can ever know what his intentions were, because when you're driving a robot, you're not exactly thinking clearly. I'm not accusing him or your team of intentionally flipping, but accidents happen, and if your team was in the wrong place at the wrong time, well, tough luck, but there's not much you can do about it. I'm also fairly certain you weren't the only team DQ'd for flipping an opponent, so it wasn't an isolated incident.

[Corey Balint]

Ya-i agree, drivers do get caught in the moment. Twice yesterday there were some very close calls we were involved in, and i know i almost blew a gasket out there. But you have to get it out of you, and allow yourself to move on right away.

And sometimes refs do have to make tough calls, and if you are on the wrong end of it, its life, just problems happen all the time. I understand when i got Dq'd for flipping 222, it was because it was a close call, and showed possible intent. I know myself it wasnt on purpose, but the fans dont know, and the refs have to make the on the spot decision, which for the most part is right. You just need to move on, and go out and win the rest of the competitions.

[Sidney San Martín]

I completely agree, Ian. I didn't mean for this to turn into something big and I don't want to argue with refs/scorekeepers/anyone anymore. I was just mentioning an annoyance that probably happens a lot more often than I realize and am completely ready to move on.
If I make it to being a driver, I'll understand better. Thanks for responding, though. It was still a great time.

[Wayne C.]

you know- this sounds like the kind of thing the FIRST Drivers Union might deal with. Maybe the group should discuss elsewhere what is considered blocking, pushing, pinning and intentional damage/tipping. I always think- could the other guy break off the engagement and get out of the way? Or do we have them at our mercy and take advantage anyway? Then next season the group could come up with guidelines for rough play conduct amongst themselves and clarify with FIRST officials for all of us.

The refs did the best job they could. I witnessed the call. It was valid. Like in sports, once the call is made, good or bad, it is a done deal. We've been DQ'ed at times - including rounds that would have high significance. It happens and you move on.

Hopefully all can remember the good times they had in the games and get past the bad. And, of course, save the competitive spirit for BE4 next year.


WC

[Corey Balint]

Anyone have any pics yet? Only 4 up so far.