Ideas for Detroit Regional

[Btower]

I just came from the GLR where I was was Field Mgr, I'll be at the Detroit Regional this weekend. I'm looking for any ideas which we on the event side could implement which you folks believe would be helpful.

For instance, I was thinking of scoring all of Thursday afternoon's practice matches to give teams which haven't competed yet a better feel for the game. Comments?

Also with 33 teams is there such a thing as too many rounds of practice or competition??


Any ideas you have would be appreciated. Also any ideas on what could be done to improve GLR for next year. Or mistakes / problems from this year.

Post em here or email me btower@comcast.net


Thanks,

Ben Tower

P.S. Anything emailed will be kept confidential unless specifically authorized.

Ben

[Steve W]

Have a break after qualifying rounds, then have selection followed by lunch.

[Btower]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Have a break after qualifying rounds, then have selection followed by lunch.

With only 33 teams this should be possible barring any massive tech problems. At the Great Lakes Regional with 58 Teams we managed a short break before selection (about 15 min) then about 20min for lunch before starting elims. This was hard on the Refs and Field teams. We'll plan for longer breaks at Detroit.

As the schedule sits now we've got time for 12 qualification matches per team is it too many?

Thanks

Ben

[Steve W]

In Pittsburgh we had 30 teams. We ran 10 per team and pretty much was on time, maybe a bit fast. With 33 teams I might suggest 10 - 11 matches at max.

[Btower]

Thanks Steve, we barely squeezed out 9 matches with 58 teams at Great Lakes.

[Swan217]

Ben,

Great idea scoring the Thursday Practice Rounds, if you can make it work. It would definately help the teams who haven't competed yet.

At Finger Lakes we had 12 matches as well. I can't speak for the pits, who will probably say it is a pain if you have bots that break down often. From a spectator point of view, it seemed as if our team barely had enough time to go sit down before they had to jump back up for the next match, but it was exciting to keep the pace as it was. I personally liked 12, and it was also great from a ranking point of view, because it dilluted the effects of a loss on a team's record. Plus, drivers got a LOT more practice. With only 33 teams, I would say 10 or 11 Matches if other people say that 12 is too many.

From a volunteer point of view, 20 min lunch is too short.

I'd also like to hear what other teams who have actually played 12 matches think about the time in between.

[Paul Copioli]

At Finger Lakes there were 33 teams with 12 matches per team. With 33, I do not see why we could not do 12 matches per team. We had 87 matches at Great Lakes and we were maximum 1/2 hour behind on Friday and 20 minutes behind on Saturday. We had 66 matches at Finger Lakes and the time between matches was about 1/2 hour per team.

With 33 teams at 12 matches per team that gives us 396 team matches (like room nights or man hours). Having 6 robots per match would give us 66 matches with everyone playing exactly 12 matches (i.e. no surrogate matches to make it even). With 11 matches each, we would need 61 matches with three teams playing one extra match that would not count toward their score (surrogate match).

12 matches is definitely possible with 33 teams, especially after seeing 87 matches completed at GLR. That's 21 more matches. With a 6:00 minute match start to match start spacing (that's what we had a Great Lakes) that equates to 2 extra hours of free time.

12 matches is my recommendation.

-Paul

[Karthik]

In case anyone is curious here's a spreadsheet I prepared that summarizes the number of matches for each regional event. It should help you make some of these decisions.

- Karthik

[Btower]

I think 12 matches per team makes the most sense. It works out to 396 minutes of an scheduled 410, plenty of float.

Another thought - what do you guys think about playing team animations on the big screen while we wait for the refs to score a match.?? I didn't see many team animations at GL

Thanks for the Matrix of the other regionals, that certainly helps.

During the first 10 or so rounds at Great Lakes we averaged about 7:30 per match do to longer introductions (all sponsors mentioned), scoring delays etc.
Dave, Paul and Ron Webb got it down to 6 Minutes easily later in the day.

Ben

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Btower

Another thought - what do you guys think about playing team animations on the big screen while we wait for the refs to score a match.??

Sounds like an awesome way to give the crowd somethign to do while teams come off the feild and refs score the match.

Also, throw another vote on for 12 matches. The more matches the better, and 12 is about the most you can get. I loved it at FLR, plenty of practice.

[IMDWalrus]

Practice is always a good thing, especially when your auton needs work. It's better than letting the field sit there empty, if nothing else.

If you need help with scoring the matches, talk to the teams that are competing. I know that 818 has had volunteers running the field at competitions before; I can't say anything with certainty about this year, but come to see us if you need help. Chances are good that we'll be able to get a few people down there for you.

[Allison K]

In Pittsburg last weekend (30 teams) we had 10 matches, and that felt like a lot. We were really pressed to get the robot ready when we had closely spaced matches (We played 10,13,16 and 40,43,46 among others). On the other hand I can't honestly say that I wouldn't want more playing time. 12 Matches sounds like a nice number.

The only other thing I would ask, Is that the that the list of alliances be available after alliance selections. Due to technical dificulties in Pittsburg we couldn't get ahold of the alliance list and that made strategizing difficult.

[Steve W]

I like the 12 match idea. The reason for the fewer matches was that they were scheduled at 7 minutes. We still were having field problems and we were able to complete on time running this way. At FLR we had lots of field problems and ran hours behind running 12 matches. If the field runs well then 12 is a reasonable number to run.

[Btower]

Originally Posted by IMDWalrus

Practice is always a good thing, especially when your auton works. It's better than letting the field sit there empty, if nothing else.

If you need help with scoring the matches, talk to the teams that are competing. I know that 818 has had volunteers running the field at competitions before; I can't say anything with certainty about this year, but come to see us if you need help. Chances are good that we'll be able to get a few people down there for you.

How about this ridea:

Take two experienced Ref's
Add a couple of extra members of the teams competeing in that match and we have a scoring team without pulling anybody extra from any team, plus more members of the team get a front row seat to watch their robot in action.
Also it would expose more people to scoring strategies.

What do you think?


Ben

[Btower]

Originally Posted by Steve W

I like the 12 match idea. The reason for the fewer matches was that they were scheduled at 7 minutes. We still were having field problems and we were able to complete on time running this way. At FLR we had lots of field problems and ran hours behind running 12 matches. If the field runs well then 12 is a reasonable number to run.

At GLR we lost about 10min to field problems, thankfully I've got the same kit for Detroit. I'm pretty confident the field will work well. We still had some issues with the scoring system and every 18 matches we had to reboot the field computer to stop random Start Bells, gongs, horns etc. Paul (GLR announcer extrordinare) never missed a beat, "Ignore that Bell" became a common theme.

Ben