IRI 2010 Reflections

[NotSoSiniSter]

I couldn't find any threads for IRI after the fact, so i decided that i would have to start it.

Being this was the first year that my team went to IRI, it was a great experience. My personal favorite part of the competition is the more laid back atmosphere. No inspections (we know how long those take ), refs didn't call any lame penalties like stepping over the lines early or during a match, which always make drivers feel guilty especially when it influences the turnout of a game. :/

It was such a great experience to see the best of the best teams up close instead of having to watch them on youtube or blue alliance, which doesn't show what goes on underneath the hood. I always enjoy understanding how other robots work. Getting the chance to talk 469 on how they designed a robot that bent the rules and expected game play strategy to the limits in the queuing line was a real pleasure.

Overall, I learned so much from talking to all the teams and I had loads of fun watching all the adrenaline pumped elimination matches unfold. I really hope our team will be given the chance to compete at IRI again next year.

[pwnageNick]

I'm also from 2949 (notsosinister's team) and I would just like to thank whoever provided the webcast on ustream, because I couldn't make it, so that was very convienent. Overall IRI seemed very successful and looked like a lot of fun. Some of those playoff matches were pretty intense and could have been some of the best matches of the entire season. So great job to all the teams that participated and I hope we will be invited again next year

[bam-bam]

IRI was an amazing experience for me, especially being a first-timer on 1529.
After an exhausting 3 or 4 ties between 33's alliance (Sorry, I can't remember all the teams on the alliances right off my head.) and 1086's alliance, 330's win, then a tie, then 1086's win, then 330's win (much to the relief of everybody to seems), I'm left thinking about what was awesome about IRI. It's not much, but it's what I've got:

Most of the Indiana teams played host to the POWER camp from IUPUI. I really enjoyed talking with girls as far as Puerto Rico (!!!), and as close as having one of the girls being a very close friend in my school (!!!!!). It turns out that she didn't realize that the school that we both go to had a robotics team. And walking around with her, she was very enthusiastic about collecting badges from the teams. Before the camp left, she tells Taylor that she and another good friend has "officially" joined the team .

The NERF cannon-launcher, controlled by a ThunderChicken, was very fun, and it shows with a boy playing around with the cannon. When the cannon first moved towards him, he was very puzzled about it, but played around with it, trying to avoid the camera on top of the launcher. At one point, he just covered the camera.
And on the topic of the child, I was amazed to see many kids wandering around, looking at the robots, playing with the HEX Bug tracks, and trying out 461's scooter (actually, it was a segway that they made themselves.)

Asking Dave Lavery to sign our robot before competing for a match. Later, a college student supporting our team asked for his autograph on his shirt, and he got his wish. Thank you so much, Dave, and come to our 1529 and 829's C.A.G.E. match!!

Who could forget the eliminations? 33 and 1086's alliance were fighting it out to the very last second (Don't believe me? The matches 5 hangs... 3 times!!!). And then 330's alliance nearly had a scare when 1086 beat them 17-13. The only bad thing out of this was the kids facing the blue alliance stations were pointing the way the 469 was going to direct the balls. I won't say anything more.

For a FIRST-timer, this was like being in San Francisco or New York or whatever. You get just a completely different breath of air just by going to this competition. I hope for a great one in 2011!

[Chris is me]

The IRI was fantastic once again.

Thanks to Basel A of 2337 and team 1114 for their support in the Vex event. When my trip costs rocketed up at the last minute and I couldn't afford the parts I needed, 1114 happily had a box of stuff ready for me when I got there. Basel did a pretty awesome job driving the thing around and letting me yell at him. When he gets behind the wheel in FRC he'll do fantastic. The event ran beautifully, with a nice and relaxed pace that allowed teams to watch matches and kill a half hour doing a Talent Show audition. I'd love to do something like that again.

I loved the elimination matches! I didn't even notice that they took 4 hours. While there were some sore spots (the pointing thing, I was upset that the #5 alliance was knocked out, it made tipping seem like the right strategic choice), the elims were intense and varied. Every alliance there could have won a division.

Thanks to the generosity of several key people, mainly Billfred and Andrew Schreiber, as without the rides and rooms I would have had a very boring time at the airport.

See you guys next year!

[NotSoSiniSter]

So someone was pointing? >:|

I was standing on the opposite balcony and when the guy said that everyone on that balcony had to move, i was super confused, it was really hard to hear what he said. One of my team mates told me he said something about someone coaching from above. I started talking to a parent and a team member from 3138 and we were all really confused what someone could be doing, and which side they were doing it for. Too bad 469 can change the direction at the very last second which thwarts any attempt at an early warning. So whatever they thought they could accomplish was extremely small. But even then, it still leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.

[Chris is me]

Just to clear stuff up: I saw a guy pointing and he didn't appear to be on a team from the #2 alliance, so don't let an unfortunate incident like this take anything away from 1086, 1114, 2056, and 3138, all outstanding and fair competitors.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Just to clear stuff up: I saw a guy pointing and he didn't appear to be on a team from the #2 alliance, so don't let an unfortunate incident like this take anything away from 1086, 1114, 2056, and 3138, all outstanding and fair competitors.

This is correct, someone, unrelated to the Blue Alliance, was pointing the direction that 469's redirector was going to go. This was an unfortunate situation but it happened and now we all know it is frowned upon.

I hope this concludes any conversation about this topic.


I would like to say that I had a blast at IRI. I finally got to meet some of the people I am always hearing about; Jane Young, Mark Leon, Andy Baker, Don Wright, and Chris Fultz. As for seeing old acquaintances again, it was great to see you guys too; Chris, Billfred, Michelle, Karthik, Anthony (Odd that we have to go to Atlanta/Indiana to talk when we are in the same county). I KNOW I am forgetting some people, please don't be offended.

Also, if anyone knows of any Kettering students who were down there this weekend please let me know, I am working on maybe doing a student life piece on our website or something. (Via PM so as to not derail this thread)

[Zach O]

2337's first IRI was very eventful! I had a great time, and there was never a shortage of things to do. The talent show was fun, the silent auction was a fantastic idea, and the elimination matches were spectacular. I can see why this is one of FRC's premier events, and I hope to have the chance to go again.

The only issues I had was getting more match schedules! We had to use some for scouting, and we had several people scouting. The issue, we only got one copy! We were unable to get another printed for us, and with no internet at the competition site, we couldn't get another one ourselves. One thing that I would love to see added (if possible) for IRI is internet (so we can check the rankings, get the newest updated match schedules, see the agendas, ect. while we're at the competition site).

Overall IRI was by far my favorite event for 2010. Thank you to all the host teams, and everyone involved to make that happen.

[FoleyParent]

Jon Crombe from team 910 - Foley Freeze was there. He is in the B section at Kettering. He is currently on his work term but is still in the area, southeast Michigan area that is

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

... [someone] ... was pointing the direction that 469's redirector was going to go. This was an unfortunate situation but it happened and now we all know it is illegal. Years ago this sort of signaling used to be legal but FIRST banned it in more recent years. So, in the future don't do it.

I hope this concludes any conversation about this topic.

My personal opinion is that pointing intended to assist a competing team is not sportsmanlike, and should be discouraged. I applaud the action Paul took to stop it.

However, my effort to find a rule against it in the 2010 Manual (Game Rules or Tournament Rules) has been unsuccessful so far. A quick CD search turned up this post by Dave last year, which suggests that an explicit rule of this sort did not exist in 2009, but had been used in the past.

[The Cyborg]

I really enjoyed IRI this year. It was the first IRI I've been to since 2005 (back when 65 used to go). I do agree that the laid-back atmosphere makes things less stressful and even more fun.

It's nice seeing people and teams that I haven't seen since Atlanta. It was a really competitive competition this year too. The semifinals were incredible with 33's alliance and 1083's alliance being just about evenly matched.

Congratulations 330, 469, 359, 399 for the win!
A special thanks to the people running IRI for another successful year. I look forward to the next time I go.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Richard

My personal opinion is that pointing intended to assist a competing team is not sportsmanlike, and should be discouraged. I applaud the action Paul took to stop it.

However, my effort to find a rule against it in the 2010 Manual (Game Rules or Tournament Rules) has been unsuccessful so far. A quick CD search turned up this post by Dave last year, which suggests that an explicit rule of this sort did not exist in 2009, but had been used in the past.

Back in 2003, there was an incident at Pittsburgh where a team member was directing his drive team from the second-level balcony of the arena. Instead of testing my memory, I'll just quote myself (from a 2005 thread):

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I remember one particular case in 2003 where a team was disqualified for allowing a mentor to use hand signals to indicate their robot's position, as observed from an elevated position in the opposite-side bleachers. The rules-based justification was, I believe, that he was acting as a coach, and was therefore outside of the driving station, was not wearing a badge, and there was already a coach in the driver's station.

Under current rules, that justification would be invalid. (In fact, even under 2003 rules, it was a big stretch that probably shouldn't have been imposed.)

I'm not sure if there was any doubt about the motivation behind the gestures being used at IRI (because it was just out-of-frame in the webcast), but at least in the case of the Pittsburgh incident, it was very clear what was going on: in 2003, it was one person (who I believe was identifiable as a member of a team in the current match), standing alone at the edge of the balcony, aligned with the centreline of the field, gesturing calmly in a manner that correlated to the motion of one robot.

Specifically prohibiting strategic communications originating outside the arena would prevent good-faith mistakes (among teams that read the rules), while still giving the officials the option to penalize blatant actions, when observed. Realistically, it wouldn't even be important to actively detect violators, because teams would be crazy to try it, knowing that it's an offence that could get them penalized or disqualified. Even if not enforceable in borderline cases, it's still a net benefit.

Now on the other hand, it's not specifically against the current rules. Should we care when people direct their alliance from outside the arena? You hear stories about baseball teams stealing signs using strategically-placed observers (or cameras) and signalling devices—it's sometimes considered objectionable, and sometimes considered brilliant, but isn't against the rules. By choosing not to rule against it, FIRST could steer us in that direction, if desired. Of course, for every measure, there's a countermeasure—teams might employ distractions (like making noise and waving things at a free-throw shooter in basketball) to confuse opposing drivers. All that stuff already exists as part of other sporting traditions, and it wouldn't be a stretch to see it in FRC.

We in the FIRST community can say what we think about these strategies, but relying on peer pressure to govern behaviour isn't going to settle the issue. With a new rulebook every year, FIRST has ample opportunity to address this as they see fit, and thereby shape the community's norms.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I hope this concludes any conversation about this topic.

[Kelsey Draus]

I had a great time at IRI, and I know my entire team had a ton of fun too!!

A HUGE thank you goes out to team #51, Wings of Fire: Thank you guys SOO much for lending us a wireless router! Without that, we wouldn't have been able to compete. Not only do we appreciate your gracious professionalism, we think you guys are an awesome team.

Also, a thank you to our friends on team #1625, Winnovation for parts to fix our kicker. We always enjoy seeing everyone on your team!

[Tom Line]

I'll second that about Wings of Fire. Only at IRI would they be chosen as a backup bot . They stepped in and played superbly in our semi finals matches against the 1086 / 1114 / 399 / (I can't remember the other team) alliance when we lost our martian twin to a kicker cable breaking.

Thanks to the Martian bot, Killer Bees, and Wings of Fire. It was truly a great alliance to be a part of. After all, how many other 20/20 ties have you seen this year?

[FoleyEngineer]

We had an awesome time at IRI! Setting a world record of 38 points with 469 and 107 was a season highlight for sure (especially when they couldn't break it with a 6 v 0 try later The playoffs were insane - WAY better than championships - WAY BETTER!

As far as the pointing thing, maybe it wasn't intentional even? My wife told me about it this morning and pointed out that I was against the rail in the corner by our team and I always talk with my hands and maybe I pointed at the field while I was talking, or others did the same thing too? I thought about it and she was right! I distinctly remember talking to a fellow mentor during many of the 469 matches and pointing at the field (not the switch on 469) and saying things like, "Look at those 3 balls there! They should go get those" or "They should pin 148 over there so the balls can run their cycle on the other side" I have no doubt I was pointing while I was talking, but never even considering the possibility that my gestures could be seen as somehow directing the blue alliance where to go. In fact, if they did follow my guestures, I'm sure they would have been wrong because I wasn't watching the switch! Still it could have looked like it. How many of the dozens of others behind the rail did similar things? Don't we all point at the field when we're talking? I'd like to thing it was a misunderstanding. Don't know, but I hope so.

In any case, it was an amazing event. We didn't get in till close to 3am, and I understand that the Beachbots missed their flight by less than 5 minutes, but like me, they said it was all worth it!