24-05-2004 18:23

EddieMcD

Scorekeeper Pushes Beantown's Buttons

It was just an ordinary quarterfinal 3.1 at Beantown Blitz. Teams 178 and126 were facing 69 and 213. All was going well. Then, halfway through the match, something happened. Eyewitnesses couldn’t tell me why it happened, but we sure know what happened. All of a sudden, Aidan Browne, head referee at Blitz, came over to the scorekeeper’s table with a distraught look on his face. Two words came out of his mouth: “Kill it.” Sitting at the scorekeeper’s position was head scorekeeper Mike “Dez” Dessingue. Dez inquired which robot needed disablement. But Aidan wasn’t referring to disablement. “Kill it all. Stop this.” Dez gave a quick glance before catching on. And he saw his target in front of him. It was a red button which was meant for shutting down the entire match and all the robots connected to the field. Without a second thought, Mike slammed down on the now titled “Big Red Button”. The two-toned buzzer sounded through the Mathews Arena, and the four robots on the field ceased to function. In a fraction of a second, it was all over. The match was successfully killed. High fives went all around the scorekeeper’s table due to the excitement over the Big Red Button. Aidan couldn’t be reached for comment afterwards, but Dez gave us a small sound byte. “YES!” Apparently, he was excited at actually getting to use the Big Red Button. Will it ever get use again? Only time will tell. Until next time, this is Eddie McDonnell of the Chief Delphi Daily News.

24-05-2004 19:10

Astronouth7303

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Can I have that job next year?

24-05-2004 19:26

Tom Bottiglieri

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

i want a big red button

24-05-2004 19:31

Devin L.

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

what REALLY happened was the light at the driver station wasnt working. our robot was off (we forgot to turn it on ) and the light should have been blinking to let the refs know so that we could have turned it on. BTW, awesome job Mike!!

24-05-2004 19:36

Michael Corsetto

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

What happened?

Oh yeah, I want a big red button too.

24-05-2004 19:41

Devin L.

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

alright, basically, we (myself and mike m.) forgot to turn on our robot when we put it on the field. so they ended up restarting the match.
note: i may be talking about the wrong match...

24-05-2004 20:12

Marc P.

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

That was quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Aidan runs over to the scoring table waving his arms yelling "Kill it!!" Dez reaches over and smacks the big red kill button. The loud foghorn sounds, indicating an early end to a match, followed quickly by Dez screaming "YES!!!"

If it doesn't sound too funny now, you had to be there. Everyone around the scoring table cracked up.

(I was sitting right next to Mike (Dez) when it happened, so I couldn't help but snap a picture)

24-05-2004 20:16

Astronouth7303

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Good reflexes. It's hard to get a real pic like that (not posed after the fact)

24-05-2004 20:39

Melissa Nute

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

I dunno...something makes me think that is posed b/c usually people are watching the field during a match rather than well...dez...

24-05-2004 20:43

Marc P.

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Yeah.. it's posed... but I got Dez to the same position and put on the same face he had when it actually happened.

The picture was posed about 40 seconds after it actually happened anyway, so the emotion is authentic

<edit> Rather than post again, I'll put my reply to the blow comment here-


It's a very crappy cheapo digital camera... were there aperture and flash controls on it, I'd have adjusted them. It's basically a point and shoot.

It was more a spur the moment pose, so I didnt' think to get people or the ref in on it. Besides, they were off doing other things (like resetting the field for the replay of the match )

24-05-2004 20:45

Astronouth7303

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

a. Who's watching? (other than photographer)
b. the head ref was running and screamming.
I don't want to turn this into a debate.
[Actually, your missing the ref and the people staring at him]
(Turn down flash, turn up apperature/exposure, by the way.)
And who's hand is on the keyboard?

24-05-2004 20:51

Jay H 237

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

I suggest that FIRST should include a "big red button" in the KOP next year to make everyone happy.

24-05-2004 20:55

Mike M.

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

I second that motion.

And something to tell you hey dummy you forgot to turn on the robot oops

24-05-2004 20:55

Astronouth7303

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Yeah! BRBs for everyone

(Actually, Our team wanted one for real. When we hook the bar, slam the button. It causes the robot to ignore user commands, play siren/lights, and pull itself up. Red alert! Red alert! 1227 is going up! :Star Trek SFX: )

24-05-2004 22:42

Billfred

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Dude! Those things work?

I recall on Thursday on Archimedes that we had to stop matches for a few while NASA re-did the network, and we were trying to figure out if it was possible to run matches with that little panel. But nobody, FIRST, IFI, or volunteer, could figure out how to run the darn thing. So we waited for the network to work.

24-05-2004 23:22

Aidan F. Browne

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

Just for the record, the only hand-waving going on was the "cut" signal... and man did Dez go for that button like a man on a mission!

What happened was... one of the robots knocked the ball off in autonomous, but the balls did not drop (i think their paddle looked like a ball to the sensor)... One of the refs went to drop the balls manually, but didn't until the 40 second mark... So... I declared it a field failure... and you know the rest of the story.

Dez -- next time I'm hitting the button myself!

24-05-2004 23:55

Aaron Lussier

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

I was right there when it happened. In auto mode the robot came over and pushed aganist the ball but it moved it so the ball was balancing on the edge on the ball holder while the plywood at the end of the robots arm was in teh way of the sensor activating. The robot did not move again untill the drivers took over, they backed up and pulled the ball off the tee. The ref on that side of the field though that it had been hit in auto mode so he yelled over to a ref on the other side of the field to run and pull the release lever after the fact, which is why Adian stopped the match before it was over.

-Aaron

25-05-2004 07:35

Astronouth7303

Re: pic: Dez hits the big red button!!

That exact thing happend in one of our matches.