https://firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net/frc2017/Manual/TeamUpdates/TeamUpdate19.pdf
What team/alliance caused the G14 update?
PCH Albany Semi2 match 5. Not really a strategy. Red was red carded for being under a blue robot. I didn’t see it so exact details are fuzzy. After discussing the rule with the team (question box), and a phone call to HQ the decision was made that the rule is meant to apply to robots of the same alliance and not different alliances. Call was reversed, Red wins. Onto match 6 of the series. Everybody applauds the Refs and FTA for taking the time to get it right. Rule gets clarified in update.
Please note I speak for no one besides myself & have no special knowledge other than being there…
FIRST instructs FTAs to test BOILER counting by dumping forty (40) FUEL into each High and Low Efficiency GOAL and noting the count logged by the FMS three times before MATCHES begin each day. The BOILER is operating as expected if the counts in each batch are 40 +/-1.
Soooooo, what happens if the counts in the test are off? 98% accuracy seems a little high standards based off of what we have seen previous weeks.
Follow the question box rules to talk to your event FTA in a calm professional manner. Explain your concerns and what you are seeing. They don’t always know there is an issue, there’s a lot to keep track of this year.
I meant during the test by the FTA. If the test shows to be off what’s the procedure? I assume the sensor may be replaced but even then, what’s the procedure after that?
FIRST has shared sensor calibration procedures with the FTAs. If the ball counts are off, then the boilers will be adjusted accordingly and tested again until the results are within the acceptable margin.
What if you noticed something in a match that your team wasn’t in?
I would presume the FTA’s have a calibration procedure for the ball counter. It probably involves fiddling with the exact sensor position and angle to get it working correctly. So, if the count is off, they go fiddle and then retest it.
Follow the same procedure no matter the situation.
Though not explicitly delineated in the rules, at every event I’ve ever attended, you can send someone to the question box at any time.
How are you to show a fault in boiler count and ask for a re-calibration during the event without video review?
Just let them know if you think its off. The FTA does not have to recalibrate it right there and then, but if they are running ahead of schedule or over lunch they may take a look at that serialiser and reconfirm its within specification.
I guess in that situation you’d be up a creek. :rolleyes:
That’s great if the count is off early in quals. But that doesn’t really help if you notice it during elims.
Not again…
Anyone else notice they moved the pre-populated gears on rotors 3 and 4 from the start of the gear train (next to the rotor) to the end (on the crank).
I’m curious if there was an incident that prompted making this kind of a change to the field setup and layout in Week 5. On the one hand it seems trivial, on the other hand IT’S WEEK 5, WHY ARE WE CHANGING THE FIELD STILL?
The pre-populated gears kept triggering the gear sensor without being turned at Wisconsin when they vibrated due to being on an airship with humans running around and being in close proximity to heavy robots. Now (theoretically), there’s no gear over the sensor until it’s ready to be triggered.
This actually hurt our team in week 1 as the sensor was triggered, I aw the score board saying we had 3 rotors, and went to climb. We were off by one and had time to go grab it. I miscounted :0, rookie mistake.
That really makes sense. I also saw a couple of pilots place the last gear centered over the handle instead of where it was supposed to be, and I know of at least one case where this caused a 2-rotor auto miss for an alliance. I would think this change would help prevent mistakes like that (although it doesn’t help with the 2-rotor auto, as that second rotor has no pre-placed gears).
I feel like the rule update for match replays should’t have been added. Or at least not the way that they did. It seems pretty hard to prove wether or not field damage was caused by “robot abuse” by that alliance or if the field broke on its own, especially without video review. A lot of things are happening on this field and it’s pretty easy for someone to miss who/what caused the field damage, and it’s equally as easy for the head referee to turn around and say that the field damage was caused by the team and therefore they get no replay if they have nothing to review and only what they originally saw/were told to go off of. Not to mention that with these big airships in the way, sight lines are far from clear.