Week 2 is here and the first, FIRST event held at Skyline Highschool is ready to kickoff. 14 teams who competed in week one and coming to play. Some who were very successful last weekend and some who are looking to gain some ground. After everyone getting a chance to see how the game is play, the competition level should be very high. There are also many successful teams from last year competeting, those including 68,247,326,503,573,830,1188,1250 and 2337. Not as top heavy as last weekend, but very good company to be around. So let’s keep all Ann Arbor disscussion here, and if anyone from the high school would like to discribe seating, where the pits might be and parking.
Just a quick note: I will be there Friday and Saturday 1.) Helping Team 66/cheering them on and 2.) in the case anyone is intersted, talking up the still fairly new and cool Informatics program at the Umich. I’ll be in a maize and blue “Michigan Informatics” shirt, feel free to stop by, say hello and ask questions.
I was a referee at Kettering last weekend and will be reffing at Ann Arbor this weekend. I’m looking forward to not calling so many G46’s thanks to Update 16! It was hard to watch every ball around every robot! Now we can just smile when you are balanced on top of a ball! :yikes:
I was a referee at Kettering last weekend and will be reffing at Ann Arbor this weekend. I’m looking forward to not calling so many G46’s thanks to Update 16! It was hard to watch every ball around every robot! Now we can just smile when you are balanced on top of a ball
At what point do you make the call? How long do you give a team to get off ball? Is it as long as the team is trying to dislodge ball and not playing?
At what point do you make the call? How long do you give a team to get off ball? Is it as long as the team is trying to dislodge ball and not playing?
Based on the wording of Update 16:
Incidental protrusions of the BALL within this boundary will not be penalized if the TEAM corrects the condition before resuming game play.
and the box examples:
Examples of game play include, but are not limited to, actively engaging with another ROBOT, navigating toward a GOAL, controlling the position or direction of another BALL (e.g. kicking or herding), and changing regions (crossing a BUMP or under a TOWER).
My personal interpretation would generally be that if I thought you incidentally (as opposed to intentionally) drove up on top of that ball, made honest efforts to dislodge it, and did not resume “game play”, I would not be prone to call a penalty at any time.
Of course this is subject to agreement by my Head Ref and Ref team.
And I might add that one of my favorite quotes is “All generalities, including this one, are wrong”! ::safety::
So a team,in order to pass inspection, must not have any way for a ball to go under it. That pretty knocks out any team from intentionally driving on ball. I guess the only time this will be called is when we hear,“I didn’t know there was a ball under me.”
Well of course Da’Bears (Team 247) will be there in action. Of course we will have our green apple walking thru the pits with our scouting program this year again. Anyone needs a helping hand ask for Fennig.
So a team,in order to pass inspection, must not have any way for a ball to go under it. That pretty knocks out any team from intentionally driving on ball. I guess the only time this will be called is when we hear,“I didn’t know there was a ball under me.”
Pretty much I would guess. Even at Kettering I don’t think anyone intentionally drove on the balls but we tried to penalize anyone that ended up on top of a ball, per the rules before this update. And it seemed everyone could potentially drive on top of a ball.
A potential focus to avoid G46 might be that drivers/coaches have to watch more closely when encountering multiple balls or being hidden behind bumps so that they don’t continue “game play” while being on top of a ball unknowingly.
I am heading out to Ann Arbor in a couple of hours in hopes of seeing some practice matches and seeing a lot of people having a lot of fun!
Congrats to Team 2337 on their first district win. 2008 was great - set the bar high. 2009 was difficult, a reality check. 2010 is still open for dreaming… Go far, 2337. Wish I could have been there to enjoy to moment. Hope to see you all in Ypsi. Go Nerds…Ah boom…
First a bit of business… Thanks 49 and 518… We knew we would have an uphill climb, but we tried!! 2337, 66, 573… 326 was clearly cheering you on during elimations!! We love the skirts!! Great job to all of you!! Keep hanging, scoring, and flippin out!!
Eliminations today were something else… I was so surpised at the lack of defense being played, made the game so much fun to watch… I was keeping hand score in the corner and just watching teams drive up drop, drive up drop, kick from middle field, and score in auton was just awesome… The spirt and excitment at the event was on a different planet!! When the final score for the final match (Finals match-3), I thought the roof blew off!!!
As for the venue… Skyline Highschool was a perfect fit for a robotics competition. Tons of seating, espiecally seating that could see the field. The pits just across the hallway, was a benefit from teams and spectors.
Lastly, the volunteers had everything working perfect. The refs, very fair and able to discribe penelties in great depht to the teams. MC’s, were awesome… Grant always being able to shake his “thang”, and trying to get the crowad loud!! Matt Roush from WWJ 950, you didn’t look out of place one bit. To the rest of the crew, great job. From the field, to scoring crew, webcast and everyone else!!
Hope everything runs this smooth at my next 3 events!!!
Mad props on 573 from coming out of the blue and getting everything in gear and picking an amazing alliance and coming back to win it all!!
Congrats 2337, 66 and 573, yall deserved it and see you guys in states.
And from my viewpoint as a Zebra…GREAT TOURNAMENT with GREAT TEAMS!
It’s never fun to call a penalty and the close calls are the worst but everyone was gracious enough to listen and accept what they may not have seen, interpreted or even agreed with that we called. Thanks all.
The worst penalty I have to call is that a team is not having fun and I never even got close to that this weekend! ::safety::
PS: As strange as this may seem, Skyline High School has folding chairs that are to die for!!! I hope Wayne State can take this hint! ::ouch::
It never happened in competition, because there weren’t very many teams that consistently hung (Mainly us and 2619, but we were never paired with them). However, we did actually manage a double suspension on the practice field. Oh, and after the competition was over I did a chin-up on our bar.
Any way, it was a great competition. Thank you to 573 for picking us, and to 66, who looked more like an alliance captain than a 2nd pick. 2619, 830, and 2611, you put up a great fight, it went to the end of the line, and funny as it sounds, it’s truly an honor to have beaten such a great alliance.
Also, a shout out to team 68, who declined an alliance selection because their robot wasn’t working, when they could have accepted anyway and been carried along. It was the right decision, and I greatly respect you for that. Hope to see you at States! (and Nationals knock on wood)
Someone on our team got pretty hq videos of the final three matches, they’ll either be sent to the Blue Alliance or put on youtube, or both.
Thanks Skyline High for the awesome venue: plenty of seating and a good view of the field.
also, congrats to 66, 573, and 2337. those where some awesome matches!
for those who where wondering, yes, 68 did have a lot of technical issues this week… from programming problems to the rio dropping code to it just deciding to not work
even though someone did pick us during finals (thanks by the way) we decided that it wouldn’t be fair to anyone if we accepted knowing that our robot wouldn’t work and we didn’t have enough time there to fix it. thus, we declined and worked on our robot clear through finals. hopefully, we will have it all sorted out by Troy in two weeks.
once again, congrats to everyone, particularly Frog Force on the Chairman’s award win!
Thanks for all of the kind words. It was a fun weekend. Thanks to 2337 and 573 for there help. You guys made it alot of fun. Hope to see you guys at states.
On behalf of the Ann Arbor District Competition Planning Committee, I wanted to thank all of the teams to making it out to our event this weekend!
I would also like to extend a thousand thanks to all of the volunteers that made the event possible. We would not have been able to do it without you.
We’d like to continue to improve the event for next year, so please let us know what you really liked or thought could have been improved by PMing me. Thanks again!
