Championships for dummies

Competition Championship Event
#21

[quote=“Conor Ryan”]

Get Orientated:[/quote]

The first thing anyone should do is get to know where you are, take a look at some maps (GWCC has a nice Virtual Tour that covers the entire site), look for the quick ways to get from place to place. The Georgia Dome and World Congress Center is no small venue. The path to get your robot to the field is long, so if you have time make your cart a little easier to handle.

Looking at your VR link, where would the pits be? Build C, Level 1?

And in relation to the VR maps, where would the CNN food court be?

#22

Just to clarify, FLL has a practice and judging day on Thursday, competition on Friday, and awards ceremonies on Saturday. I’ve been asked to be a judge.

#23

That’s umm… Donuts… spelled the right way. :wink:

I have a much better map than the VR one that I have saved as a link at home. I’ll link that here unless I can find it in the next half hour.

#24

I’ll echo what Genia said about scouting. To put it lightly - it’s difficult. Double the teams from most regionals and increase your walking distance significantly and you’ll have an idea of what Nationals is like. Last year, we tried to rotate people in and out of scouting but you need a lot of team members to do this.

I found that doing it by hand is easy and more practical. Make a spreadsheet on Excel and print them prior to competition, one for each team and a few extras just in case. Get a binder and put all the teams in order by number. Have one person before your team’s match go back with the papers to the pits and strategize with the drivers. Simple and effective - no computer required. We even had people put their names down on the sheets to hold people accountable for their information.

#25

Ok, here is some great info for first time people heading to Atlanta:

Just to give you an idea of the scale of THIS MAP, It took myself and 3-4 other people 10 minutes to walk from the outside doors of the Georgia Dome to the Front Door of the CNN Center/Foodcourt.

General info here:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=304769&postcount=8

Maps and more travel while in Atlanta info in the overall thread here:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31494&highlight=atlanta+map

More of the above info repeated in another thread, but this time a map of restaurants as well:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=418764&postcount=7

And then you have the official Tourist page for the 2006 FIRST Robotics Competition from the Atlanta Tourism Board where a lot of that above info came from:

http://first.atlanta.net/

#26

If you’ll be using the public transportation system a lot (MARTA), consider purchasing the discounted pass: http://www.itsmarta.com/howto/special/eventdetails.asp?id=80

#27

Sneakers are required in the pits. Wear them. You can wear flip flops when you get home.

Closed toe shoes are required, not necessarily sneakers. Open toe shoes are prohibited in the pits.

#28

Even if you’re on the drive team, it’s still a long walk. Make sure you have comfortable shoes on.
Another important thing that I learned last year is to make sure your cart has good wheels on it. The wheel bearings in our cart wore out last year at the beginning of Atlanta, and it was a long three days pushing that thing back and forth.

#29

Even if you are only there for the experience, scouting is part of the experience. 2 years ago I think we had 4 people actively walking around, and a few people in the stands. The people watching matches never wrote anything down, but they could generally give us an idea of how well the team was doing. The people pit scouting had a notebook with basic questions, but I’m not really sure how much they were used. We certainly didn’t expect to go far (and didn’t) but it gave people on the team something to do, which they seemed to enjoy. Even if you aren’t expecting to go far, scouting is a really good way to look at other robots and pick up some ideas for next year.

#30

Elgin Clock said:

And then you have the official Tourist page for the 2006 FIRST Robotics Competition from the Atlanta Tourism Board where a lot of that above info came from: First Atlanta Tourism Page

Thanks very much for that info as I have not seen that page before and I live in the Atlanta area.

Dave :slight_smile:

#31

Actually, if you are in a time crunch, the main pit entrance had a temporary mini-food court, with a lot of the same places as you’d see at CNN. Or you can try the stadium food at the Dome.

MARTA–Definitely very good. If you are near the airport, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of a pass. If you’re walking distance from the venue, it’s pretty much one way on arrival, the other way on departure.

Shoes: plan for walking; if you are going from venue to pit with scouting data for your drive team, make sure you can hustle in your shoes.

Final note: Da Vinci is VEX territory and has two fields; Einstein is FLL territory until Saturday afternoon, when it becomes the Championship field.

#32

Oh by the way.
If you are lookign for instant inspiration you should visit the FIRST Hall of Fame and see how all of those Chairman’s Award winning teams runa first rate program adn see how you can also do more for the FIRST community.

#33

Is the schedule still the same at the Championship?

Section 8.2
8.2 Practice Round

Do you still have Thursday as practice day, Friday and Saturday for quailifying rounds?

#34

The agenda for Championships can be found here. It was just updated this week.

#35

Regarding the workshops at the championships,

1- If we purchase a pass to one or all days, does the pass allow us into just one workshop that day, or as many workshops as we want to attend on that day?

2- Key members of our team will not be able to attend workshops that would really help improve our team because they are needed elsewhere, such as in the pits and on the drive team. So will we be able to bring in a video camera and record the workshops so the whole team can view it later on?

Thanks for all your help!

#36

Food–Last year, there was some type of cafe place in the CNN center that was popular for breakfast. Bacon, eggs, muffins, & most everything. Drawback: long lines. For lunch, there was a big BBQ setup on the grass outside the GWCC. I didn’t try it, but it was obviously a hit (meaning, long lines).

Weather–In 2004, it was beautiful, sunny and warm the whole time. Last year, it was near-freezing, with the occasional soaked-to-the-skin downpour. So check the weather before you go! If there’s any chance of rain, carry a poncho with you every time you’re outdoors. The weather in Atlanta can do just about anything in the spring, from “fire weather” to hurricanes.

#37

Whoa, near-freezing? Are we talking about the same event? lol :wink:

I thought that the weather at the Championships in 2005 was really warm (except Saturday morning); I was wearing a tee shirt and shorts the whole time. I’m pretty sure the temperatures were in the upper sixties and lower seventies for all three days.

Then again, being from New England I consider anything over 55-60 F warm. :stuck_out_tongue:

#38

I’m guessing she was talking about Saturday night’s wrap party. I know some people on my team who likened it to being back in CT in April, which isnt that bad, but it’s a shock when you realize you are down south where it is supposed to be like 70+ degrees every day. (Or, that’s what the southerners I talk to would like to have us northerners think anyways :ahh: )

#39

Last year’s wrap party WAS cold (especially when you are dumping buckets of ice on each other at the end of the event - a yearly ritual now for a certain team…). Bring a jacket with you to Saturday’s competition if they are expecting cooler temps and you plan to attend the wrap party.

JoelP- 1- If we purchase a pass to one or all days, does the pass allow us into just one workshop that day, or as many workshops as we want to attend on that day?
An individual one-day pass allows one person to attend as many session as (s)he wants, on that one day only. A three day pass would allow attendance at any session you want. A 5-person pass allows you to transfer the pass among your team members so that any 5 people can attend any session(s) on the day or days you purchase passes for.

2- Key members of our team will not be able to attend workshops that would really help improve our team because they are needed elsewhere, such as in the pits and on the drive team. So will we be able to bring in a video camera and record the workshops so the whole team can view it later on?
I do not believe that is possible. However, all presenters have been asked to provide copies of their sessions which will be posted on the FIRST website at a later date.

#40

Sunday, April 24, 2005 (the day after last year’s Championship), the low was 34 F in Atlanta. It was a record low for that date since record-keeping began in 1878. I got this information from the
NOAA site. The average low for April was 50.3 F. And yes, I heard the Atlanta natives complaining about the cold. But it WAS “fire weather” a few days before that!

My point is, check the weather before you go, and come prepared.