[FRC Blog] 2015 FIRST Championship Updates

FIRST General Forum
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Posted on the FRC Blog, 3/9/15: ](http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-2015-frc-championship-updates)

2015 FRC Championship Updates

Blog Date: Monday, March 9, 2015 - 14:22

Guest blogging this week is Toby Clarke, the Program Manager for FIRST Robotics Competition. Toby manages the behind-the-scenes logistics that make our season possible, in addition to a lot of other tasks- including logistics for Championship. Some of you will have the opportunity to meet him, as he is an FTA for several events this year.

Hello FRC Community!

With the Championship in St. Louis now not far away, we want to provide you with an update on the ongoing planning for this event. We are very excited about this program.

As previously shared, we will be welcoming up to 600 teams to the event and they will be playing on a total of 8 fields. These 8 fields, or sub-divisions, will have 75 teams assigned to each. There will be 2 sub-divisions making up each of the 4 divisions. This means that there will be 150 teams eligible for the judged awards on each of the 4 divisions. The smaller sub-division structure will allow us to maximize the number of qualification play opportunities for each team and allow more teams (43% vs. 32%) to participate in the playoffs.

As Frank shared in an earlier blog, we have kept the four previous division names and added four new ones. Below is how these 8 sub-divisions will be grouped into the 4 divisions:

Newton – Hopper
Curie – Carver
Galileo – Carson
Archimedes – Tesla

Below are a few diagrams with details of the FRC Championship layouts. For more detailed drawings, please look at these files for the competition fields in the Edward Jones Dome and the pits in the America’s Center. If you look at the layouts, you’ll see that there are 8 competition fields on the floor of the Dome. In addition, there are 4 practice fields grouped together in the pits, between the Archimedes-Tesla division and FLL area. This is twice the number of fields for 50% more teams, which yields more team access.

In addition, there will be a team support area for spare parts and NASA Machine Shop services located centrally, near Pit Administration (indicated by the blue octagon between the Curie-Carver and Galileo-Carson pit areas). The main Robot Aisle is shown on the layout by thick red and green lines, which cut through the center of each division’s pit areas. These two lines represent two separate lanes, going either to or from the pits/dome/practice fields. Think of the Robot Aisle as a two-lane divided highway- we made this change to allow for easy robot transportation. You’ll see these lanes of traffic continuing from the Pit to the Dome layout, indicating how teams will enter and leave the Dome floor.

Edward Jones Dome Floor: Sub-Division Fields

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedImages/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/Pit%20Layout-%202015%20FRC%20Championship.PNG

**America’s Center: Pit Areas and FRC Practice Fields
**
http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedImages/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/Pit%20Layout%202-%202015%20FRC%20Championship.PNG

Following the conclusion of the sub-division playoffs, the Archimedes and Tesla fields will be transformed on Saturday afternoon to create two Einstein fields. This will provide the location where the winning alliances from each of the 8 sub-divisions will compete to determine the 4 team alliance that will be the 2015 FRC Champions.

The FIRST Championship Conferences are being expanded as well to provide more learning opportunities. The final schedule is planned to be released on Monday, March 25. For more information, visit http://www3.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/firstplace/workshops-and-conferences

As FIRST takes over St. Louis during Championship, be sure to check out *FIRST *Tech Challenge at Union Station and the FIRST Innovation Faire at the Renaissance Hotel. There will be shuttles continuously running between venues, to make it easy to move around the city.

We can’t wait to welcome all the qualifying teams and FIRST supporters to St. Louis. Good luck during the upcoming weeks and we hope to see you there!

Toby

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Is Eisntein on the opposite side of the dome now or am I really turned around?

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No, it’s still on the same side. Has to be, they won’t switch sides of the dome because the lounge for VIP guests is on the side of the dome they use now.

Green arrow is last year’s entrance. Red arrow is where FLL used to enter from.

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That does mean its reversed. Eintein used to be where hopper and newton are now.

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I see what you’re sayying now. That doesn’t make sense why they would switch sides.

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I hope each of the subdivisions alternates matches between their two fields, otherwise the noise from the partner field will be extremely annoying.

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If I am reading this right, teams in Archimedes and Tesla will have a pretty significant logistical advantage over those in other subdivisions.

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That’s a long walk from Hopper and Newton to those practice fields

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If the audio setup for each subdivision’s field is good, there shouldn’t be too much noise overlap. While alternating matches would eliminate ANY noise overlap, I can’t see that being a very efficient way to get through all 150+ quals in time.

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But its a pretty nice walk to the competition fields. Seems like a fair way to do it.

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That’s a relatively small HoF exhibit. Took me a while to find it on the layout.

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Why do you say that?

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Faster access to practice fields, as well as not having to move seating for Einstein matches are both pretty nice.

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Anyone have a Segway I can borrow? That’s an awful lot of ground to cover.

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Does anyone know what the circled I’s and P’s mean?

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Internet and Phone? Looks like an AV layout.

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I don’t see Einstein indicated on the map.
What I do see is a presentation stage between Archsla. (Tesimedes sounds like a bad disease. :yikes: )

I am guessing the Division playoffs will occur on alternating fields.
Should allow for that 6-minute cool-down no?
Also, it will keep the action going. Nice!

Logistically, the seating is going to be troublesome with a 25% increase in teams.
I hope they have adequate screens so everyone in the audience can watch the action on each field.
There are usually some seats reserved for the competing teams in the lower arena. Don’t want to have that duty.

Which one will be Einstein? It won’t be fresh per usual, but the FMS should be game-tested and the carpet will be well-worn.

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From OP:

Following the conclusion of the sub-division playoffs, the Archimedes and Tesla fields will be transformed on Saturday afternoon to create two Einstein fields. This will provide the location where the winning alliances from each of the 8 sub-divisions will compete to determine the 4 team alliance that will be the 2015 FRC Champions.

Edit: Also, not sure what the plans are this year… but if you wanted to honor the “fresh Einstein” field history this year… I don’t see carpet damage as being quite as bad as usual, and a fresh swap in of game elements and potentially scoring platforms or tote chutes would probably be sufficient to make it “like new” without the time invested in picking up a field and laying down a new one (clearly prohibitive).

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I like that there are now 3 convenient doorways to get into the pits instead of 1 main doorway. Also cool that the vendor/HOF areas are right in the middle of the pits, but it looks like a bit less floorspace. Overall it looks like a better layout than previous years. Also cool that from the stands, you have a good view of at least two fields.

Championships is getting to be pretty big.

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That VIP lounge on the west end eats up a lot of seating space. Putting Einstein on the east end gives many more seats for team members to use.