On one hand, yes, this change is more “fair” to all teams regarding the type of field interactions they get at each kickoff event.
On the other hand, it does so by dragging down the resources available to ALL teams. Machester kickoff teams have always had an edge in the field available to them, but several teams have made a concerted effort to record videos and interactions of official field elemetns and game pieces. I will miss that resource.
I’m fine with this as long as they follow up with an announcement that the team drawings will be better than ever and that they’ll be putting a bigger focus on field videos this year.
Who’s ready for a back-to-back all out dance party in İstanbul this year! 6 days of mad fun! <3. 2-4, and 5-7 March are gonna be rockin’!
I just sent an email to Frank expressing my concerns with this decision, and I encourage anyone who doesn’t like this decision to do the same. The teams I’ve worked with have always relied heavily on the videos, photos and experiences provided by the teams in attendance to inform our decisions and prototypes in the early stages of the season, and I think this change hurts far more teams that it benefits by being “fair”.
I remember some of the most useful resources in the early days of each season was watching the team-recorded and posted videos of the fields from Manchester. Alongside the official field tour videos, these were extremely useful in getting a sense of scale and seeing the small details of the field. I’ll really miss these publicly beneficial tools.
Sent a note to Frank. I also suggested that they add a team walkthrough, by a known team attending, to the standard NASA broadcast. So we all get access to a team perspective.
I have never watched more than a couple minutes of “team” videos since the creation of the Field Tour videos. So I’m not too concerned about that.
However… the creation of a second Turkey regional AFTER many Turkish teams have registered for 2nd events in the US… and AFTER all the Chinese teams have been relocated to events in the US is a little perturbing. Seems like it would have been a great option for some of those teams who were already planning to do an out-of-country event if they had known in advance.
From the sounds of it, this wasnt exactly well known to the RD’s beforehand either, and was only just approved.
This is still four months in advance. Teams are still allowed to change their registration.
Never though I’d see someone complain about adding more events in areas that have the demand for them…
For many Turkish teams - the ones that can afford it (and that number is shrinking due to the Turkish economy 
) this is an incredible opportunity. I don’t know if American student value travel and seeing new places very highly, I don’t remember valuing it that highly when I was a student, though I did it anyways, and it well, changed my life I suppose. If I hadn’t travelled and fallen in love with İstanbul, I suppose I’d be working in Seattle as an architect as I had planned (and maybe Turkey would still have like 8 teams instead of >90).
Anyways - Travel is huge for them.
But, even with a few of them traveling (I’m sure some of them will retreat as they realize its unaffordable ) There’s 92 Turkish teams at my last check. We like to welcome international teams here in Turkey, so while welcoming our foreign guests, we have too many teams in Turkey to handle them all here (even with two events). And many of them are rookies (something like 36 rookies so far, with new ones singing up each day).
The timing is coincident with the conclusion of the 2018 Turkish Robotics Off-Season and team growth within Turkey, and nothing else really.
In a rare show of solidarity, I agree with you on this.
I think it would be neat if we could nominate someone who attends the Manchester kickoff to be allowed on the carpet to film, take pictures, and interact with the field. I understand FIRST produces those field tour videos but those videos are often times a bit too scripted. Having a person interact with the field who had no prior information or interaction on video usually gave a lot of insight on things to watch out for at competition.
Interesting update.
I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Manchester kickoff every year since 2011. Its special to be in FIRST’s backyard and have this experience available for teams who can then share with the broader community. Each year there are posts on CD that get clarification from people like myself and others who can provide direction for how field elements are built, elements interact, or other items you can only experience up close. Others have done a great job of sharing videos, pictures, and other forms of media of the field for teams to see. It will be interesting to see how this update changes things for the FRC community when the Field Tour videos don’t show all of the “gotcha” items on the field.
Its going to be impossible to create a level playing field in FRC and this update seems to be trying to solve one of the lesser/odder inequities in FRC.
Member of the most recent CA team (1311 this year) might accompany FRC staff who produced the tour videos onto the Kickoff field just after reveal, to touch the elements and ask questions. Most of the answers will probably be “that’s covered in the tour videos,” and it will be interesting to see if the team notices something that staff forgot to include.
Unicorns prance along a rainbow bridge, crossing a cultural chasm … 
The one I remember best is the SteamWorks climbing plate that had a metal bar on the middle. Finding that out changed where our climber was located. We were very happy to find out early. Thanks to those videos, we saved a lot of valuable build time not building it in the wrong place.
Maybe there is more here. A field just for robots. Side loading pods?
edit: Multiple handles with randomized glyphs that you use to open the pod to the field by pulling the correct one. Also, end game could involve returning the the pod.
allowed to view the field from the perimeter but will not be allowed on the carpet
I am hoping this means no lunacy type floors.
Even Lunacy had carpet underneath the regolith.
Assume you meant to say HOF since 1311 is from GA? Alternative team selection could be a lottery (FRC fall back for fairness) too. Prospect of possible ability of a team at the kickoff getting on the field could help insure decent attendance at the Manchester Kick off also