New time schedule

FIRST General Forum
#1

Posted by Andy Grady, Coach on team #42, P.A.R.T.S, from Alvirne High School and Daniel Webster College.

Posted on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST

As much as I love the competition, I am kinda uneasy about the fact that we will be competing until 9pm. I mean seriously, i was tired in Hartford and we were only done at 5. If you see someone curled up into a little ball on the bleachers in the morning, that will be me, wake me up so i don’t miss anything. Oh and another thing, does this mean we are gonna have some artificial lighting this year. I cant remember if there was any lights in the past.
Good Luck
Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne HS

#2

Posted by Jon, Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Mass Academy of Math and Science and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Posted on 4/8/99 10:44 AM MST

In Reply to: New time schedule posted by Andy Grady on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST:

: As much as I love the competition, I am kinda uneasy about the fact that we will be competing until 9pm. I mean seriously, i was tired in Hartford and we were only done at 5. If you see someone curled up into a little ball on the bleachers in the morning, that will be me, wake me up so i don’t miss anything. Oh and another thing, does this mean we are gonna have some artificial lighting this year. I cant remember if there was any lights in the past.
: Good Luck
: Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne HS

Naptime during the day… always a good idea… remember with a circa 200 team roster it will take a little while to go around, i’m sure nap rotations are in order if a good night’s sleep isn’t enough.
I like the idea of games until 9 because we’d probably stay there working on our robots until pit closing time anyways!

{I say that now but who knows! maybe it will be too strenous… only time can tell}

The countdown is on!
Jonathan

#3

Posted by Nate Smith, Student on team #74, Holland FIRST Robotics, from Holland High School and Haworth, Inc…

Posted on 4/8/99 10:53 AM MST

In Reply to: New time schedule posted by Andy Grady on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST:

I was just wondering where the new schedule came from…I was just at FIRST’s site, and haven’t seen anything yet…

#4

Posted by Raul, Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.

Posted on 4/8/99 12:41 PM MST

In Reply to: Where is this info? posted by Nate Smith on 4/8/99 10:53 AM MST:

Hi all…

The long-awaited agenda for the Nationals is finally here!!! Be prepared
for long days…we tried to get as many qualifying matches in as we could
with the amount of teams going. There will be a total of 6 matches per team.

There will be a team update coming out on the FIRST website by the end of
the week to give details of the alliance selection change etc…

To all Rookies (and others too)…remember to check out at the pit
registration table at the end of the event on Saturday to pick up your
R-nets (if you’ve given us your $500 deposit).

If you have any questions…please don’t hesitate to give me a call!
(x427) I will do my best to get back to you as quickly as I am able.
-Lori- :slight_smile:

Thursday, April 22, 1999
Operating Hours:
Pit Hours 8am-9pm
Theater Hours 11am-9pm
6:30am Food court opens at Epcot arena
8:00am Pit and Machine shop open
8am-10am Team Registration
9am-9pm Robot Inspections (at pit stations)
11am-6:30pm Practice Rounds
6:30pm-9pm Qualifying Matches
9:00pm Pit and Machine shop close

Friday, April 23, 1999
Operating Hours:
Pit Hours 8am-9pm
Theater Hours 9am-9pm
6:30am Food court opens at Epcot arena
8:00am Pit and Machine shop open
9:00am Opening Ceremonies
9:30am Qualifying Matches
1pm-2pm Lunch Break
2pm-9pm Qualifying Matches
9:00pm Pit and Machine shop close

Saturday, April 24, 1999
Operating Hours:
Pit Hours 7am-6pm
Theater Hours 9am-8pm
5:30am Food court opens at Epcot arena
7:00am Pit and Machine shop open
8:00am Opening Ceremonies & Scholarship Awards Presentation
8:45am-11:30am Qualifying Matches
11:30am-12:15pm Alliance Pairings - 1 team representative report to west
side of
Einstein stage
12:15pm-1:00pm Lunch Break
1pm-5pm Elimination Matches
5:15pm 2 team representatives meet at front of Newton stage
6:15pm Awards Ceremony
8:15pm Wrap party in Future World West
10:30pm Transportation for return to hotel

#5

Posted by Peter VanWylen, Student on team #107, Team ROBOTICS, from Holland Christian High School and Metal Flow Corp…

Posted on 4/9/99 3:00 PM MST

In Reply to: EMAIL from Lori follows posted by Raul on 4/8/99 12:41 PM MST:

Who does Lori send these e-mails to? Our team never gets any.
I guess we are out of the loop somehow.

-Peter

#6

Posted by Michael Betts, Engineer on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.

Posted on 4/9/99 4:08 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: EMAIL from Lori follows posted by Peter VanWylen on 4/9/99 3:00 PM MST:

: Who does Lori send these e-mails to? Our team never gets any.
: I guess we are out of the loop somehow.

: -Peter

Peter,

It should be either Jim Schaddelee and/or Kevin Brown. It’s a bit strange that there are two main team contacts listed for your team. Most teams only have one. Maybe that’s the problem?

Bear in mind that this only applies to emails that she ‘broadcasts’ to the world. Many of the postings that I’ve seen here are individual responses to individual inquiries. As such, ‘everybody’ would not receive them.

Check with Jim and Kevin. Lori’s last 3 emails were about scholarships and internships for which FIRST students are eligible. If they did not get these, they should contact FIRST and resolve the problem.

Mike

#7

Posted by Michael Betts, Engineer on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.

Posted on 4/9/99 4:09 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: EMAIL from Lori follows posted by Peter VanWylen on 4/9/99 3:00 PM MST:

: Who does Lori send these e-mails to? Our team never gets any.
: I guess we are out of the loop somehow.

: -Peter

Peter,

It should be either Jim Schaddelee and/or Kevin Brown. It’s a bit strange that there are two main team contacts listed for your team. Most teams only have one. Maybe that’s the problem?

Bear in mind that this only applies to emails that she ‘broadcasts’ to the world. Many of the postings that I’ve seen here are individual responses to individual inquiries. As such, ‘everybody’ would not receive them.

Check with Jim and Kevin. Lori’s last 3 emails were about scholarships and internships for which FIRST students are eligible. If they did not get these, they should contact FIRST and resolve the problem.

Mike

#8

Posted by Jason Leslie, Other on team #157, The Aztechs, from Assabet Valley RTHS and Simplex / EMC / Intel Massachusetts / Ascend .

Posted on 4/8/99 4:29 PM MST

In Reply to: New time schedule posted by Andy Grady on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST:

Think about this guys…

If it is going to be such a BIG DEAL that the competition will go until
9pm if you are done before then GO TO YOUR HOTEL otherwise DEAL!

Not to sound mean, but hey this is a competition no a vacation your going
to be there to compete just because there is the option of going into the
parks does not mean you have to.

I know FIRST should have had this all figured out back in January, but
they didn’t.

Jay #157

P.S.
THESE REMARKS ARE NOT THOSE OF TEAM 157 IN ANY WAY!!!

and oh yeah at least your all going to be there. I was there the last 2
years competing as the human player and I thought that it wasn’t fair that
all the other team members could go to the park but I had to deal with it.

I’ll see you all next year and some of you at Rumble at the Rock this
summer.

#9

Posted by colleen, Student on team #126, Gael Force, from Clinton High School and Nypro.

Posted on 4/8/99 5:32 PM MST

In Reply to: New time schedule posted by Andy Grady on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST:

just a note on that lighting… yes, last year there was lighting on the stage, depsite the sun, just to be sure you can see all corners of the field, so i’m sure it’ll be the same this year, similar to the lighting for regionals.

colleen

#10

Posted by Joe Johnson, Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST

In Reply to: New time schedule posted by Andy Grady on 4/8/99 10:20 AM MST:

I have already gone on record as supporting more Qualifying Matches, so I can hardly complain about long days. In addition, I have written elsewhere that I could care less about going to the parks.

But…

I realize that I am not in the majority on this issue.

So…

I submit the following proposal. Perhaps FIRST will adopt it.

Let everyone play everyone on Thursday’s and Saturday’s QM’s, but break the competition up into groups for Friday’s QM’s.

If 1/2 of the teams had 4 QM’s in the morning/early PM and the other 1/2 had their QM’s in the late afternoon/evening.

In this way folks who want to see the park will have a block of time to do so.

Addressing some potential objections:

FIRST does not truly randomize each round of QM matches anyway, so objections to grouping teams in halves are not well considered.

Teams can hardly object to having to play rounds too frequently after most teams playing 8 or more on in less than 8 hours on a Friday at a regional (Philly and Ypsi regionals not included).

As to fairness, get over it :wink: This sword cuts both ways:

For some teams it will be a bonus to have extra time on Friday AM to improve their robot but I am sure just as many teams will break after their 5th match and wish they had Friday PM to fix it. That’s the way the floppy flops!

So… what to you think?

Joe J.

#11

Posted by Tom Wible, Coach on team #131, chaos, from central high school manchester and osram-sylvania.

Posted on 4/8/99 7:44 PM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

Nice proposal Joe! I hope that FIRST listens to your idea and implements it.

Tom Wible

#12

Posted by Dodd Stacy, Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.

Posted on 4/8/99 8:44 PM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

I think grouping the Friday QM’s has a lot of merit, for a number of reasons.

Glad to read that you’re making an appearance to lead some cheers, and other stuff.

Dodd

#13

Posted by Andy Grady, Coach on team #42, P.A.R.T.S, from Alvirne High School and Daniel Webster College.

Posted on 4/8/99 9:33 PM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

I think Joe has a good idea. However I must pose this question. Im starting to think that half the reason why i was so tired in Hartford was the fact that we hardly had any break inbetween matches. Many times we would roll our machine from one field to the other fields on deck area right after one match. Would this happen with the grouping? Now don’t get me wrong, i love the competition, and whether it lasts til 5 or 9 ill have a good time there. However you must also think about the conditions that Florida brings. The heat and sun really get to me after a while. We had a few members of my team last year get heat stroke or severe sun poisoning. Thats bad enough and was the result of about 5 hours less work than we will have to deal with this year. I guess we will have to deal with whatever happens :slight_smile: Ill do it with a smile,(and possibly a snore)
Cya all in florida,
Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne HS

#14

Posted by Raul, Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.

Posted on 4/9/99 6:06 AM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

Not having considered all the variables, I think I agree for one main reason: I don’t know what it will feel like to wait an average of 2.5 hours between matches.

Raul

#15

Posted by Michael Betts, Engineer on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.

Posted on 4/9/99 11:54 AM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

I agree with the Good Doctor.

I don’t care about the parks so much but it would be nice to sleep in or hit the sack early on Friday.

#16

Posted by Jacob Etter, Student on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells and ONSI Corp.

Posted on 4/16/99 6:05 PM MST

In Reply to: Long days … No problem posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 7:21 PM MST:

I agree with you, we’re down there for the comp not the parks but one negative side you forgot to mention is that most teams scout everymatch so some peeps would have to work all day. Also be sure to vist our NEW team startegy page at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/5757/team177.htm and our normal site which is listed below

#17