North Carolina Competition

Other FIRST Tech Challenge
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My name is Albert McGraw, and I am captain of FTC Team 634 [Previously known as Team 1180] and we are currently At the North Carolina regional competition. I just have a few comments to add:

This has to be the WORST competition ever affiliated with FIRST that I have ever been to. There are multiple crystals in the limited selection of competition crystals that are fried. Radio reception is either very erratic or non-existent at point blank range. I have my doubts as to weather or not the REF’s are actually counting autonomous as a bonus period, and there are atleast 4-5 robots here who break rules as to robot design / construction [IE using more than 10 #32 size rubber bands, using approx 3-4 feet of no slip, etc.]. Also, both fields are constructed so that the “lip” on the perimeter is facing toward the middle of the field.

Also, I would like to point out that the competition template on the FIRST website is incorrectly coded. The autonomous for the FTC competition is only supposed to last 20 sec, whereas the “UlTime” variable for the autonomous in the template that www.usfirst.org leads you to is set at 45 sec, and the field controller does NOT override that time. We were fortunate to receive a copy of a template that is correctly coded, but not until after we went 25 sec in a timed match with no control of the robot.

All in all, this has to be the worst overall experience I have ever had working in the FIRST Robotics Competition and the FIRST Tech Challenge. In my past three years as a member of a FIRST related team, I have come to associate FIRST with quality, honesty, and professionalism. This competition is the exact opposite of all the previously mentioned descriptions.

-A grieving team in a very unorganized competition,
-Team 634

2

My name is Doug Kim, a member of FTC team 219, also attending this regional

Unfortunately enough, all of the statements above are, indeed, correct. A few teams are able to bypass several clearly stated rules indicated in the Game Manual released in September.

Our team had one particularly upsetting incident when we were issued a defective crystal. For the entire match, our drivetrain was not operational. Not until the end of the match did we realize that the RX1 light was not lit up.

After the game, we checked all connections. All the tethers to the crystal receivers were connected and both crystals were fully plugged in. Afterwards, we consulted the head ref on what to do with this. We switched the crystal’s receiver port and tether and discovered that the RX1 was, indeed again not lighting up.

We consulted the head ref; he asked us to switch the crystal’s receiver.
Our team’s drivers, the head ref, and myself [the team coach] all saw the RX2 slot refuse to light up. We asked him if we would be able to have a rematch, but he said no.

Normally, this wouldn’t have been a big deal. Unfortunately, this competition was set up so that it only allowed all teams 4 total matches. Hopefully now you see why we were upset.

I do disagree slightly with the opinion of the Robosmashers - mainly in that it is the worst tournament, cus that statement seems a slight bit exaggerated - though it has been the worsely organized of the two tournaments we’ve attended this year.

Regardless, I wish everyone who is advancing good luck and a HUGE thank you to the Robosmashers for getting us as far as we have at both of our regionals this year. 167 - You guys were an AMAZING alliance partner - our sincerest apologies go out to you - and we hope you find a way to advance as well.

Circuitrunners: FRC 1002 and FTC 219 signing out for the season.

3

Why this is unfortunate. We were at one point planning on going to this regional. I guess I’m glad we didn’t. Was the size of the tournament a factor? It was a fairly large tournament right?

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36 teams, 36 matches… personally i think they could have done more…

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It sounds horrible, but all i can say is that if it was the first NC regional give them a break if it wasnt then… yikes:eek:

-Misfit:cool:

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