Just got home from the Traverse City, MI competition and it went well. Congrats to team 85, BOB and their alliance for the win. Thanks for choosing us as partners 904, and nice job 2188. With that being said, what were your thoughts/opinions one the whole match, those that attended? I thought all went well after the firmware update and WPA issues were resolved. We kept getting a WATCHDOG error on our bot thats, why we sat there motionless for like 3-4 matches. Dont know how or why that happened, and nobody really knew the answer either. I would like to bring up the scoring though. Dont take this as me saying, oh they scored badly, we should have won. But from my point of view, how the heck can the judges/volunteers keep score? The score changes on the board during the match, but how to the officials know how many balls are going into the trailer from that distance? Also, when they go to retrieve the balls, it seems as though there really is not much of an organized way to retrieve/add up the points. To me, it looked like every man for himself for the trailers just to empty them. Obviously, I may have no clue and am probably totally wrong about the whole issue. I was driving the whole time so I never had many opportunities to ask. What do you guys think about the scoring? What do you think about the whole thing? Like to hear everyone’s opinions. Congrats everyone and Great Job! 
Overall it was a great event and a great way to start off the district event structure in Michigan, and it’s only going to get better. I really couldn’t tell any difference from any other FIRST competition I’ve been to. The volunteers really pulled through and made this happen and made it a great experience for everyone. I really wasn’t sold on the new structure but now I’m buying stock on the success of it. The only thing in my opinion that could have been better was more refs, there were only four, maybe six is the lucky number, I don’t know what other events had throughout week one. Great job to everyone who made this event what it was at the quality it was achieved at.
We were pleased with the results of the competition, although there were some initial glitches as mentioned. The firmware thing could have been easily alleviated if the teams had their awareness together before getting into the ring. Maybe if a checklist was distributed to all teams in the pits Friday morning.
I was disappointed with the officiating also. We had some unfortunate penalties on our alliances that killed our ranking, yet there were penalties that were not evenly distributed in our opinion. But, that’s just part of the game and you have to accept that when you sign up. I think that more refs would have helped, but these guys are volunteers, so you got to thank the ones that volunteered.
And it was -10F Saturday morning!!!
I thought that the event went really well. Personally, I like smaller venues because it’s not so loud, and the new kids on the team don’t get lost so easily.
I did notice something really annoying at the beginning of the first day though. There were bouncers at the doors of the pit making sure that everyone who was let in had saftey glasses. Well, my team left our saftey glasses in the pits, and couldn’t get a student in there because of the bouncers. Therefore we were running around for 20 minutes trying to borrow glasses from other teams, but many were having the same problems as us. At the time I was furious, but in retrospect I give the volunteers kudos for making sure that everyone was safe!
Also, thanks alot 1918 and 2188 for being great alliance partners. That second to last match where we tied BOB, 2645, and another team (I forget which one) was amazing! I hope to see you guys at GVSU.
The event was allot better than I thought it was going to be, but it stiff didn’t fell like a FIRST event, it felt way more close to a off season event with a little science fair thrown in.
As for the scoring thing mentioned before, i agree it didn’t look like a very accurate way of scoring. several times we went on to the field to pick up our bot and had 2 people pulling balls out of our trailer and counting out loud and both had different #'s. I also think that since we fell SO behind on Friday that in the hurry hurry hurry to catch up in time that the scores might not have been as accurate as they could have been if everyone had slowed down just a bit and took a little more time.
Now with saying that i do not believe that a lot of the matches were completely effected by this(the alliance that won usually was supposed to win) as you could clearly tell, most of the time, what alliance had won. It was those close matches that should have been double and triple checked, especially in the elims.
I want to thank the volunteers for their effort i know that most of you were volunteering because it was mandatory, but we still needed it all the more.
Oh and one more note congrats to the winners.
I really enjoyed the competition, I didn’t really no what to expect because I am a rookie and this was my first event. I think the volunteers did a good job at keeping score, but may have missed a ball or two. Besides that I enjoyed the competion and can’t wait for the next.
Oh, btw, when EricLeifermann said it didn’t feel like a FIRST
I really enjoyed the competition, I didn’t really no what to expect because I am a rookie and this was my first event. I think the volunteers did a good job at keeping score, but may have missed a ball or two. Besides that I enjoyed the competion and can’t wait for the next.
Oh, btw, when EricLeifermann said it didn’t feel like a FIRST event, what would that mean? 
I don’t know 'cause I am a rookie and I am part of a Rookie Team.
I guess it was ok, but the problems for the robodawg teams were a pain! we could have done better. 216’s Pnumatics didnt work, and 288 had difficulty shooting. the problems with the feild didn’t help either. almost half of the rounds we were in shut our robot down for no reason. And my friend nearly feinted during Awards, and went to the hospital. He has Pnumonia [liquid in the lungs]. He is doing better, and he came back from the hospital the same day. [NOT THERE OVERNIGHT!!!]
But this being my FIRST [lol] big competition, it was fun. I met alot of people there. [and just for kicks, I will tell you that I am the girl carrying the stuffed bulldog around, Brutus]
I went to Traverse City Friday and Saturday to watch some matches and take notes on this year’s game and the district event system.
Pros:
The seating was great, much better than some I have attended
The energy from the teams was great
Having Competitions in schools gets more people to watch
Cons:
Major field problems on both days
The parking was terrible
The pits seemed cramped
All and all i thought it was a good competition. The eliminations were great and I definitly enjoyed it. Congrats to 2645, 85 and 247 as well as a great job to 904, 1918 and 2188.
Hopefully FIM will release a letter to all teams that tells them to update firmware before competing so there won’t be any problems with that in the future.
Besides that I think it all went pretty well, it was a nice venue to host the event in with ample seating for all and enough pit space for all teams (and a half practice field). Of course since it was the first event of its type there will be a few problems, but they all should be resolved for the next district event.
The “bouncer” you mention was a VOLUNTEER from our team that spent two days sitting at the entrance of the pits trying to keep you safe. Everyone knows the rules. YOU MUST WEAR SAFETY GLASSES IN THE PITS.
How were your safety glasses LEFT in the pits? Did you walk out of the pits NOT wearing your glasses? Whose fault was it that YOU didn’t have YOUR glasses? The volunteers or YOURS?
I’m glad in the end that you realized that it was not the volunteer’s fault that you didn’t have your glasses.
As far as the TC event went, I thought it was fine. Music wasn’t too loud, lots of seating, and easy to get from the pits to the field. The technical difficulties will probably be sorted out by next week.
Raffi
One of our mentors volunteered and ended up scoring. He told us that there are six, one for each robot. Each one has a electronic tally card like thing. Each time they see a ball go in, they make a note/hit a button. (I’m assuming this is how they manage to post scores during matches.) Once the match is over they go over to their robot and count the balls. If their numbers are off, then they have to talk to a ref. I’m not sure what the refs do if the numbers are off.
On an amusing side note, I’ve got a video of our mentor swiffering the floor.
I enjoyed the Traverse City District Event for the most part. We won many of our seeding matches and made it all the way to the finals. I would like to thank 903 and 1918 for alliance selection, you guys were great! Wish we would have won a few more awards though, it would have certainly helped with state rank. See you all at GVSU.
I loved it,
the stands were elevated for good views as well as tons of seating.
it was really fun and the teams there were great.
Traverse City was my second fav. comp. because of the fact it was big and our allience 904 and 2188 were awesome but we lost in the finals to B.O.B. and i dont remember the other 2 teams with him but htey were good
I didnt go to TC but i heard it was okay. State has the best hotel yet and it is the best competition because there is 64 teams. I joined late as a human player or else i what of been at TC.
Overall I think that the venue was a good fit. I liked the way you entered the field on one end and left the field on the other and there really didn’t seem to be too much issue with robot and visitor traffic interfering too much.
If I had to say 1 thing I did not like about the event was the Pits. They were not very evenly setup. I know that were not always going to get the full 10x10 but it would be nice if they were more even in size. There were some teams that almost seemed like they had 1.5 times more space than others. Since we came into the venue with a robot that still needed alot of work to be done to it and not just the basic maint. tasks we were constantly tripping over one another in the pits.
Other than the Pit issue I think everything went well there and think it would be a good fit again for another event just as long as they do better about evening out pit space.