Our 4-H robotics club just hosted the Second Northwest Maryland VEX Robotics competition in Westminster, Maryland on Oct 31. Here are some things we noticed this year that may be helpful to other event partners and teams:
To start, we ran a combination VEXNet/crystal event. All teams were encouraged to use VEXNet, and teams who chose to run crystals did so at their own risk We would not accept complaints about interference and bad crystals. From an event organizer perspective VEXNet is great! From a coach perspective, VEXNet is still a little frustrating. It seems solid once you get everything working properly. Teams transitioning to VEXNet, buy the $19.99 VEXNet Competition Switch and test, test, test…. I believe in the end VEXNet will improve the quality of events. But don’t expect to place VEXNet on your robot and head to your next competition without thorough testing of your code and robot.
Template problems- We had many teams show up with old versions of the Easy C and Robot C templates in use. When I say old, I do not mean last year, but rather, versions that were downloaded a month or two ago. The developers of both Easy C and Robot C have been releasing new updates (templates, master code and software updates) fairly regularly. All teams should look on the appropriate website for their programming environment a day or two before their upcoming competitions to make sure they are running the most up to date versions of programming software (Easy C or Robot C), Master Code, and competition templates. While we delayed our start to try to ensure teams would run on the field, some spent several hours solving their software problems and they kissed some matches. Teams running VEXNet seemed to be most vulnerable to the issues associated with old templates and software. As I said above, buy the switch and test thoroughly! … and when I say test, drive your robot and make it work hard as you would in competition.
VEXNet Backup Batteries- We had teams without VEXNet backup batteries. If yours was backordered, I understand IFI (VEX) now has them in stock. But IFI seems to have forgot to ship to the teams who did not receive them with their VEXNet upgrades. In another post I saw where IFI is asking that teams contact them with their VEXNet order number and they will ensure you receive your backordered battery holders and cable. When running without the backup battery, it appeared that excessive current draw resulting in a battery brown-out would reset the radio link, and when controlled by the field VEXNet did not always re-establish the link once lost.
New VEXNet Field Controllers- We had some challenges getting MS Windows to install the field controller driver correctly. But once we overcame this issue, the field controllers worked very well. This is an issue we have experienced in the past with old field controllers as well. The addition of the LEDS showing disabled, autonomous and driver modes on the new field electronics are wonderful. Unfortunately, we found all the LEDS on the VEXNet backpack rather confusing . Each field manager and ref really needs guide to compare colors and blink rates to figure what’s going on with a robot that did not run.
Scoring- Congratulations to IFI for a great game, but scoring is a challenge until the refs get the hang of things. We had a couple mistakes at the start where refs reversed the Blue and Red scores because of the position of the teams is opposite of the scoring zones.
Field Reset and Match Schedule- We were able to run six minute match spacing quite comfortably once we got everything flowing properly. We alternated between 2 fields. Expect the first 4 to 6 matches to go somewhat slower due to the Refs figuring out the scoring and the field reset volunteers getting up to speed. Very ambitious event organizers could probably shorten the match spacing to 5 minutes or maybe even 4.5 minutes.
Entanglement- We had a number of instances of entanglement where teams were trying to dump over the wall and a team on the other side was blocking. Some instances were cleared quickly, but a couple bordered on entanglement with intent to hold and disable an opponent. Warnings were given by the Refs, but I believe we had no disqualifications. Teams need to be careful with their designs to ensure they cannot be held responsible for entanglement.
Tournament Manager Software- IFI has done an excellent job adding features to Tournament Manager that helps with running of the event and provides more information to teams and the field operators.
Robot Sizing- Teams, be careful with your robot size. The rules this year do not allow touching of the sizing box. We had a couple teams who came with designs that needed to be crammed into the box and had zip ties and more rigid items touching the slightly generous sizing box that we used. The box cannot be supporting or touching any part of your robot. If you do not have a sizing box, a couple 24” framing squares (available at most any hardware store) and a tape measure will help you determine your actual size. If you are pushing the size limits, don’t just eyeball it assume you will be ok. Fixing your robot size as the competition starts without you is no fun! Oh, and your flag must fit within the box as well, without touching. Though I do have another comment on flags below.
Flags- Are they really needed this year? There is no mixing of the Red and Blue alliance robots, and I am all for eliminating any item that is not needed. Even the smallest item, like the occasional missing flag that must be found and installed can slow down an event.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Hopefully someone finds some of this info helpful.