I like many others who attended Vex Worlds attended the skills finals/product reveal. While seeing a high score in driver skills I must admit I was slightly underwhelmed by this part of the event and the results where relatively predictable given everyone’s programming scores. I propose that next year it would be more entertaining to see teams have a programming skills run as their final run. This would help the top 10 teams in each age division to really boost their scores and really showcase just how good programmers can be. I’d like to hear other peoples opinions on this. Ultimately I ended up being slightly disappointed after leaving the expo centre that day. I would just like to say (just in case people get the wrong idea) Vex worlds was amazing this year and I absolutely loved it!
I agree. Programming still seems underappreciated in VEX compared to driver practice and especially hardware. Part of the problem is just that programming is not inherently perceptible, whereas people can look at a robot’s hardware or watch drivers in action during matches. I think a showcase of programming skills in Freedom Hall would not only bring more appreciation to software but also be more impressive than watching drivers consistently failing to achieve new high scores.
IMO top 10 teams should run programming then driver with a 5min break between. With the combined skills score/award only showcasing driver isn’t great especially when the programming aspect is arguably more important. Obviously scheduling would be tougher but that’s just a task for RECF staff. Plenty of space for a few more fields if required and tbh having 3 in such a large area looks a bit sparse anyhow.
The top 10 teams ran their fourth programming attempt before driver skills outside of freedom hall.
I wish that they showed the programming skills also in the skills finals. They are so good to watch.
Take less time revealing no products.
Yes, but qualification matches were also occurring during that time. Many teams, volunteers, and staff alike simply could not go watch the programming skills runs.
Additionally the camerawork, lighting, and other aspects of the Freedom Hall experience did not extend to the programming skills runs.
This. When Programming Skills used to be in the finals ceremony the robots with line followers did badly because of the stage lights. It’s no fun to watch failed skills runs. Also, even a good programming skills robot doesn’t work every time. Drivers skills is more predictable. Last, not everyone watching is on a team and this might be the only skills runs a lot of people see.
Programming skills top 10 was run under stage lighting last year and our team factored in varying lighting conditions and had no issues at all. Perhaps this stems from FLL and RoboCup Jr experience where handling lighting conditions is critical to success. Something teams can overcome and plan for so just part of the challenge.