This is a stacking game, designed around constructing perilously balanced stacks of slippery cubes. It wouldn’t be logical to have non-level fields, as that completely corrupts the goal of this game. Cube positioning can be dealt with. Incorrectly build field risers cannot. It is simply not fair to require teams to compete for Worlds spots with conditions such as these.
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@OscarMNOVA12 you were there personally. Was the issue this serious, or are these reports embellished?
Either way… the situation has been brought up to the necessary parties and will be handled accordingly.
As a note about the elevated fields, the platforms themselves are rented. Their condition may vary, and is not controlled by the EP directly in this case. I refer to my above statement.
@Sylvie - Balancing with 11 stacks on the one field has been difficult for multiple teams. There’s been some struggles with 6 or 7 cubes.
When the field was inspected and the issue was discussed, staff ensured they would do what they could to fix the leveling issue.
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To get something 12 feet square level to within 1 degree is almost impossible. You would need a steel plate a few inches thick to prevent warping, then you would have to have adjustable legs.
And for those that don’t know, concrete floors are neither level or flat.
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As for Worlds, the platforms that RECF uses are custom made for RECF and are likely much better constructed for their purpose than the platforms that most events rent from a company that rents staging and such. We used those rented platforms for both the Lambeau Field Signature event and for our state championship. We did all that we could to make them level. That is all we could to. We did get some feedback from a few of the competitors at the Signature Event that the corners of the fields were slightly off, we checked at the State event and found them to be ok.
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The argument seems to be it disadvantages teams scoring 7+ stacks and has reduced or no affect on teams scoring 7- stacks.
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The practice fields were flat, so obviously the floor there was a lot more flat than the elevated fields. I would say if venues can’t get a field very close to flat why elevate the fields if it effects robot performance so much?
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presentation. Look and feel.
Many State Championships are trying to elevate their status to give a Worlds like feel, to make everyone have a good experience. This has been stated multiple times by the RECF. (Also a reason signature events exist).
You want your State championship to feel a step up from your run of the mill local event.
Also - teams were able to stack 11 day 2.
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How exactly do you suggest that teams adapt? This isn’t skyrise where simply placing the skyrise section in a different spot would work. These cubes do not interlock. If the field is tilted significantly, then it is the laws of physics that will bring stacks down through gravity. What would you have these teams do? Apply sticky glue to the cubes? Use tractor beams?
The rules of this year’s game severely restrict teams from doing anything related to holding stacks and keeping them from falling. The only way for teams to “adapt” would be to literally stop stacking beyond 7 or so cubes. The only course of action that teams could take that I see is to stop playing the game, which is ridiculous. G3 absolutely applies here.
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I mean… the teams in the finals managed to adapt and were stacking 10+ cubes, even with non-ideal field leveling.
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But finals was on the second day where you guys fixed 1 field, improved 1 field, and left 1 field. And finals matches were on the field you guys fixed.
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Field 3 was the ok field. Complaints were for fields 1 and 2.
Teams still stacked big stacks on Fields 1 and 2 during eliminations.
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I was a referee at this event and watched the majority of the matches. On the first day of competition some of the goal zones were unlevel to the point that they were affecting match results. The blue unprotected zone on field 2 was so bad that any stack over 5 was falling. Efforts were taken before day 2 to improve conditions. While many of the corners were still unlevel, 10+ stacks we’re possible in all goal zones. By the elimination rounds, the best teams had adapted to the unideal conditions and we’re consistently putting up 10+ stacks even in “bad corners.” In the end, the unlevel goal zones had a minimal impact on the elimination rounds.
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On day 2, teams were able to get used to the goal zones because they were better then the previous day, but the previous day had already ruined multiple teams records. Some examples of teams who did bad during the first day and did very well on the second day were 2145Z (0-4 first day and 4-0 second day), 20164X(1-3 first day and 4-0 second day), 56736C (1-3 first day and 3-1 second day), and 80508X (1-3 first day and 3-0-1 second day). Although there may have been other factors outside of the fields, these were top Virginia teams all with cube capacity over 10 that performed poorly on the first day and well on the second day.
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Does anyone have a picture of the offending fields? Or did you measure the height of the field corners from the (hopefully close to level) floor?
A 2 degree incline implies about a 5 in height difference from one end of the field to the other. I don’t doubt that there was an incline or that it would affect play, but if was really that pronounced, I kinda want to see it.
I don’t have any pictures but we could clearly see stacks were leaning and we used a level to check the field corners. I do have a video of 11 stack falling in the wrong direction lol.
There is a q&a about this, this has been an issue throughout the season
https://www.robotevents.com/VEXU/2019-2020/QA/575
Maybe if we bring attention to this it will be answerd sooner
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Best I have
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You said:
And a referee said:
And lacsap said:
I took this to mean that lacsap believed that the fields should have been left as they were on day one, and that instead of the fields being fixed (which it seems like they were to a somewhat reasonable degree), teams should “adapt”. My point was that if a section of the field was unlevel and not able to even sustain a 6 stack, then no amount of team adaptation was going to change that.
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certainly that was the way it was at Worlds during Skyrise - the decision was to leave the fields the way they were. In a situation where all fields were having different issues should give pause.
I think the take away lesson is to look carefully at the fields before start of competition.
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