I know quite a few clubs/schools have multiple robots going to Worlds. Since we have to fly to get there, we are interested in minimizing the equipment we need to bring on airplanes. I got to thinking, “How do we share tools and parts among the different teams from our club (school) when we are scattered all over the pits?” Then it occurred to me that perhaps our friends at IFI would put teams from the same program next to each other in the pits to make it easier to share. If 417, 418, 419, and 575 were next to each other it would make our lives much, much easier. How do other multi-team clubs/schools feel?
IFI, any chance of clustering sister-teams together?
I completely agree. I would assume/hope that pits will be arranged by number so that they are easier to find if you are; (looking for partners, scouting, etc.). I would believe that if your teams are for example 829A and 829T then you would be together but i see where your case it might make more sense for to arrange teams out of order for ease of the teams, rather than ease of event organizers and other teams. In previous events though we have been provided two tables we normally use one table to house the robots and the other to hold (battery chargers, laptops, tools etc.) and this has worked excellent for us but event organizers become confused when they come to cue you and there are is an empty table. I hope planning commitees and organizers put sister-schools together and leave the confusion to the staff to figure out rather than making it harder for teams to make repairs and such when they have to run to the opposite end of the pits to grab a wrench.
Nick
Most likely the pits will be arranged by number. The problem I see with, in your case rick, putting all your teams together is this. 417-419 will be in a row to start with but 575 will be a couple of pits away. If you were to put all 4 in a row and a team was looking for 575 they might have trouble finding their pit because they wouldn’t be between 574 and 576.
On the other hand, since most of the low numbers are inherited FVC/FTC team numbers, there’s at least a pretty good chance that 419 and 575 will be close enough together that anyone should be able to easily find us. Have you *seen *our t-shirts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2WcEBzfGY
That would be terrible - we’d have to be running from pit to pit, since we keep all our parts in communal bins. It also eliminates the possibility of pairing up with teams you’ve worked with in the past.
I would love it for the purpose of competition. It would be fun to see our kids competing with “strangers.” On the other hand, it will cause a lot of stress for our parents running around to see four (or five – still hoping to hear about the waiting list) teams competing.
Our problem is the same as yours in the pits. We don’t want to have to build separate parts kits for each team. We usually work out of a common pool of parts, especially at away tournaments. This could be problematic.
The thing is I would like seeing different teams then teams that we have played with before liek it would make it more of a challenge and it would be different
I know that if you registered your teams under the same number but with a letter following it, then they will all be in the same place. Like I’m from Highlands Intermediate School in Hawaii and our team number is 394 since we only have one team. But larger teams registered themselves with whatever number and added letters. (a, b, c, etc.) At the 3 competitions that we had here on my island, all the teams that had letters following their team number were all put next to each other.
One school I know who are also coming to the world championship went up to the letter F! (they had 6 teams total)
Amy Kanakuri
Highlands Intermediate School, team 394
At the FIRST championships, they mix teams up on purpose so veterans and rookies see each other in the pits. I don’t know if the IFI folks will follow that pattern or if they will just place us numerically.
The Gladstone Secondary School team from Vancouver, BC, has 15 competition teams, but they don’t use “a,b,c,d” etc. Like us, each of their teams has its own number, name, and team history. Our problem (like Gladstone’s) is that our numbers aren’t sequential: 417, 418, 419, 420*, 575, and 1899*. We just don’t want to have to run all over Dallas looking for tools and parts.
420 and 1899 are on the waiting list. 1899 is part of an FRC team that joined our club to do VRC after seeing one of our robots and wanted to keep their FRC number.
I know its beneficial for teams to be near each other but you also have the concern of. If your teams are in the same divison wouldnt the same schools want either one to win and bring it back for the school. RIght. Seeing Different teams are awesome, Like i would like to see some chinese, Colombian and other international teams for the experience
Last year at the FIRST Championships, the teams were placed in numerical number. This made it easy to find a team, considering there were 86 teams in each division.
I understand the “easy to find” argument, however I’m also concerned about the “having to have five complete sets of parts and tools when my teams are scattered all over the pits” problem. A pit map solves the first issue, but there is no corresponding simple solution for programs like ours or Gladstone Secondary, with multiple teams that are not sequentially numbered.
I am in complete agreement with you. Trying to walk between that many pits would be a nightmare. Even if they are side by side, it will still be difficult if two of your teams are trying to use the same tool/part/etc. at the same time.
Hopefully they will set them by team name, or school, and not just by number.