The Tournament

[Administrator]

Reply to this post to ask a question about The Tournament.

[Raj]

Not sure where to post this question, sure you will move it to the right forum. The Definitions define the Driver as a pre-college student team member...
This definition might be a little vague for the types of students that participate in FIRST. For Example, some students have run out of math classes at their high school and are taking a college class at the local community college, is that example still pre-college? There is a new program started out in our area where the students are still considered and registered in the High School District but they take classes part-time through the the local community college, their 'school' is located on the campus of the college. At the end of their high school career, they will have their AA degree too. So is pre-college defined as registered in a high school or high school home school equivalent? If they are taking college classes in conjunction with high school is that still considered pre-college?

A: If they are still enrolled in a high school program and have not received their high school diploma (or home school equivalent), they would be considered pre-college - regardless of whether they are taking college courses during their last years of high school or not.

[Professor Proton]

On page 18 of game manual, under the heading Internet/Wireless Network Access: Teams may not setup a wireless computer network for any purpose....as team computer to robot...is the adhoc wireless connection set up for the Samantha module considered in this rule?

Ad hoc wireless connections/networks are not allowed at tournaments. The purpose of this rule is to avoid conflicts with the tournament supplied wireless routers and potential disruptions to matches.

Teams are required to use the tournament provided router named FTC_PIT to communicate with their Samantha modules.

Additional allowed options for robot practice and testing at tournaments are Bluetooth and USB cable tether.

[Professor Proton]

Do the referees and/or the scorekeeper and/or the announcer announce to the audience, or at least to the drive teams, the totals for the autonomous period, before the start of tele-op?

FTC tournaments pack a lot of activity into one-day. We usually don't take the time to calculate and announce the points scored during the autonomous period in order to save time.

[Wil Wheaton]

Then do the refs call out the scoring information (baton positions, robot positions, and number of batons dispensed) to the scorekeeper out loud, so the drive teams can hear? (If not, it seems there is little or no chance to correct any autonomous period scoring errors. Last year we saw refs sometimes failing to count the 5 or 10 points for emptying one or two ball chutes, for example.)

The only provision for challenging rulings or scoring happens AFTER the match is completed. There is no provision for challenging/correcting during a match.

Per <T1>.b questions about a match should be "brought forward by one student drive team member ... within the time period of two (2) matches following the disputed match."

[Professor Proton]

Alliance selection of third team - During alliance selection at some of the larger qualifiers (more than 20 teams) with three alliance partners, I have seen the organizers have the selection of the third team on an alliance go in reverse order to the selection of the second team of the alliance, such that (in the last round of alliance selections) the fourth-ranked captain picks first and the first-ranked team picks last. Is that a violation of Rule 3.6.7?

Yes, the alliance selection order described in your post is not correct. The Alliance Selection order for tournaments with more than 20 teams is:

1 --> 2 --> 3 --> 4 --> 1 --> 2 --> 3 --> 4

See section 3.6.7 in the Get Over It! game manual for complete details.

[Professor Proton]

At the World championship in St. Louis will it be legal for the drivers to be talking to someone in the stands over a cell phone?

No, talking to someone over a cell phone during a match would violate the 3-person Drive Team rule <G2>.

[Professor Proton]

In the “Get Over It” kickoff video, John Toebes indicated that the tournament organizers would be providing the game controllers for the tournament competition field. Is this the way the events are actually being run? Is it permissible for a team to provide its own game controllers? Not only has our team placarded our controllers to indicate the button functions, but our software has been tweaked to reflect the fact that our joysticks’ terms have drifted a bit out of center.

Yes, tournament organizers provide the Logitech gamepads for the competition playing field(s).

Teams are required to use the tournament supplied gamepads.

Recommendation: Differences in joystick zero points between gamepads can be overcome by adding a joystick deadband to your software.

[Wil Wheaton]

In previous years, walky talkies and other portable radios were prohibited during the tournament. This restriction appears to have been lifted this year. Are team members permitted to use walky talkies, so long as rule <G2> is not violated as per Post #7?

Any use of portable radios/walky-talkies in/around the competition area would violate <G2> and is not allowed.

[Raj]

Would it be permitted for teammates(excluding the drive team), to be in radio communication with each other. This would give no communication between the drive train, and those in the stands. Is radio communication between team members who are not in operating the robot permitted?

A: Use of radios/walkie-talkies are not allowed anywhere in the facility.