The Field, The Tournament, Judging and Advancement - Answer Thread

[Barry]

Hi,
We want to double check this because it’s a change, and we don’t want to have our notebook wrong.
1. 4.0 Engineering Notebook - Section 4.3 Under Handwritten: it says, “or you may use the binder supplied by Rockwell Collins delivered to you in your Registration and Welcome Kit”.
So that means we can use the Rockwell Collins 3-ring binder and use loose leaf graph paper pages and the notebook will be a format equally acceptable to judges as bound handwritten notebooks or electronic printout notebooks( as long as we follow the Engineering Notebook entries rules (page numbers, no blank spaces, entries initialed and dated, etc.). Are we reading this correctly?
Thank you so much for your help.
Kyle Dragon FTC7673

Hi Kyle,

Yes, a three ring binder with loose leaf paper is an acceptable format for the Engineering Notebook, provided all the other guidelines are followed.

Thanks for the great question!

[Barry]

Hi,

Can you explain how Judging works at League events, please?

Thank you!

League Meet judging happens in two ways:

At the Event: Pairs of Team Interviewers will visit each team at their pit area. The Judges will ask you about your team, your robot, your community service, etc. They will send what they learn to the League Championship Judge Advisor, who will add it to the body of information that the League Championship Judges have gathered about your team.

Before the League Championship: Teams are required to submit a 2 to 3 minute Video Judging Presentation. Your local event organizer will provide you with deadlines for your video and information about where to submit your video. A group of Video Judges will review your submission, and forward their feedback to the Judge Advisor for the League Championship, who will add it to the body of information that the League Championship Judges have gathered about your team. It's important to note that the content of this video is more important than the quality of the video, but, the Judges should be able to see and hear you well enough to learn something about your team.

[Agent Angela Page]

The Field setup guide has vague language implying that it might be ok to run the New beacons in 360 mode instead of 180. Which mode are the new style beacons to be set at for official events?

I thought it was mentioned, but can't seem to find it now, is the holder for the new beacon the same as for last year?

The IR Beacon should be set to 180 mode and not 360 mode. Please see the most updated version of the Field Setup Guide at www.usfirst.org/ftc

[Agent Angela Page]

We have been looking in all of the Field Assembly instructions, drawings, etc. and we can't find ANYWHERE the details on mounting the IR beacons for this year's challenge. They look like the same mounts as last season, but we can't find official confirmation. Could somebody please post dimensions, or instructions for the IR Beacon mounts? We actually destroyed ours from last season. We are using the NEW IR beacons as well.

Thanks!
Hortonville Robotics

An updated version of the Field Assembly and Setup Guide has been uploaded to www.usfirst.org/ftc. The updates to the guide include build instructions for the IR beacon mounts for both types of IR beacon.

[Agent Angela Page]

Video on the FTC Game page shows white tape on the gray soft tiles. Page 18 of the Field Assembly and Setup Guide Rev 1.4 does not indicate white tape should be applied to the gray soft tiles. Is the white tape part of the official FTC playing field and if Yes what are the tape dimensions/locations?

Please confirm that for the Center Field Structure as shown on Page 19 of the Field and Setup Guide Rev 1.4 above the number 1 within a circle the blue and red shown are the Red and Blue Diverter Pipes and not tape applied to base of the Floor Plate of the Center Field Structure.

Relative to the IR Beacon
-IR beacon (FTCBCN-Oldstyle) as shown on Video (3:58) on the FTC Game page does not match orientation or mount as shown on Page 15 of the Field and Setup Guide Rev 1.4. What is the correct orientation and mount for FTCBCN IR beacon relative to the Center Field Structure? Where can I find the instructions/dimensions for the mount the FTCBCN attaches to?
- Where can I find the instructions/dimensions for the HBK2100 IR Beacon mount?
- Instruction/Picture on Page 13 of the Field and Setup Guide Rev 1.4 states to use a 10-32 X 1.000 to hang IR beacon on. To hold the bolt perpendicular to the side I have the bolt through the side panel with a 10-32 nut on each side of the side panel. Is this the correct way to attach the bolt the IR beacon hangs on to the side panel? In this arrangement when I put the HBK2100 on the bolt (HBK2100 wood mount from last years FTC Challenge) the IR beacon sits on the bolt head due to thickness of the mount not as shown on inset picture on Page 20 of the Field and Setup Guide Rev 1.4 and thus is easily knocked off if a robot hits the Center Field Structure. Should the HBK2100 mount sit on the bolt head? Is a longer bolt needed? Is the wood mount for the HBK2100 beacon different from last years FTC Challenge?

Thank you

Center Structure Locations: Teams must follow the Field Assembly and Setup Guide for Cascade Effect official setup guidelines. The video was filmed prior to the official release of this guide.
IR Beacons: Please see the updated Field Assembly and Setup Guide for updated instructions on IR beacons and beacon mounts.
The bolt should be assembled as shown in the assembly guide, the beacon hangs on the threaded portion of the bolt, not on the head

[Wil Wheaton]

Page 19 of the Field Setup Guide shows center structure rotation #2 with the long edge of the center structure base being parallel with the side of the field perimeter, implying that it is not a 45 degree rotation from rotations #1 and #3. However, in the newly released Version 1.5 of the Setup Guide, the final page describes the #2 sticker as being a 45 degree rotation, introducing some confusion and uncertainty about the #2 rotation.

Can you clarify? Does the #2 rotation position of the center structure have the long edge of the structure base parallel to the field perimeter as shown on page 19 of the Field Setup Guide (and thus not 45 degrees from positions #1 and #3), or has the #2 position changed to be 45 degrees from positions #1 and #3?

A: The template that is now part of the Field Assembly and Setup Guide is the correct reference. The #1, #2 AND #3 rotation positions are at 45 degree intervals from each other. The text description on page 19 does not currently match the pictures on page 19 and both will be updated in the next release of the Field Assembly and Setup Guide.

[Agent Angela Page]

We believe that the latest revision of the Field Setup Manual introduces a discrepancy. Page 19 implies that the correct setup for position 2 is when the long edges of the center field base are parallel to the tile borders and to the long dimension of the ramps. This puts the IR beacon pointing at the 30 cm rolling goal, or about a 60-degree counter-clockwise rotation from position 1.

The new schematic for "LR15 - Number 2 Sticker Placement" shows a rotation angle that is 45 degrees from position 1. With that rotation, the long edge of the center field base will not be parallel to the tile borders or to the long dimension of the ramps, and the IR beacon will point at the 90 cm rolling goal instead.

Could you please clarify which rotation is correct?

Please see the most current version of the Field Assembly and Setup Guide, as this question has been addressed in version 1.6 of the manual.

[Wil Wheaton]

Hello,

We have a question regarding the exact position of the rolling goals before the start of autonomous. We cannot find any published information regarding specific dimensions of the location of the goals. We are looking for how far off the wall each goal is in order to accurately program autonomous. Can anybody help?

Thank you,
X-Squaed Factor
Team 4200

A: The rolling goals start in the approximate center of the tiles as indicated in the Field Assembly and Setup Guide

[Barry]

Is there any rule that restricts a single FTC team to simultaneously participate in two separate competitions (say, a qualifying event in one state and a championship event in another) at the exact same time if their team has enough members? We have two robots that we could theoretically use at two separate events at the same time. I see nothing barring this, and it would give some of our team member valuable experience.

Rule <RG01> prohibits this. The rule states that only one robot will be allowed to compete per registered FIRST Tech Challenge team.

[Barry]

Hi,

Are the Bill Of Materials requirements for this season the same as they were last season? I ask because I noticed that the paragraph describing the Bill Of Materials in last season's Game Manual in rule <RG02> has been removed in this season's manual, and there is no BOM template provided on the FTC game page like there was last season.

Thanks in advance for your answer.

A Bill of Materials is required if you are using components outside of the Tetrix or Matrix kit of parts.