Some of you have heard the news about how we plan to run the FTC World Championship re: the Field management System (FMS). If you have not, the plan is to allow teams to run the FMS directly from their own laptops at the playing fields. We've tried this in Florida and it worked well giving teams more control over their robots and the pairing process, and speeding up cycle times at the field.
The only disadvantage is that teams have to bring laptop computers with them to the field.
Some questions might be:
What if I need to stop my robot mid-match? - Ans. you can do that but you're playing against the field clock - not your own clock.
What if teams don't all press "Start" at the same time? - Ans. like in any other sport the referees will determine if a robot scores (or de-scores) after time expires. Each team will set their timers to the :30 second and 2:00 minutes. We saw zero issues with this in the Florida test.
What if something happens to my computer during the match? - Ans. there should be less chance of problems in total under this format. Each computer will maintain a single BT connection and up to two joysticks via USB - less than the centralized FMS. Teams also have lots of time to test their code, robot, and computer, just as it will be used in competition. Idiosyncrasies should be ironed out by the teams. If the system (robot and computer) fail during the match the play will continue. If teams have problems prior to the match they'll be given a chance to fix (re-pair/connect).
Can my coach access the computer during the match? Ans. sure, but time will continue to run on the field.
I think this format will make the World Championship run smoother. The biggest benefit is that teams can run the FMS, on their own, as many times as they'd like to test their robots.
See you in Atlanta,
Ken
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
We'll add our voice of support to the new format! It worked great here and really made the competition experience a satisfying and enjoyable one!
Terri Willingham
FTC Team Duct Tape
http://www.teamducttape.com
This just doesnt make sense! This is FIRST's JOB. FIRST is there to moderate with refs, for things like setup and takedown, organisation, and THE FMS
Come on! The idea of an FMS is to reduce the number of variables. This? At the CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT? Give us a break. Do it like you said you would when the game was released. What's next- FRC with each team using a laptop instead of the FMS? The Referees can't disable robots now, like they could with the official FMS. This is not something that the teams should be held accountable for. We want FTC to be recognised as a serious competition? This makes it look like a hack-job. Where is the infrastructure? This is how teams scrimmage, for god's sake.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
___________________
Susana
Online Marketing of your brand
Post a Comment