NorCal FLL Community

Hi there, interested to buy 2011 Food factor Field set up kit. If your team is willing to sell, please contact cyn_cheung@yahoo.com

We are a rookie team (#1880) in Sunnyvale, CA and are looking to participate in a local scrimmage in the greater Bay Area between now and Nov-11 (inclusive). Unfortunately, it looks like scrimmages are in high demand and we haven't been able to get into any...

So our team was thinking of either hosting or joining a "working session" (since we don't know how to host a scrimmage of our own) with one or more teams who are either more experienced or in the same situation as us...

If any team is interested, please comment below or send me an email.

Most if the information on this site is "public"  - meaning that you don't have to be logged in to see the information.  However,  if you are not logged in, you need to have the direct link for the Event Calendar.  To help, here are links to the posted scrimmages - most of these still have room for more teams!

Upcoming Silicon Valley District Scrimmages:   10/29 San Jose,  11/6 San Jose
Upcoming Capitol District Scrimmages:  10/29 Folsom,   11/5 Sacramento,  11/6 Folsom,  11/6 Foothills

I have not heard of any upcoming scrimmages in the East Bay or Peninsula districts.

Several rookie coaches are interested in collaborating on a Spring 2012 "unofficial" tournament experience.   FIRST calls these, "Community Events".     They have an event guide and tips, etc.   If you are interested in participating and/or organizing,  feel free to respond.

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/unofficial-local-event

I read this today and was curious if experienced coaches agree:  

The robot is lost after two turns.   After two turns the robot is essentially lost so you need to take advantage of lines and walls to reorient the robot.   A lot of teams will build their robot so that it can back into a wall to correct its orientation.  ....  Variances in the table mats (wrinkles, dust, and wear) and wheel slip can throw off that count.

Hello Everyone,

We have a new team that was just formed and would like to compete at the Food Factor Tournament.  Unfortunately, team registration is closed.  So, we are looking for a team that is registered but not planning to participate in the tournament this year.  If you can help, please contact me at rkodnani@yahoo.com.    Sincerely, RK

FLL Scrimmage at Almaden Country School

Almaden Country School is hosting a scrimmage for 12 teams with 2 head-to-head competition tables.

Teams will get to practice the robot game in the FLL tournament style (head to head tables, timed and scored) in a low-pressure environment that encourages learning and re-engineering.  When a team is ready to run, they will be matched with another team for a practice match.  Teams can work on their robot as much as they want between rounds and decide when they are ready to run again.  (Each team will have their own table in the pit area.)

Optionally, if any teams want to volunteer to present what they have for their research project to the other teams, we can do those during a break.

There is no judging, no awards, and no fee.

Email the organizer contact for questions or to reserve a spot.

Amaden Country School, 6835 Trinidad Drive, San Jose, California 95120

Google Map - http://g.co/maps/jbqas

We are hosting our annual FLL scrimmage Nov 6 in the Sacramento Sierra foothills.  For more info or to sign up, see event http://www.norcalfll.org/elgg/pg/event_calendar/view/3900.

Thinking about hosting a scrimmage but not sure about logistics... here are some thoughts.   Feel free to ask questions,  post what has worked for you (for those that have run scrimmages) and add your comments.

The 2 most important things:  space and time (date).  

SPACE:   Need an open space that can fit the "tournament pair"  (ie 2 challenge tables "back to back") plus space around them.   We like at least a  20' x 20' open space - more is better.  Then you will need space for teams to have their stuff - it is best if they have a table  to set their stuff on.

TIME:  We recommend somewhere between 2 and 3.5 hours, typically on a weekend.  It is hard to get momentum going if you do less than 2 hours and people get hungry (and then start to get cranky) if you run for more than 3.5 or so hours.  It is harder but not impossible to do a weekday event.

After these two items,  next comes, how many teams and how to organize the day.

We are big fans of the "stone soup" model - where everyone contributes something to the success of the "event" instead of considering themselves as being "hosted" by someone.     

A couple of people can bring field setup kits, a couple more can bring challenge tables.  A couple more can bring power strips / power cords.   A few others can volunteer to be the "referee" for the day (we do try to get volunteer referees to be there but they may not be comfortable being an official "referee" for the entire time, etc)     Perhaps someone can bring a music / sound system.   You get the idea.

We find a "first come, first served" type of scheduling model to work well - you are not ever quite sure how "prepared" the individual teams will be.    We have seen two models of this type work well:     In the first, teams that are ready to run a match, come up to a "ready queue" and matches are run when there are at least 2 teams ready.

A second way that works well is to breaking the total time into equal parts  (say every 15 to 20 minutes) and then allowing teams to sign up for no more than half of the slots or something similar.

We don't find merit to prescheduling the rounds or stressing about when teams run and "against" which other teams.   The important things at a scrimmage are not related to this aspect.

The next question then typically is how many teams to invite?

Assuming space is not an issue and that the site can handle as many teams as you want....  otherwise the physical site is the limitation.

Generally think about running a match every 10minutes or possibly 15 minutes.  [you could run faster than 10 minutes but it ends up being more stressful than needed for the couple of minutes of time savings  but you may also find that teams will want to go slower, like 15 or 20 minute cycles.]

This means that you can run between 4 and 6 matches,  every hour.   Assume on average, most teams would want at least 3 to 4 "matches",  that gives you some things to think about.

If you have 2 hours,   you can support, 6 teams, possibly 8 teams.   If you have 3 hours and 2 pairs of tables, you can support, 12 teams, and possibly a few more teams.

I would recommend somewhere between 8 and 12 teams is a good number of teams.   This is enough to have an "audience" but not so much that you generally have to worry too much about logistics.

Any other ideas?