BattleCry SITREP 3, dtg 18May11/1900Z
“Arrival Info, etc.”

  1. Upon arriving to campus, any vehicles with materials to drop off should proceed to the Beech Tree Circle and unload. Quickly unload your items and proceed to parking. Please be aware of your surroundings and do not block through traffic.
  2. Free BattleCry Warrior parking is available on WPI property and some surrounding streets. Please consult our event map for details or ask a staff member to direct you to parking. Parking is not available on the Quad.  Those staying overnight should park in the Stoddard Lot (corner of Institute Rd & Hackfield)
  3. One adult member from each team should enter the lobby of Harrington Auditorium to begin your registration process.
  4. Upon Arrival:
    • Check your team in
    • Pay any remaining balance due (check preferred: “WPI/BattleCry”, credit card not accepted on-site)
    • Receive your information packet with pre-purchased event t-shirts and dinner tickets
    • Sign up for campus tours (optional)
    • Bring your robot to the Pit Admin table to update your WPA key before going on the field.
  5. Report to Pit Boss table in pit area for any needed pit assistance, directions to machine shop, and to sign up for your team’s practice time.
  6. Pay-as-you-go breakfast items are available Saturday in the snack bar (on gym level, by pit area).
  7. There will be a limited number of BattleCry 12 T-shirts for sale @ $10 at the registration table.
  8. There is a limited number of additional Battle Ration lunches (for Saturday) may be purchased in the snack bar area. NOTE: The campus Food Court will NOT be open on Saturday.

 

BattleCry SITREP 2, dtg 16Apr10/1600Z

“Deals, Meals, Games, etc.”

  1. Territory Reconnaissance

    For your advance scouts to get the “lay of the land”, we are working on setting up campus tours.  Check at the WPI Admissions table in the lobby for more details

  2. Friday Evening R&R (Rest and Relaxation)

    The Friday night campaign ends and the pits close at 2100, but then the teams can enjoy the evening from 2100-2300 by jumping into any of the following FREE activities centered in and around the Campus Center (CC)–participants in the asterisked items can compete for raffle tickets and win prizes to be given out on Saturday.  Participants who complete the scavenger hunt will be entered into a separate raffle drawing for a special prize.

    • Ice Cream Sundae Bar: Make your own ice cream creations and take them around to any of the other activities.
    • Bowling*: Play a game of Wii Bowling in our virtual bowling alley located in the 1st floor Game Rm.
    • CRUD*: Play Team 190’s post-battle favorite on 3 CRUD tables in the CC’s 1st floor Game Rm. Rules and training will be provided to teams who want to learn to play.
    • Million Dollar Money Drop*: Host Andy Grady will ask participants a series of questions to see if they can keep their “money” or watch it disappear!  “Money” can be traded in for raffle tickets at the end of the evening.
    • Guerrilla Improv*: WPI’s own improvisational comedy troupe, watch and participate in the Odeum after the Ice Cream Sundae Bar.
    • DDR*: Dance the night away.
    • Guitar Hero*: Outplay everyone else while showing off your rock star moves.
    • Mario Kart Wii*: Find out who really is the best driver on your team.
    • Twister*: Test your agility with all of your friends to see who can not fall over.
    • Ring Toss*: Toss rings in a favorite game from your childhood
    • Bean Bag Toss*: Pretend the bean bags are floppies and you can be the human player in the 1999 game.
    • Ladder Ball*: Another tossing game where you can test your aim
    • Red Sox Game: Watch the end of the Red Sox game vs. the Chicago Cubs
    • Foosball: One table in the Game Rm.
    • Pinball: Machines: In the Game Rm…ok, you do have to bring quarters here if you want to play.
    • Scavenger Hunt: Complete a list of tasks to be entered into a separate raffle drawing.
    • Amateur Radio Q&A and Licensing Opportunity:

      Want to become part of one of the world’s largest and most established community of communication and electronics experimenters? With an amateur radio license you can talk the world over on shortwave, microwave, and even proprietary research satellites. This is the most fun you will have while learning real-world applications of electronics, energy and many other scientific principles.

      The WPI Wireless Association will be sponsoring an amateur radio question and answer session at 9:00 pm Friday night, followed by an exam session at 9:30 pm, in the Chairman’s room of the Campus Center. If you have an interest in amateur radio this would be a great time to study and get your FCC license. If you already have your license and want to upgrade, we can do that too!

      Please bring:
      1. If applicable, AN ORIGINAL AND A PHOTOCOPY of your current license and any CSCE’s or other paperwork you are submitting
      2. A basic calculator (cell phones and calculators with QWERTY keyboards are not allowed)
      3. Two forms of acceptable ID (one must be a picture ID)
      4. $14 exam fee
      5. Pen or pencil

      Check out http://www.arrl.org/licensing-preparation-exams for study resources and information. If you want to take a randomly generated practice exam, check out www.aa9pw.com. If you have any questions regarding this session, feel free to email nm1b@arrl.net.

      Note: Some amateurs have been concerned over the FCC’s requirement for your Social Security Number (SSN). It is suggested that all applicants register in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System to obtain an FCC Registration Number (FRN) prior to attending a VE session. To register for an FRN, go to http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls and click on REGISTER. Once you obtain your FRN, write it down and bring it with you to the VE session.

  3. Field Rations

        As part of your entry fee you get:

    • 10 Free Friday night BBQ dinner and Ice Cream Sundae Bar
    • 10 Free Saturday team lunches
    • There will also be a concession stand operating from approximately 0700 to 1600 on Saturday on the main floor of the gym offering light snacks and beverages.

    • The Field Ration Kit

      • BBQ Dinner (Friday)
        • You get a choice of two hamburgers, veggi-burgers, or hot dogs. In addition there are rolls, potato chips, watermelon, salad with dressing, and your choice of drinks.
        • BBQ meals will be available from 1800-1930 with 10 free meals for each participating team. Additional dinners (with later ice cream sundae bar) are $13.00.  We cannot guarantee that there will be unreserved dinners available for purchase.
      • Ice Cream Sundae Bar (Friday)
        • Ice cream and assorted toppings will be served starting at 2100 during the evening R&R activities. The cost of the sundaes is included with the dinners so anyone getting a BBQ dinner will also be entitled to ice cream.
      • Lunch (Saturday)
        • You get a choice of ham, turkey, roast beef, or vegetarian sandwich on a fresh-baked bulky roll, a bag potato chips, fresh whole fruit, two fresh-baked cookies and your choice of beverage. The first 10 lunches for each team are free! Pre-ordered meals will be delivered to each pit table at 1130 on Saturday.

  1. Human Player Contest (Air Superiority Award)

During the Saturday lunch break, there will be a special on-field contest for human players.  Teams will compete individually to see who has the best human player of BattleCry@WPI.  The field will be split into quadrants, with one human player in each.  Each human player will start with one uber-tube and have access to 3 triangles, circles, and squares for their run.  You have 30-seconds to get as high of a score as possible on your half of the scoring rack.  Human players can move only between the center line of the field and the zone line, and must stay on their half of the field.  Throwing tubes into another team’s area is not allowed and may result in disqualification.  Regular LOGOMOTION scoring rules apply.  After all teams competing in the qualifying round, the top 4 scorers will go head-to-head to determine the winner.  Tie-breaker is the most tubes on the high level(s).   All teams that wish to participate must sign up at Pit Admin by 11AM on Saturday.

  1. Video Opportunities

    There will be multiple video cameras running throughout BC12 that will be under the control of our mixing crew. The entire competition will be available on live streaming video and should be archived and available at this site, match-by-match for at least nine months after the event.

 

BattleCry SITREP 1, dtg 03May11/1700Z

1. Registration

Please confirm your plans as soon as possible. We have many teams on the ready reserves list and out of courtesy to them, would like to update their status ASAP. All payments were due by 3 May to hold your spot. If there are any teams that can’t accommodate this please contact the staff at battlecry@wpi.edu.

All registered BC12 Challengers need to completely fill out their registration information ASAP. This includes addtional food and t-shirt requests.  The deadline for updating food & t-shirts is 13 May.  Payment information can be found on the Invoice page of the registration web site.

Note

BC12 is a 2-day tournament. We encourage all teams to come both days and take advantage of the Friday barbeque, ice cream social, and team party, as well as the 2 or 3 qualifying matches on Friday. Unlike some previous years, we will NOT run a separate (and painfully-derived) tournament schedule for each day-the match schedule will assume that all teams will be here for both days.

2. Housing

Due to the date change of BC12, on-campus housing is available for BC12.  To utilize on-campus housing, teams must sign up on the registration site.  Single or Two-person rooms are available.  In order to utilize these rooms, teams must have chaperones who also stay in the dorm rooms.  Additional information on behavioral policies and contracts will be provided to those who sign up.

Each on-campus dorm room will contain one or two twin beds with linens provided.  Rooms do not have TVs, fans, or air-conditioning.

Additionally, Several discounted hotels have been secured but the rates are available for a limited time only!  Teams are also welcome to arrange their own stay at other hotels in and around Worcester.  Cities like Auburn and Shrewsbury are within a 10-minute drive of WPI and may open up a wider variety of options.

3. Game Tweaks

See Rules of Engagement

4. Awards and Decorations

By Battlestaff decry, the following have been established for BC12:

    • Campaign Medals – One per each team that arrives on scene
    • Medal of Honor – Judges’ award to team that does the “most with the least”
    • Purple Heart – Judges’ award to team that becomes most grievously injured through valiant campaign effort
    • Engineering Excellence – Judges’ award for best overall robot design in terms of quality, creativity, and control
    • Noncombatant Service – Judges’ award for most outstanding team spirit displayed during the finals by a team eliminated during the eighth- finals
    • General Staff – Judges’ special recognition awards (3), criteria TBD
    • Awesome Offense – People’s choice award to team with most scoring potential/performance
    • Dominating Defense – People’s choice award to team with best score-neutralizing or score-denial potential/performance
    • Best BattleCry – Emcee’s award for best spirit shown by a team during combat
    • Air Superiority – To the team that fields the top Human Player in the Saturday contest
    • Top Gun – To the number one seed in qualifying
    • Runners-Up – To each team on the three-team alliance defeated in the final match
    • Victors – To each team on the three-team alliance that wins the tournament
    • BattleCry STAR – Special Team Appreciation & Recognition award, adult mentor award presented by team selected by STAR reviewers (see below)

5. BattleCry STAR

Student team members are encouraged to submit nominations for their outstanding adult mentor. These nominations are due by 13 May (electronic format preferred to stafford@wpi.edu, 500 words or less) and will be reviewed and judged by past STAR winners. Student members of the winning team will be notified by 18 May and offered the opportunity to publicly announce their champion during the awards ceremony.

6. Robot Photos

Please upload photos of your robot using the photo upload page at the registration site. The photos should clearly show your robot and be full resolution .jpg images from your camera.

 

Unless noted below, BC will be played by all appropriate FIRST LOGOMOTION Rules. While we will not hold formal inspections, we expect all robots to comply with all FIRST criteria for construction and configuration. While we realize that some teams may have modified their ‘bots for other post season operations, every attempt should be made to restore the robots to inspection condition for BC. Judges and referees will have the final say on all alleged infractions.

If you are new to the game, you may want to check out this year’s game animation courtesy of FIRST and NASA.

Changes for BC12

  1. Arena Modification: At the end of the FIELD opposite from the ALLIANCE STATION, LANES are marked on the carpet for each ALLIANCE. There are two LANES for each ALLIANCE, located in each of the opposing corners of the FIELD. Each LANE extends for approximately 7 feet from the opposing ALLIANCE WALL toward the center of the FIELD. Each LANE extends inwards approximately 4 feet 3 inches from the edge of the FIELD.
    • The LANE ends at the end of the LANE DIVIDER.
  2. Bonus Circle (“BC”) End Game Opportunity: A single, 12-inch circle marked as a “BC” will be placed in the center of the field for each match.
      • The BC does not have a designated color and is available for any robot to utilize as a scoring opportunity.  Robot coverage of a BC is defined by any portion of the outer “belt line” of the robot (including its bumpers) overlapping a portion or all of the BC.
      • AT THE END OF THE MATCH: A robot will be award 10 points for completely covering a BC.  The end of the match is 10 seconds after the match clock goes to zero or when four minibots have triggered the towers.
  3. <G06> Modification (applies to Pre-Match Period): Each ROBOT may be in contact with one UBERTUBE. No more than one ROBOT may be contacting an UBERTUBE.
    • UBERTUBEs not in contact with a ROBOT will be removed from the field before the start of the match.
  4. Placebo Robot: The placebo robot will be, at a minimum, a driving 2011 FRC compliant robot (i.e. a kit bot).  The staff will be responsible for maintenance during the event although no guarantees on the reliability, functionality, or availability will be provided.  In some cases, the team who calls the placebo robot into action will be required to provide a driver and human player for the placebo robot.   The staff will provide a placebo robot to play for teams who:
      • Are not able to be in attendance on Friday.  While teams are expected to attend both days of the competition, we wish to be as fair as possible to alliances who may be partnered with a team unable to attend.  If a robot is missing from both alliances, the match will be played 2 v 2.  Any teams not in attendance Friday will receive the score of their alliance for that match. 
      • Become broken beyond repair or cannot be repaired within a reasonable time during the elimination matches on Saturday.  An alliance may petition the designated event coordinator to use the placebo in place of a broken robot.  The event coordinator will review the condition of the robot and make a determination. 
  5. Elimination Alliance Selection:  At the conclusion of the Skirmishes, the top 16 seeded challengers will pick their alliance partners for the Final Challenge rounds. Normal 2011 FRC selection rules will apply for their first picks, the second pick will be via a random draw from the remaining challengers.
  6. Elimination Rounds: The 48-team elimination matches will be structured in the following way:
      • Eighth-Finals – All teams will participate in the eighth finals.  These matches will be a ‘Best-of-2’ format, to be played in the following order:
        • E1: Seed #1 v Seed #16
        • E2: Seed #2 v Seed #15
        • E3: Seed #3 v Seed #14
        • E4: Seed #4 v Seed #13
        • E5: Seed #5 v Seed #12
        • E6: Seed #6 v Seed #11
        • E7: Seed #7 v Seed #10
        • E8: Seed #8 v Seed #9
      • Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals – The winners of the eighth finals will move on to participate in a ‘Best-of-3’ match format for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, with the eighth finals feeding into the quarterfinals as following:
        • Q1: Winner of E1 v Winner of E8
        • Q2: Winner of E4 v Winner of E5
        • Q3: Winner of E2 v Winner of E7
        • Q4: Winner of E3 v Winner of E6