RoboCon: Nationals

In late November I went with many other students and faculty to support our Robocon team in Tokyo for the RoboCon Championship tournament.  The school was very happy that the team got in and spent some money publicizing this fact.  If you're unfamiliar with RoboCon, please read the Regionals post, so I can skip over describing the game rules and spend more time discussing this particular event and the food.

Billboard celebrating our design win at the regional competition

RoboCon was in Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon.  In order to be there for the afternoon games, our school rented a bus that left school at 10 pm on Saturday.  The drive is only about six hours long, so this schedule was kind of confusing.  This was not a special sleeper bus, but a typical coach bus with a bathroom.  It was also just barely large enough for all of us, so that everyone had a partner sitting next to them. To recap, this bus left at least six hours earlier than necessary to make a six hour trip and it was crowded.  We're not sure why they didn't just, you know, get a hotel in Tokyo and bus us over the day before, or alternatively, just let everybody sleep at home and then leave early on Sunday morning, but such is life. 

Rental coach bus

Sleeping for any length of time was difficult because the bus drivers (there were two) blasted cold air to wake everyone up before each of the three rest stops we made, cold air came in through the open doors during each rest stop, and sleeping in a chair isn't the easiest.  The Japanese feel that rest stops are crucial even when the bus is equipped with a bathroom and everyone is trying to sleep.  We arrived before 6 AM.  Our final rest stop involved "breakfast", consisting of a cold bento box.

I hate Japanese-style breakfasts, especially cold store-bought ones

Not tasty at any time of day, particularly bad in the morning.  Cold fish and rice and other things best not considered...fortunately I brought some of my own food.

This rest stop was also apparently a gathering point for a group of Impala owners.  There were about ten of them there.  Some had hydraulics.  I tried to get some footage, but didn't really get any good photos or video.  There weren't any other cars of that style or era, just the Chevys.  The things you'll see in Tokyo...I don't get it either, but when 100 million people gather in a reasonably small area, I guess you can have very specific clubs...that meet at 6am Sunday morning.

Bouncing American cars...not bouncing in this picture

We then drove through Tokyo and everyone was very excited about and trying to get shots of the New Tokyo Tower, an antenna that is under construction.  Apparently, you must specify new or old when talking to any Japanese person about Tokyo Tower, even though the new one is the Tokyo Skytree Tower and so should be the Skytree, but whatever.  We stopped near a famous shrine and let everyone off the bus in a back alley.  I stayed with someone who had GPS on his iPhone; I have no idea how everyone else managed to wander about Tokyo for a couple of hours and find their way back to the bus.  We've gotten lost WITH GPS on some other trips.

 

We saw the shrine, and I got a chocolate covered banana to go along with the granola bar and mikan (Clementine orange) I brought from home in lieu of the cold fish, pickled vegetables, and rice I was served.  We met up with some Japanese teachers and of course, they had to go see the New Tokyo Tower construction site up close and personal.  I had wanted to go find some more letterboxes, but also wanted to not get lost in Tokyo with no GPS.  Navigation took precedence, as we were a long way from the starting point and I had no idea how to get back.

Apparently this under-construction antenna is, like, a huge deal in Japan

I therefore got quite a few pictures of the New Tokyo Tower.  We stopped whenever there was a good view to photograph it.  It will be the tallest structure in the world when it's done.  It is not close to being done.  I don't see the point of going ga-ga over it quite yet.  Also, it isn't a building, so the bragging rights are lower at any rate.  There's nothing in this country going up that will be close to the size of the Burj Khalifa, no matter how big a cell tower they erect.

 

We weren't the only ones taking photographs of this half-finished antenna everywhere there was an opportunity.  It is currently a cultural meme, and apparently quite the thing; I think it's the only aspect of my trip I was asked about upon my return.

 

Once everyone was back on the bus, we went to the sumo stadium where the competition would take place and ate lunch at a hotel across the street.  This dish is "hamburg", ground beef prepared similar to meatloaf, in a hamburger-like shape, with cold sauce on it.  Why cold sauce?  I don't know.  Also note - we spent all the time between breakfast and lunch in Tokyo rather than driving to Tokyo.  Why?  I don't know.

After wishing our teammates good luck, we were given Santa hats, red cheering jackets, and crossed the street to wait until our team was called into the sumo stadium.

I had brought my travel pillow to try to sleep on the bus.  I left it on the bus, thinking it would be unnecessary weight inside the stadium.  This was a bit of a mistake.  The seating in the sumo stadium is on the floor.  Carpeted, yes, and small boxes for your family or friends to join you in, but on the thinly carpeted concrete floor.

 

The playing field was the same as at the Regional competition.  Here, Asimo, the Honda bipedal robot, was one of the emcees and opened the competition.  It was a pretty cool opening (sorry, no subtitles):

Also no video, as Blogger won't upload it.  Click here.

After the emcees opened the competition, the teams were paraded out.  The teams promised to do their best, and the representative for all of the teams was one of our guys in his Santa suit:

Our guys were in the first match, and boy, we really hoped they didn't lose in the first match of the single-elimination tournament!  They didn't, thankfully.  They did lose their second match, and given the speeds we were seeing, that wasn't surprising.  They really only won their first match because the other team wasn't on top of their game.

Again no video, as Blogger won't upload it.  Click here.

Most of the teams were quite good and I think all teams finished the course this time.  Many teams lost because they were rushing, just like our A team at Regionals.  If I were a coach, I'd take footage of the last few matches of this competition and show it to my team with the warning that if they fumbled around the way these kids did instead of breathing and calmly, correctly, and as slow as necessary, doing what they had to do, they would have no excuses but their own incompetence.  I'd say it a bit nicer, but use the teams here as a deterrent to going too quickly and failing.

The one thing that I was really annoyed with was the fact that the cameras would zoom in if a student cried.  I know this is for television, but come on!  You've got some minors who feel as though they just blew it for their school on TV, and now you're zooming in on their shame?  That's really not right in my book.  I thought the "Hey, you just lost, how does that make you feel?" interview was a bit painful, but for the last few matches, these kids were really, really heartbroken and I would have hated to be in their shoes.

 
We didn't get any additional prizes, so went home happy to have gotten to go to Nationals.  We were given more bento boxes for dinner on the bus.  Cold fish and rice again!

We arrived back at the school after 1 AM Sunday night.  I was able to get a ride home from a friend who went on the trip as well.  Luckily I'd been able to sleep a bit on the bus, but it still didn't make getting to work Monday morning pleasant in the slightest.  The student who competed got to skip, but the cheering section was expected in class about 8 hours after getting home from the trip along with the teachers.  So, I was glad to go see the competition but the trip as a whole was kind of a drag. 

As always, Flickr for the full set (and one or two more of the Skytree Tower!)