BillyRain
Premium Member
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2011
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- Saint Albans, United Kingdom
- WCA
- 2012JEFF01
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After a discussion on FB, I had a vision of what technology we may begin to use in the future. After thinking about it, it may not actually be that far away. I came up with a concept which (with a decent enough developer) is totally achievable and would be really cool.
Each station has a cheap android tablet (You can get them for like ~£20-30 now, all it needs to do is run one app and would be a good long term investment as they will replace all printing/paper costs for scorecards). The tablets run a custom app which may look something like this:
(adjustments would need to be made for different/BLD events etc. Perhaps there would be a dropdown to select the event with different layouts for each one. The master tablet at the data table could actually be used to change the layout on every tablet when the event changes!)
It basically replaces the stopwatch as it has this facility in the top left. No more losing them, breaking, alarms during the final (UKC2016) etc.
It also links back through a wifi network to the data entry table. The process then becomes thus:
1. Runner takes cube to station and calls for competitor.
2. Competitors have a name sticker or lanyard with their competitor ID on it (No more scorecard printing!).
3. Judge enters competitor ID into the app and confirms the competitors name.
4. Judge uses app to time inspection. Stopwatch gives an audio warning at 8 and 12 seconds (More accurate than human calling + one less thing for judge to forget) and also automatically forces a +2 if over 15 seconds and a DNF if over 17.
5. Competitor solves the cube and the judge enters the time into the app, selects penalty if applicable.
6. Judge and competitor both use an attached stylus to sign in the relevant boxes.
7. Judge presses SUBMIT and all of the solve data is sent to the data entry table where it can be immediately reviewed and entered into cubecomps. (No more waiting for scorecards/misplacing them/indecipherable numbers).
8. If needed, the judge can tap the "Call Delegate" button which works just like a supermarket checkout system when they need to call a supervisor. The staff table would have a device which would make a sound and alert staff as to which station number has summoned them. Hell it could even tie into the delegate's cell phone and vibrate when they are called with a push notification giving them the station number. The possibilities are endless.
Daniel Sheppard even noticed that it would be possible to plug the stackmat timers into the tablets and have them interact with the app the same way that they can with Prisma for instance to eliminate the need to even enter the time manually. I'm pretty sure we could then use a headphone splitter adapter to split off the data line so that you can still use the display. After all the data is transmitted via audio signals.
I just wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know that some organisations won't be able to afford to purchase a tablet for every solving station.. but for those who can it would be an awesome solution and as mentioned, eventually a good investment.
Just something else that in the future could make competitions much more streamlined, which is always the aim!
Or just tell me it's dumb
Billy x
EDIT: Another thought, if the timer is tied into the app, the stop/reset button is no longer needed. The app would detect when the stackmat is started and will therefore be perfectly accurate in calling a penalty for inspection time!!
EDIT: I found a small flaw, with no scorecard there is no way of matching the cube to the competitor. I'll have a think on that.
Each station has a cheap android tablet (You can get them for like ~£20-30 now, all it needs to do is run one app and would be a good long term investment as they will replace all printing/paper costs for scorecards). The tablets run a custom app which may look something like this:
(adjustments would need to be made for different/BLD events etc. Perhaps there would be a dropdown to select the event with different layouts for each one. The master tablet at the data table could actually be used to change the layout on every tablet when the event changes!)
It basically replaces the stopwatch as it has this facility in the top left. No more losing them, breaking, alarms during the final (UKC2016) etc.
It also links back through a wifi network to the data entry table. The process then becomes thus:
1. Runner takes cube to station and calls for competitor.
2. Competitors have a name sticker or lanyard with their competitor ID on it (No more scorecard printing!).
3. Judge enters competitor ID into the app and confirms the competitors name.
4. Judge uses app to time inspection. Stopwatch gives an audio warning at 8 and 12 seconds (More accurate than human calling + one less thing for judge to forget) and also automatically forces a +2 if over 15 seconds and a DNF if over 17.
5. Competitor solves the cube and the judge enters the time into the app, selects penalty if applicable.
6. Judge and competitor both use an attached stylus to sign in the relevant boxes.
7. Judge presses SUBMIT and all of the solve data is sent to the data entry table where it can be immediately reviewed and entered into cubecomps. (No more waiting for scorecards/misplacing them/indecipherable numbers).
8. If needed, the judge can tap the "Call Delegate" button which works just like a supermarket checkout system when they need to call a supervisor. The staff table would have a device which would make a sound and alert staff as to which station number has summoned them. Hell it could even tie into the delegate's cell phone and vibrate when they are called with a push notification giving them the station number. The possibilities are endless.
Daniel Sheppard even noticed that it would be possible to plug the stackmat timers into the tablets and have them interact with the app the same way that they can with Prisma for instance to eliminate the need to even enter the time manually. I'm pretty sure we could then use a headphone splitter adapter to split off the data line so that you can still use the display. After all the data is transmitted via audio signals.
I just wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know that some organisations won't be able to afford to purchase a tablet for every solving station.. but for those who can it would be an awesome solution and as mentioned, eventually a good investment.
Just something else that in the future could make competitions much more streamlined, which is always the aim!
Or just tell me it's dumb
Billy x
EDIT: Another thought, if the timer is tied into the app, the stop/reset button is no longer needed. The app would detect when the stackmat is started and will therefore be perfectly accurate in calling a penalty for inspection time!!
EDIT: I found a small flaw, with no scorecard there is no way of matching the cube to the competitor. I'll have a think on that.
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