Shepherding
Ops » Competition Programme Coordinator » Competition Event Coordinator » Match Coordinator
Anything related to shepherding goes here.
Here is a description of the roles related to shepherding.
Responsible for managing the shepherds which they may bring in as their only subordinate role.
- Check and report volunteer arrival.
- Assign volunteers to roles.
- Brief volunteers.
- Supervise shepherds and adjust shepherding procedures where necessary.
Responsible for finding teams and ensuring they make it to their matches.
They report to the Head Shepherd and may not create further subordinate roles.
Below is a description of the various tasks shepherds might be assigned to. You will receive your assignment to one of the roles from the Head Shepherd. At different stages of the competition (inital matches or finals) additional temporary tasks will be necessary.
Each team shepherd is responsible for notifying teams in their zone when it is time to move to the staging area. They will be notified via radio by the timekeeper when it is time to do so (note that this time may vary by zone, meaning shepherds responsible for zones further away from the arena might be told to fetch earlier). Each team shepherd is assigned a colour and is responsible for all teams whose bays are in the zone of the same colour as shown in the shepherding layout map. Furthermore, they will receive a printout of the match schedule which will show which teams need to be fetched for which match with teams under their responsibility coloured in in the respective colour.
We ask that shepherds notify the head shepherd immediately if they find any changes/errors in layout or colouring of their match schedule.
Once a shepherd has been told to fetch all teams under their responsibility for a certain match, they have to make sure each team is told within 2 minutes to give teams enough time to make their way to the staging area. For matches where a particular shepherd has to fetch many teams (more than 4 generally) we recommend starting the process a bit earlier. The shepherd can request from the timekeeper via radio to get the fetching signal a bit earlier in this case if they would find this helpful.
Note that the main responsibility of the shepherds is to notify all teams who are at their desk within two minutes of being told so. If after this there is time left, the may look for missing teams etc but need to make sure to be ready to fetch for the next round in time.
The responsibility of the timekeeper is to be aware of the schedule and assist the shepherds in the other roles.
More specifically, they should watch the shepherding app and notify the team shepherds via radio when it is time for them to fetch their teams. The timekeeper should also notify the other shepherds of any updates or changes of schedule.
If it seems like the timing does not work out (teams waiting for a long time for staging or teams arriving too late for staging) the timekeeper should discuss an update of the fetching schedule with the head shepherd.
The responsibility of the guard is to open and close the staging area at appropriate times and control entry to this area.
More specifically the guard should not allow anyone into the staging area unless they are a blueshirt or staging for the next match. Only one person from each team is allowed in the staging area and they must wear a high-vis vest showing their team name, indicating that they have passed the safety test. When letting a team (=person with robot) into the staging area the guard should tell them which corner they will stage for, ideally mentioning the colour and approximate location of the staging desk if possible. We recommend that the guard keeps a record of which teams have already been admitted for a particular match. In previous years, the guard would also tell the timekeeper when a match was fully staged so that this information could be relayed to the team shepherds. If the guard sees a team leaving the staging area with robot markers still attached to their robot, she should request that the team return the markers before leaving the staging area.
The responsibility of the badgers is to supervise the staging as well as to hand out and return robot badges and USB-keys.
More specifically, the badgers should make sure that teams follow the direction of travel through the staging area as indicated by the arrows on the floor. When staging, the badgers should help to guide the teams to the correct staging bay. The badgers then hand out the robot badges and match keys to the teams, making sure that a team has staged in the correct slot and is receiving the correct badges. When destaging after a match, the badgers need to make sure that the teams coming from the staging desks into the arena travel the right way round, not obstructing the destaging. The teams leaving the arena should be advised to place their robots on the destaging desks for badge and USB key removal. The badgers need to collect the badges and keys and sort them, ready to be handed out in the next round of staging. The badgers need to ensure that teams do not leave the staging area with markers or USB-keys. The badgers should also clear any items left on the staging tables at this point to prepare for the next round of staging.
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