Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

Mobile!

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

Are you worried that it would it might get in the way? Between queuing robots and spectators it can get cramped down there.

Or on the flip side do you think this could help eliminate some of the congestion by keeping team members in their pits and having you come to them instead?

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

Sorry to derail this topic, but i felt the need for a one-and-done comment. As a student who has competed in both FIRST and BattleBots, I can assure you that things like this happen at every BattleBots event, and while 'Gracious Professionalism' takes many different forms, it is still prevelant throughout the competition. FIRST and BattleBots encourage and idealize very similar goals.

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

Many teams have programs that send their students out to help other teams. MOE 365 has had a program called MOEbile Pit, where selected students are given the job* of staying in the pit area, looking for teams that are struggling and need help. They have special tool belts printed with MOEbile Pit. It's a coveted position to be selected for this and many of the students have great memories of getting a team back into the competition who had given up.

At Championship however we have found that there is less for them to do. The vast majority of teams don't need much help there. And when they do, help is usually immediately offered by their pit neighbors.


(*Every student on MOE has a job at competitions - pit, scout, strategist, MOEbile pit, ambassador, etc. They only time you will see a large number of MOE students in the stnads is when the robot is on the field).

At the Ontario events this year, there were official FIRST Tech Support crews made up of volunteers from the veteran teams who attended. Teams and inspectors could request help from members of this crew throughout the day. I did a shift on the crew on Thursday morning and managed to get some DSes updated, radio firmwares reflashed, and a few cRIOs reimaged.

A lot of veteran teams do this anyways, but it was nice to formalize the process. There was a centralized desk beside the radio station and inspection station that any team or inspector could go to for assistance to solve an issue. It was nice for inspectors especially, as they could focus on inspecting, rather than fixing all the problems they uncovered.

I highly recommend the setup if you have the experienced volunteers available.

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

I would add snap ring pliers to the list.

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

This is a fantastic idea! I know at the Hawaii Regional, we had about 4 people who helped the 2 Chinese teams that attended, and were there for the majority of the competition, same with a pair of software mentors at LAN Down Under (4774). We always bring a few extras to help other teams. =)

Re: "FIRST Pit Crew!" Pit Admin Requests
 

This seems like a really awesome idea :3 Hopefully our team can help out with this if we do manage to go back to the Alamo Regional :D something to give back to the plethora of teams that have helped us out in our past two years of competing nwn