[dodar]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

A lot of folks like to compare FRC to sports. In many sports, the action takes place on the field. The panic/stress/pressure/changes/improvements occur on the field and in the locker room/dugouts, etc., and visitors, guests, fans don't have access to those areas. The chaos/changes are contained and outside contributions to crowding and potential chaos are minimized, allowing teams to focus on the job at hand.

In FRC, there is a direct connection between the field activity and the pits. The distance between the two can contribute to stress and pressure on the teams competing, as they travel back and forth to maintain the level of competition that they are on or working to improve on.

In this area, the BEST robotics competitions that I've been involved in, have it over FRC, hands down. Only people who wear a badge/team name tag are allowed in the pits. The teams are given a certain number of tags at check-in and the team members can swap them out among themselves as needed but it keeps the things running a lot more smoothly between the pits and the field(s). FRC invites everyone and their mother to tour the pits, enter the pits, camp in the pits, party in the pits. Then FRC expects a handful of safety advisors to maintain order by giving positive feedback through awards. Righhhhhht.

The way to establish order and allow the teams to excel in their competition is to keep the pits running/flowing smoothly and efficiently. Parents, fans, and guests don't expect to run to the dugout or the locker room during innings or half-times. They deal with it. They can deal with it in robotics, too. There could be times built into the competition for guests and visitors to visit the pits and get a tour but to be able to have ready access to the pits during the entire competition puts a lot of senseless stress/pressure on the competing teams.

Jane

I remember when I went to the state science fair in middle school and in both 7th and 8th grade there were times allowed for the regular public to come in and walk around and look but then there was a specified time where only judges could be in there with the students. I think this would be a good thing to implement and specify when others could come in after competition matches had been played for that day and go and look around and talk to the teams as they "show off" their robots.