Your job, is to help these kids learn about STEM, not to win a robotics competition, if that means explaining to them how they can better accomplish their safety goals, then so be it. Also, you may want to consider how your language conveys your thoughts, and try to be more professional.
The proper response would have been to speak with their team officials and explained how they were going about this wrong, and that it was causing a problem. If that failed you, then you speak to the FIRST officials about it. There are many better options, both in terms of respect and effectiveness.
Now, I feel bad for derailing the thread, so I'm going to contribute and nudge it back on topic!
I think that teams shouting "robot!", are generally well intentioned, and I think are responding to the environment they're in. I'm not particularly bothered by it personally, but I do see how it could be a problem. Maybe it's time for someone to make up a nice little safety video for teams and see what FIRST thinks of it?
Things we could cover:
- Proper robot cart etiquette - how to move your robot around quickly and safely, and the best ways to get peoples attention without being disruptive
- Proper pit layout/crowd control - how to keep your pit from overflowing with people and tools and taking up too much space
- Proper ways to promote safety - let's face it, the current safety award and the typical attempts for it tend to cause more trouble than safety awareness, we can do better!
Let's work the problem!
Matt