My head spins there is so much to take in.
First, I join my voice to the chorus that is saddened and outraged by the behavior of this individual*. I don't suppose that this is the first malicious attack by an individual on another FIRST team or alliance but this attack is so brazen. I am sick. Really sick.
Second, I don't think that it is too much to expect the former team of this individual to apologize to the teams involved as well as the entire FIRST community. What is more, depending on the circumstances, I would think that it may be appropriate for them to assure the FIRST community that they are committed to Gracious Professionalism in its highest sense and that they are committed to rooting out anything within their team culture that may have contributed to fostering the behavior of this individual.
I don't want to start a rumor but does anyone else think that this must be related to the nonsense that went on at the Greater Toronto East Regional? If so, the Canadian FIRST community really has to work to lance this boil.
Third, I am really disturbed by this statement in the report:
Quote:
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FMS White Paper – FRC will be producing a white paper which describes how the Field Management System operates. This will include details on the topology of the system, components used and the communications paths between the various components.
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This seems to imply that they don't have this now. Wow.
Fourth, they offer "Additional emphasis in training and documentation" as a mitigation for "Robot D-Link radio reboot due to power dip." I hate this proposal. It seems to me that either the robots must return to active duty (passing packets back and forth) in a handful of milliseconds OR the radios must work down to a voltage that is almost literally impossible to get to without tripping the breaker (say 1.5 volts or something ridiculous like that).
Fifth, it seems to me that FIRST (and the FMS) has one implied contract with the teams: We will get X% of your data packets from your Operator Interface to your Robot and vice versa within Y msec. In my view of the world, literally the SECOND the FMS breaks this contract for even one robot on the field, the match has to stop and be replayed. Period.
With the current system this vision cannot be fully implemented because of dead/disconnected batteries and other complications.
I will say that if FIRST had this as their standard, this attack would not have been prevented but the attacker's purpose would not have been accomplished, which may have kept the attacker from even trying.
Reading the report, it is hard to know if the FMS system actively monitors this contract... ...past is past. Going forward, I really think FIRST should implement such a system hosting another tournament.
Finally, I hope that the FIRST community can pull together as a result of these events. We must do our best make FIRST better because of it. I have faith in our ability to do so.
Regards,
Joe J.
*I say "individual" because I am not sure if there were two or one. The report seems to indicate two folks were involved but only one was banned for life so... ...perhaps I am misunderstanding the text.