[Liz Smith]

There is a big issue I see that has been echoed many times in these Einstein discussions. There are problems with assumptions that are not necessarily correct, speculation without any data, and research without the proper tools. I will use myself as an example, but I feel this applies to everyone.

It would be presumptuous for me to consider myself, for example, a FRC wifi interference researcher just by sitting here at home watching YouTube videos of matches. Any information I gain is anecdotal at best. I do not have a full set of data, I do not have a full FRC field in my house (yet??) to conduct my own research—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

But... lets say I’m really concerned about the second to last match in the “Regional State District Division Championship” where my team stopped moving during the match. It is way too easy for me to watch a video reply of that match 100 times and convince myself without a doubt that I know why that robot failed.

This is a problem. I can theorize all I want, but it is counter productive for me to arrive at absolute conclusions because I have neither a full set of data or the proper tools to investigate. It would be much more productive for me to report my information and concerns and maybe a link to the video, but then let go of it and let someone else with the tools to fully investigate the issue look into it. If I pursue it further, I just end up making more assumptions and run the risk of assuming that every robot that stops moving in every match I ever watch is because of this one reason… which in reality can’t possibly be true. Going further, if I then go out and present myself as an expert on these matters all I am doing is spreading rumors without any real empirical data to back it up.

I can definitely voice my concerns, but I have to accept the fact that the people whose full time job it is to solve these problems are going to be better equipped than me to draw these conclusions. I know that FRC staff, volunteers, mentors and students... we all want every single robot on the field to function properly 100% of the time but when theories are presented as factual evidence and people make statements that are just speculation it just causes unnecessary confusion.