[Donut]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

I personally find the yelling of ROBOT as tradition.

Originally Posted by bulbajackel

Yelling "excuse me!" may be seen as rude to certain people and yelling robot appears as it has been included in the FIRST culture.

Originally Posted by Camren

Here is why I enjoy the yelling of robot
-Creative
-Spirited
- If done correctly parts a sea of bystanders in one shout

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

The culture of yelling robot came about the same time teams started actively pursuing the safety award.

Originally Posted by Kyle A

Consider me signed too! When I started robotics in 2004 no one yelled robot, maybe every once in awhile with a large group but you never heard it. My senior year in 2007 is when I heard teams starting to use it. It was new and kind of got on peoples nerves but we just let it happen. Now a days I know for we I hear it yelled so often I kind of just tune it out.

I keep seeing it mentioned that "ROBOT!" has become a tradition in FRC for some. It wasn't always that way; I personally don't remember it on a large scale until our regional and the championship in 2007. As Adam and Kyle noted the practice really didn't start until the safety award was created in 2005, and I believe it came about as a way of teams trying to set themselves apart from the rest for their safety practices. I definitely recall that years teams were offering up "robot escorts" that would would walk with other teams and shout robot for them to help them get through the pits. I also recall that some "robot escorts" would do this without asking, and I remember as part of the drive team that year telling them to go away because they weren't helpful (or sometimes yelling it, in a less-than-kind tone. Being on the drive team is stressful ).

There was a lot of complaints about the "ROBOT!" practice back in 2007 too, but the same arguments on both sides were presented then and the practice didn't die. At this point I think it's too late to stop it unless an outright ban was placed on it (which I don't want to see either). None of the drive teams I've been apart of have ever used it and we never had a problem getting around the pits, but I can see how it has become tradition for some, and at this point I think I will just have to accept it (much like how "We graciously accept" has become a tradition that irks many). If you do shout it as you come by though don't expect me to tell you what a good, safe job you're doing navigating the pits, and if safety inspectors start requiring this practice at a regional I attend I'm going to have a nice long discussion with one (or more) of them about why we won't be doing it.