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Unread 29-04-2013, 16:21
kaliken kaliken is offline
294 Old Fart Mentor...
AKA: Ken S
FRC #0294 (Beach Cities Robotics)
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Join Date: May 2010
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Posts: 102
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Re: Ungracious professionalism at internationals?

This has been an interesting read...

I myself am not surprised at the ability to fix a robot post quals and before elims. Heck in 2011, 1114 and 294's pit crews completely ripped off 294's mini bot deployer, attached 1114's backup deployer. rewrote deployment code and got reinspected... so amazing feats like this are the best part of working with amazing teams in crunch time. So given that I am sure 217 and the Cows could have pulled off a minor miracle.

But back to the point I wanted to make. Since my team wasn't there pretty much all the information I have seen is coming from CD. But one very interesting point that I can infer from this discussion is that the real crux of what seems to be the problem is the fact that the information given to all the teams was not interpreted the same. So even though Paul in all good faith was trying to tell each team the same thing. Not everyone interpreted it the same. Essentially Paul was saying "X" Some teams inferred "Y" But the Cows inferred "Z". Its a classic communications gap.

So not saying Paul is in the wrong, but one of that hardest things to do is providing all the teams an accurate state of 217's robot. From what I have been able to read on CD just by saying "take us off your list we are broken.. or automatic backup robot", this in and of itself generates ambiguity. It does not answer the key question that many teams may have. Namely.
1) Will you decline if picked?.
2) Can we try to fix you if we pick you?
Rather it was left for teams to infer that either they were broken or not pickable. This I believe was the cause of frustration, especially since the Cows reasoned to a different conclusion.

So given all of this. I actually think the true lesson is (in case you are in the unfortunate position that Paul was put in) the message needs to be extremely clear. Essentially.. "We are Broken and will decline all invitations", "we are broken, but are willing to help the alliance if picked. Please come and look at our robot so you can see the extent of our damage so you can make an assessment" (letting other people see allows for clear and open discussion)

Bottom line. A very tough position for 217 and Paul to be in. I am sure he did his best to convey to everyone the same message. It is a bummer that people felt bad about what happened.
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