|
Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
For Judging, cut the fluff. Hit the key points with just enough detail. The Judges only know what the Team tells them. If the Judges want more info, they will ask if there is time remaining.
Florida FTC uses an Excel spreadsheet for League and State that makes giving the feedback to the Teams easy (we were the pilot program for the spreadsheet scoring system). As long as a Judge is consistent with their scoring for all Teams, it works very well. It eliminates "strong personalities" from lobbying for any one Team from one specific area and standardizes the primary criteria. However, each Judge looks for specific things from the Teams, rather they are presentation skills, technical knowledge, or a great grip on their finances/funding.
We use text messages to communicate to the CSAs and Field/Cue Inspectors issues that the Teams are having on the Field. We had about a 10 minute delay in receiving text messages last year at Champs that we did not seem to have this year. However, 4G was still clogged solid.
Jared, where do the Robot Rules and Game Rules begin and end? Some Teams and some Volunteers know both sets of Rules. Not all Teams (Students and Mentors) nor all Volunteers who should know all the rules (Refs, Inspectors, etc.) know all the rules. As we know, Interpretation and Implementation results will vary. For example: We had a very confused student ask us if the robot had to be inspected to play in a practice match. We said no. However, we also told him that the robot has to have been inspected to play in a practice match via the filler line. He was still very confused. To me, this responsibility falls on both the Teams and Volunteers to read and understand what the rules are really telling them. The frame perimeter rule drives us a bit crazy. The withholding allowance/identical spares/changeable mechanisms also drives us a bit crazy. Non-compliant bumpers drive us even crazier, if that is even possible.
__________________
18 Event Veteran Volunteer Inspection Manager:
2005, 2007 to 2014 Orlando IM
2012, 2014 S. FL IM
2009 to 2014 Championship IM
2005 Championship RI
|