Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
magnets you couldn't be more wrong. We do not want to prevent teams from competing and we certainly do not want to issue red cards. (The LRI in the past was the messenger on delivering red cards that were not related to game play. I hated that task.) We, as inspectors and refs, want to see everyone play as much as they want. My direction to inspectors is to try every trick to get a team on the field. That might mean disabling an illegal mechanism or not using pneumatics for a match. If the inspector is working with the team we will work out an agreement with the head ref and FTA to allow the team to participate while they are working. The head ref, FTA and LRI act as a group to insure that the competition is both fair and a good experience for all. The LRI oversees everything in the pit and on the robot, the ref everything on the field and with the game and the FTA is the FIRST rep at the event and is tasked with making everything (especially the field) run smooth.
One of the biggest issues we face as volunteers is the fact that it is hard to get experienced volunteers in key positions. As I look at the inspector list, for instance, there are only a handful of people that have been LRIs for more than a few years. I am a rare exception with more than 10 years of regional and Championship LRI experience. With the lack of experience comes some times when mistakes are made or rules are incorrectly interpreted. It is for this reason that all key volunteers have a series of other people to turn to. All LRIs have my cell phone number and refs can get to the Aidan. The FTA has all of those numbers and has people that can answer calls at HQ every weekend, up to and including Frank. In addition to that, we follow the Q&A and most LRIs will keep an up to date listing of the Q&A and team updates at each event they work. Finally teams question me here on CD or privately throughout the season. I respond to all of those inquiries or point the team to the Q&A. It is still surprising that more teams do not come to CD for answers or don't even know about the wealth of information that is here.
Travis, safety is a subset of this as part of the inspection process. We would never ignore a safety issue to get a team on the field.
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With all due respect Al, you are one LRI/Inspector out of many. I will say that I have encountered a number of inspectors this year going out of there way to fail robots during inspection (in one specific case, pressing down so hard on our bumpers that the noodles deformed well off the wood and failed inspection, our bumpers were properly constructed, fabric tight, and mounted at the correct height per the rules), as well as unjustifiable penalties at competition. While overall the general experience is good, a few bad eggs do leave a sour taste in my mouth, this year was less balanced then normal.
I truly feel that there are absolutely cases where there seems to personal "bad blood" between teams and volunteers.
In other news, this thread has gotten completely off topic. Pneumatics are one of my favorite things teach students about within robotics, and its a shame that the rules are not more well written and open. Perhaps its time to review this entire section of the manual as there are many artifacts from years past?