[Bryan Herbst]

Also remember that while you might get past inspection with fully or partially obscured electronics, it is often in your best interest to have the major components (especially the roboRIO and radio) visible for the field staff.

If your robot isn't connecting to the field, the roboRIO and radio are two of the first places your FTA(A) will look for potential problems. If those two things are not visible or easily accessible, your chances of getting connected in that match start dropping.

The PDP isn't as important on the field, but having it accessible to field staff can be helpful if you experience issues during a match- after a match ends we often walk up to the robot to see if there is anything obviously wrong that we can point out such as wires that pulled out.