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Unread 23-02-2015, 21:43
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Billfred Billfred is offline
...and you can't! teach! that!
FRC #5402 (Iron Kings); no team (AndyMark)
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Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...

I was a volunteer in the Vex era--I refereed the Championship finals of Half-Pipe Hustle. After several years away due to limited time available, I've been a game announcer in South Carolina the past two years now.

It does seem like the control system on the robots is a little cobbled together, akin to the old cRIO system in FRC but up a notch. The end-to-end system leads to spontaneous robot dropouts, unexplainable difficulties that knock an event from two fields to one, teams not running because they picked the wrong program on the NXT, replays because hyped-up kids knock out a USB hub, and if I ever hear "Select Red 1 Driver 1" again... It just doesn't seem that VRC has these issues!

I don't think integrating Vex's control system is necessarily the answer without a wholesale change in FTC's electrical system, but they do have the bogey to hit. Robots that work well and events that don't have murderous field delays are an express ticket to rewarding, satisfying competition experiences.
__________________
William "Billfred" Leverette - Gamecock/Jessica Boucher victim/Marketing & Sales Specialist at AndyMark

2004-2006: FRC 1293 (D5 Robotics) - Student, Mentor, Coach
2007-2009: FRC 1618 (Capital Robotics) - Mentor, Coach
2009-2013: FRC 2815 (Los Pollos Locos) - Mentor, Coach - Palmetto '09, Peachtree '11, Palmetto '11, Palmetto '12
2010: FRC 1398 (Keenan Robo-Raiders) - Mentor - Palmetto '10
2014-2016: FRC 4901 (Garnet Squadron) - Co-Founder and Head Bot Coach - Orlando '14, SCRIW '16
2017-: FRC 5402 (Iron Kings) - Mentor

94 events (more than will fit in a ChiefDelphi signature), 14 seasons, over 61,000 miles, and still on a mission from Bob.

Rule #1: Do not die. Rule #2: Be respectful. Rule #3: Be safe. Rule #4: Follow the handbook.
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