[protoserge]

As a key volunteer, we want to provide teams a quality event experience. This doesn't mean that every team will be happy with the outcome of every decision or call on the field, but as a whole, the team will leave an event having had a good time and an overall positive experience. Even if events are running behind schedule, we still want teams to have an enjoyable experience and feel like they were given every reasonable accommodation to compete.

The 60 second guideline is a measure for teams to understand that there needs to be some reasonable approach to their robot design. It is understood that early on in a competition, there will be delays as teams are not necessarily well-practiced or efficient in setting up their robot. If a single team takes 5-6 minutes to set up every match, it could potentially delay a competition an hour.

The refs and FTAs really do not want to disable a robot. It is a last-call measure and it has to be reported.

As far as the comments about "crickets chirping in Manchester", I don't know if I read the tone of the statement correctly as being that of inaction by FIRST HQ. I will say that there is no lack of conversation on this topic and there has been some communication on the subject enforcing the priority of a quality team experience. I am sure we will hear more from Frank in the coming days. I would expect that if there is no explicit rule change, FTAs and refs will have been informed of the policy guidance on this rule to adhere to the priority of a quality team experience.