[Jon Stratis]

I can say that, as an inspector, I tried to help teams as best I could with the set up time. There was one team that specifically comes to mind that added a gripper halfway through the competition, and it had to be attached on the field. When they came up to have it inspected, I did the usual stuff - sharp edges, weight, sizing box, etc. But I also asked them to attach the gripper to the robot. My intent with that was to verify it wouldn't cause issues (like gouging the scoring platforms), but I also times them. When it took about 90 seconds, I warned them that they would need to practice it to get it fast enough for the field. It's not part of the inspection, and they passed without any issue, but I was hoping that they would take the warning to heart, Practice orc and then not have issues setting up on the field. Just a little something extra to help their weekend go smoothly.

With something like this, teams need to consider 60 seconds to be a hard and fast rule. The need to design, build, and practice to ensure they are faster than 60 seconds. And then the field needs to give teams as much leeway as possible, while still maintaining the overall event schedule. While the volunteers are focused on the team experience, we have 60 teams we're worried about, not just the one team that's taking a bit long to get set up. We'll do everything we can to ensure every team has a good time, but the teams need to be focused on their experience as well. Part of that is the experience of engineering to a fixed set of requirements, one of which is the on field setup. It's a harsh lesson to learn sometimes, but the process of engineering isn't just designing something cool. It's designing something cool that meets all of the requirements handed down to you.

So treat the 60 seconds as a fixed limit, and trust in the volunteers to do what they can to assist you and ensure you not only play, but play on time so those watching from home can see your match when they expect to.