Quote:
Originally Posted by marshall
This. Really. Bugs. Me. It's why we no longer have a canopy and why we are constantly working on our pit furniture and trying to make it more functional and less decorative.
Seriously, teams that should know better take up valuable space in the aisles of the pit area and cause many safety issues, not just for the inspectors but for other teams. I don't feel like this is something FIRST should issue language around but we as teams should make a bigger deal out of pit preparation etiquette. Pits should be setup quickly and provide a safe place to work without encroaching on the aisles or other pits.
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You would have flipped out if you'd been at a regional with 2220 in 2013, then. That was far, far worse than what Jon's talking about now (though I certainly don't intend to put words in your mouth, Jon, I just know that the description you gave matches 2220's pit). I can tell you that more time than some teams spend on their robots has been spent by students and mentors on Blue Twilight trying to figure out how to set that thing up in less time and without leaving the pit. If I remember correctly, the only part that involves leaving the pit now is hanging a TV in the front, and that's a relatively quick thing that, at least when I was with the team, we tended to do Thursday evening specifically for the reasons you've specified-- and it's definitely worth mentioning that 2220 won a couple of UL Safety awards last season for their safety program (which, funnily enough, largely stemmed from the pit back in 13).
Sorry to sort of jump on this, but there's a lot more that goes into setting up some of these displays than some would give these teams credit for. A professional pit also brings something very unique and cool to an event (I still remember being blown away by 2826's pit in 2012-- it was a huge inspiration then and now).
It's also definitely worth mentioning (as others have) that setting up Wednesday would eliminate a huge amount of the jostling around pit setup on practice day. I'm certainly hoping my schedule will allow me to volunteer Wednesday nights to help make this happen at MN events. Just one more of the many small improvements that have made FRC better in the last few years.