[JimWright949]

I'm going to second Robot Inspector as a position you should volunteer for before FTAA. You want to volunteer as RI at an early Regional or District where the robots still have some issues to work out. Get a couple of inspections in with an experienced RI mentor, then ask to LRI to be assigned to the team who is having the most problems, preferably a rooky team.

Let the team to the work, however help them out by showing them the machine shop, pointing out the teams that will help them. Just walk them through their problems. If you get them up and running then work with the experienced RI mentor on the last team to finish. Seeing other robot teams problems in an environment where you really want to get the team on the field is a good introduction to the pressures. It's also a good place to get your customer service experience as well as introducing you to your area's mentors.

The next move, I think, is a CSA, unlike RI, where the bulk of the work is done before match 1, the CSA is busy the whole event long. The FTA/FTAA deals with the whole Field control system, they understand the robot control system, but rarely get into the nuts and bolts of the robot's control system during an event, that is why they have CSA's. So knowing what goes into the robot control system is very important.

-Jim