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Re: Inspection Stories
This coming from a student:
I only have memories of inspections from 2016 (2015 was just a blur for me as a new freshman), and they all went well. We made sure everyone knew the rules going into build, and kept checking them throughout build season, and one final time during bag. The inspections at both regionals were relatively quick and easy.
However I keep getting told stories about our rookie year though (back in 2012). Bit of back story: Apparently when the head mentor got the team involved in FRC in 2012, he really didn't know what he was getting himself into. He was told that everything you would need would come in the KOP and you would be good to go. Imagine his surprise when the team opened up the KOP and realized they had next to nothing to build an actual bot. Anyway, so obviously they were very inexperienced going into that season.
The team only went to one regional that year, and apparently the inspection experience there was a nightmare. There were obviously several issues with the robot (due to the inexperience) and the apparently the inspector the team got wasn't the "most helpful". He would only check one thing at a time and tell the team to fix it before checking the rest.
For example, there was a problem with the frame, and he told the team to fix it. The team had to spend all of thursday ripping down the frame and fixing the issue. They attempted to get reinspected that friday morning, and the inspector found an issue with a motor. Due to the team's design, they had to rip apart the frame again and fix that issue and rebuild. Had the inspector realized this during the initial inspection, it would have been a breeze to fix that issue thursday itself when the frame was already ripped apart.
So apparently that took all of friday, and the team attempted to get reinspected again saturday morning. This time the inspector found a problem with the team's wiring. Again, due to the team's design the frame had to be compltley taken apart to access some of the wiring. Had this issue also been noticed at initial inspection, the problem could have been fixed on thursday itself. But instead it took all of saturday. By the time the frame was put back together, and the team received an allclear, the qualification matches were over. And obviously the team wasn't picked because they never even set foot on the field once.
The team's rookie year was spent not touching the field even once. (Again due to inexperience) our head mentor and team knew nothing about LRIs etc. At the end of the event apparently the head mentor just compltley "exploded" and started ranting about the entire process to a neighboring veteran team. They were apparently immediately sympathetic and called over the LRI to talk. When the head mentor explained what happened and that they never touched the field because of it, apparently the inspector that inspected us was given a major talking to, and has also never been seen as an inspector at that regional again. The LRI apparently gave a huge apology to the team. (Side note: The LRI and our head mentor are still friends to this day).
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Team 3991: Driver since freshman (2015-), Captain since sophomore (2016-), CADer
"The human condition is not perfect. We are not perfect specimens, any of us. We're not robots." - Michael Ovitz
My posts may or may not reflect the views of my team, they are my opinions, and mine alone.
Last edited by dirtbikerxz : 24-01-2017 at 20:54.
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