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Inspection, in my view, is not mainly to catch the cheaters.
I have been an inspector many times over the past 3 years. I rarely remember occaisons where teams are caught "cheating". Most of the times, teams have different interpretation of rules and they truly believe that what they are doing is right.
The main task of an inspector is to get a team ready for safe match play. Every team has sharp edges on metal, and almost every team has to package their wiring better so other robots don't snag on their robot.
It is a rarity for a new FIRST team to have all of the electronics wired right with all of the correct gauge wire, and the inspectors are there to make sure it was done correctly (as best they can).
So, with this said, I am against the implentation of streamlining inspections in the manner sevisehda mentioned above. I like the suggestion of streamlining, but a full inspection still needs to be done before a robot sees the playing field. I suggest that veteran teams should do pre-ship inspections at local rookie build shops. For instance, a rookie team would have this pre-ship inspection worksheet filled out by their mentor veteran FIRST team. This sheet would be faxed in to FIRST and sent to the first regional the rookie is attending. This would greatly speed up inspections.
Andy B.
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