Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Marc P.
Best thing I can recommend is have one member of your team volunteer as field crew for a regional. After most regionals, a number of volunteers will stick behind Saturday night and help break down and pack up the field. There's no better way to learn the internal workings of a FIRST field than to help the professionals tear it down. You'll see where every part goes, and how it's plugged in. I believe all the fields are standard to each other, so it shouldn't have mattered that you got the electronics box for another field. I've been to Beantown Blitz and Battlecry@WPI, and everything runs like clockwork once you get used to working with the fields.
If possible, it's also a good idea to set up the fields a full day in advance, because there are quirks that can take some time to iron out. That way, you can run a number of test/dummy matches the night before, and again the morning before to make sure everything's working properly.
|
The two people we selected to run the field did just what you suggested. Both of them volunteered at the Florida Regional; I think another really good idea is have the field delivered earlier so you have more time to de-bug; also it would probably be a good idea to hook up the electronics first thing while people are setting up the field to make sure all the sensors work; we were even going to test the field with our robot to make sure everything was working, but we were never able to get to get that far.
I also agree that the registration fee should be increased to bring in a professional person like they do at IRI.
Just my two cents worth.
Nathan Pell