[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by DukesAZ

I have always been a little bothered by the fact that many refs/inspectors/judges are active members of FIRST teams and in many cases teams that are attending the particular regional that they are volunteering at. On several occasions, I have even seen volunteers throw on a team t-shirt and walk with a team when they win an award! How can you have any faith in their impartiality when you see stuff like that?

There is nothing wrong with volunteers being open about their team affiliation or receiving an award that they worked hard for as a member of that team. Wouldn't it be worse if they tried to keep their team affiliation a secret?

At Philly, all refs/inspectors/judges signed a conflict of interest form (quoted below), with rules about behavior toward their team. I don’t know if other regionals are using this form, but it is a good idea to set up the guidelines up front.

Originally Posted by Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement

By signing this document, I, the undersigned agree to disclose any direct relationship I may have with a FIRST Robotics Team. I also agree, if I do have a relationship with a competing FIRST Robotics Team, to disqualify myself from any discussions, judging, inspecting or refereeing in which involve my team.
In the Inspection position: I will disclose to the Lead Robot Inspector any direct affiliation with a FIRST Robotics Team and I will not inspect or attempt to influence any other inspector in the inspection of my team’s robot.
In the Refereeing position: I will disclose to the Head Referee any direct affiliation with a FIRST Robotics Team and I will not involve myself in the refereeing decisions regarding my team.
In the Field Supervisor position: I will disclose to the Field Manager and/or Head Referee any direct affiliation with a FIRST Robotics Team and I will not attempt to influence robot inspectors, referees or judges or involve myself in any conversations regarding my team.
In the Judging position: I will disclose to the Judge Advisor any direct affiliation with a FIRST Robotics Team and will not participate in any discussions or award decisions regarding this team or otherwise attempt to influence decisions relating to awards my team might be considered for.

This is the first year I have seen this form, but FIRST has always known which teams the volunteers were from. The volunteer application form asks you for FIRST team experience, mostly to make sure you are qualified for your position.

I've been a member of 365 for 5 years and a robot inspector for 3. While I’m inspecting, it is pretty easy to tell that I’m a MOE member. In 2003 and 2004, I had permanent MOE Green hair for all the competitions . There was a shortage of volunteers this year at Pitt, so I was asked to help out with the inspections Thursday night. I didn’t get a crew shirt or badge, so I inspected two robots in my MOE shirt. It was a little awkward when I had to explain the situation to both teams, but the inspections went off w/o a hitch.