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Unread 19-10-2005, 20:21
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Emeritus Pain in the $@#$@#$@#
AKA: Christopher J. O'Connell
None #1097 (Site 3 Engineering)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Latrobe (over the rainbow), CA
Posts: 217
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Re: Should teams be pushed to make higher quality robots?

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Im talking about the people who show up only to eat your food and screw around (yeah, you all know what I'm talking about. Every team has this happen )
Absolutely.

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It is not always possible for teams to create a robot that is "visually pleasing" . . .
While I understand that "pretty" is not always possible I do believe ths in good design form and function are intrinsically related, and that sloppy welds, and useless pieces cannot add to the robot. On the otherhand, pieces which look like what they do (at some level) tend to function better and work longer with fewer problems.

As far as "process" goes, it is nice to have meetings, the officious people get to talk a lot, and people get to hear the sound of their own voices, however, we have tried (not always successfully) to keep meetings to the bare minimum. The question is, do you trust the people working on a particular part enough to let them follow the common plans and not breathe down their necks? As someone "in charge" of certain project aspects, I can personally attest to how hard it is not to micromanage. Furthermore, process creates totally functionaless people, people whose only purpose is to facilitate the "process," and who use up resources while creating nothing of value.
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Team 1097 -- Site 3 Engineering
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2003 Sacramento Rookie All Star
2003 Silicon Valley Rookie All Star
2004 Sacramento Engineering Inspiration Award
2004 Sacramento Visualization Award
2004 Outstanding Volunteer Award (G. Glasser)
2004 Silicon Valley Sportsmanship Award
2004 National Visualization Runner Up
2004 Cal Games Finalist
2005 Sacramento Sportsmanship Award
2005 Sacramento #1 seed
2005 Sacramento Finalist

2005 Silicon Valley Sportsmanship Award
2005 Silicon Valley #1 Seed
2005 Silicon Valley Finalist

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