Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday
To those who are requesting that teams be required to be inspected before practicing: I see your point but this rule should not be in effect right away. Perhaps, if this becomes a rule, it should apply after 2pm or so.
My reasoning is this: I don't have hard evidence, but I suspect that the majority of missed matches occur early in the day (teams not ready or arriving late, etc). Obviously this is also the time when few, if any, teams are inspected. If this rule was in effect all day, then it's quite likely that open practice slots would go unfilled, and that's simply a waste.
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Dave,
Likewise, I have no hard evidence but wonder why "few, if any, teams are inspected"? IMHO, many teams would be able to go through inspection early on Thursday and do not because there is no incentive to do so.
While I agree it is a shame to waste practice time, we are not talking about denying anyone their scheduled time here. If, indeed, "few, if any, teams are inspected" they should be working on their robots, not waiting like geeky vultures in a queue hoping that another less fortunate team (one whose robot is not working) does not show. At events where most robots are working enough to practice, the wait in that queue could be very long indeed.
There is no perfect answer here. At "younger" events (dominated by rookie teams) your proposal has more merit than at "older" events (dominated by veterans). As FIRST continues to grow, the percentage of veteran teams should increase...
If we can convince teams to complete inspection early, it will help the inspectors to identify teams in trouble and render assistance.
Also, if a team has passed inspection and in queued for extra practice, no work is being done on the robot. This increases a pool of pit savvy people who can be easily identified by the inspection crew and could be encouraged to help out teams having difficulties.
JMHO.
Mike