[galewind]

The problem that I have, personally, with the fix-it window is that the programming is supposed to be done simultaneously with the manufacturing of parts, and the coordination of that is sometimes near impossible, and quite frankly, unrealistic. Noting that the coding of specific features of the machine and the autonomous testing cannot be done until after specific components of the machine are built, I would propose that FIRST do something along the spirit of these two ideas:

1) Make separate fix-it windows for programming
2) Make the "put the computer down" deadline X amount of days after the ship deadline in order to compensate for not being realistic in coding until after the design of the robot is laid out.

As it stands, those teams who build separate identical robot bases or full robots stand to benefit from the fix-it windows because they have a full machine to work on coding with while the manufacturing crew has the ability to work on assembling the spare parts. Additionally, if a prototype base is designed before build, teams can learn to work with sensors on this prototype base so that code is already written BEFORE build starts.

When teams don't have these resources, during build, the programming crew often gets pushed by the wayside when it comes to testing because, after all, if you don't have a finished robot, you can't test it.

I believe that building and coding are two separate beasts that COULD have rules created around them that are separate (but don't necessarily have to if you have strong enough project management skills).

I'm not really... convinced that we would have to do either of these things, but i'm just throwing it out.