Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt H.
I had a great deal of fun both Thursday and Friday, but felt that alliance selection was a bit of a toss up and Saturday was very stressful as we struggled to fix electrical problems (we believe we have a loose connection, but can't find it--trouble shooting tips are welcome) and also attempted to support an alliance.
I was very impressed by the rookie teams and their turn out however I do have one gripe. If teams are going to "start" 30 rookie teams each year then they also need to support them. There were many examples of rookies having no idea how regional events worked or of basic robot design principle--things which I believe are the responsibility of the mentoring team. What made this especially obvious was a rookie team with absolutely no idea how alliance selections worked picking numbers at random. Perhaps the prestige of the chairman's award has led teams to simple start up teams and then leave them rather than forming a mutually beneficial relationship. (It looks much better to have started 30 teams than to have started and worked with 3.)
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I believe it is the responsibility of every veteran that saw those clueless rookies and didn't step in and give them some help. I know last year that we were the clueless rookies at Wisconsin. Our alliance selections were terrible, but we managed to make the best of it and claw our way to the finals before falling to a great alliance. I know that I plan to go around to all the rookies that seed or may move up into the Top 8 this year at MN and make sure they know how things work.
All you can do know is learn from mistakes and work towards doing better in the future.
With regards to the electrical problem, I recommend you start a thread in the Electrical section with as much detail as you can give about the problem (I know you don't have access to your bot and that will make it difficult). I'm sure you'll get some great advice from Al S. and others about how to go about identifying your issue.
Hopefully you can get your issues resolved and have a great time at LA!