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Originally Posted by Dan Swando
Seperately, the inspectors mentioned that most teams were glad for the shutdown, because though it was boring for the spectators, the pit crews used this valuable time to greatly upgrade their robots, which resulted in a more exciting competition than what would've happened otherwise. Just a point that a waste of time for some was very valuable to others.
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Our robot, and five others, were kept on the track for hours, so the long delay was both boring to the spectators and a disadvantage to our team and others.
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The result of all of the penalties being called was more disciplined drivers. As the competition went on, the referees threw fewer and fewer penalties (The finals didn't have any penalties thrown). It's a learning curve that teams work through, and this group of very green teams performed spectacularly in handling the learning curve and other challanges the game presented.
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As I saw it, the referees mercifully relaxed the "breaking the plane" rule quite a bit, which was clearly the right thing to do. We did instruct our drivers to never back up, even if a robot had them blocked in, unless they were absolutely certain they were nowhere near a line. This didn't improve the game, it just meant that people sat stuck at the ends of the track a lot, afraid to back up and go around.
I don't know why anyone wants to argue for a penalty that is obviously far too severe and damages the flow of the game.
I am giving feedback and making suggestions in an attempt to improve the competitions and further the stated goals of FIRST. I am a middle-aged software engineer who is donating a lot of time and money to participate in FIRST because I believe it is a good idea.
Robots can be greatly improved in a few hours, and competitions and competition rules can be improved over time as well -- but not if you spin negatives into positives and live in delusion.