Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanN
From what I understand, you have an auger sitting at robotics waiting for programming and to be mounted, right?
What about your other idea? Is it sitting there waiting to be put on? I haven't heard you mention this at all?
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Whether or not your team wants to go with the auger design, you guys need to come up with a decision fast. Time is running out. Everything needs to start coming together now. If the other design has not been started yet, you should probably dump the idea. Give the programming team a few days to get something working. Make the robot aesthetically pleasing. Make sure it's wired up properly.
Fighting over a major design of your robot this late in the season is a big 'no no.'
I know if I had a working design sitting in front of me right now, I would definitely consider it.
My 2 cents.
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The way it actually works (as I understand it) is that they have 2 designs proceeding independently of each other. The team-chosen and team-built design is dubbed the "wheel". The other design, the "auger", is being built by what could best be termed a "splinter team" or small group that doesn't like the majority decision.
I'm not sure which one works. It is known that the auger isn't operational yet. We haven't been told the status of the wheel at this time. We do know that the OP doesn't want to start work on code for the auger, at least until the design is chosen by the rest of the team.
At this point, with a fuller understanding, but not complete, here is my advice to the OP: You have a choice: give the splinter group a chance or not. They have become resistant to your requests for help, and are apparently trying to build a second robot. Things are getting worse rather than better.
So, my advice is: Make your choice. One choice is to shut down the splinter team. I don't like to do this, but sometimes, it must be done. The other choice, and the one I would choose, is to hold a challenge. Both teams produce their product. Give about a 1-2 day warning. Establish a set of criteria, to determine which is better. Substitute human actuation when necessary to replace a motor. The better design, as shown by the criteria, will go on the robot. Some sample criteria:
-feed rate
-finishability--can it be completed by ship?
-jamming, or lack thereof
-ease of integration
-fill in the blank here--you may have other ideas. Leave out number of people working on the project, though.
Make sure that the entire team knows what the criteria are and has a chance to see them. The best option would be to make them beforehand, along with a note about automatic choosing under cases of no-shows or possibly pressuring one way or the other. Majority wins, and the better design is built by the entire team.
After that, if you still have a splinter team working on a concept that the team doesn't support, they need to wrap it up immediately or leave the team to do it.
This method will give the splinter team a chance to show what they can really do. It will also give you a chance to convince them. Two designs at this time just is not good, and this would be the absolute final choice.