[dtengineering]

It might not hurt to require teams to post submit photos of their robots in advance of the event. Close ups of the motor, control board, bumpers, wheels, etc.

They could be submitted directly to FIRST, and kept confidential amongst event inspectors, or they could be posted publicly. I know that several teams who posted photos or plans on CD last year got a lot of helpful advice on issues that might present tech inspection problems and were able to make changes.

In any case, this way inspectors could figure out which teams are going to need the most attention and support in advance of the event. They could even e-mail the team for clarification and the team... if needed... could manufacture up to 40 lbs of replacements (if the witholding limit is still in place this year.)

In fact the photos could be required by the Friday before ship... putting a deadline in place that might help teams plan to finish up before ship date.

But probably the #1 way to speed things up would be to include a spring scale in the KoP, so that teams can hang their robot from the rafters and get a pretty good idea of what it weighs before it is boxed or bagged.

But the number one, most important, thing to make this work is to try to integrate teams into the FIRST community so that they can get help with ideas and issues early in the build period. I know we've been trying to do that for years, and it's really hard with remote teams, but we might just have to try even harder this year.


Jason