[Jon236]

Keeping on thread here, I think Jenny has a terrific idea with the concept of 'triage'. In handling MCI's, or Multiple-Casualty Incidents (which is a fair description of many Regionals), triage is used to provide the most efficient use of medical care to ensure that those with the best chance of survival will survive. Red tags indicate need for immediate care; yellow- urgent, green - basically ok, black - expectant (death imminent).

In the case of FIRST Competitions, triage can be applied to assure rapid completions of inspections with the most efficient use of resources (inspectors and inspection stations).

During un-crating, inspectors will give a brief assessment of a team's robot and assign it to a category (please note, in robot, as in human triage, that triage classes are never static and can and do change through time).

Those given Green stickers are ready to be inspected and are encouraged to do so right away, even though the team wants to do some minor tweaking. If the 'tweaking' adds weight, a later re-weigh is not a time consuming event. That way, the Green teams can get onto the practice field right away, or tweak as their hearts desire.

Yellow stickers go to the robots with possible issues which will require an inspector's review to resolve. On giving the Yellow sticker, the inspector should point out to the team the problem(s) which need to be addressed. She (he) should note the problems and return to the team to see how they are progressing.

Red stickers go to robots with obvious problems, or are uncompleted. This is an indication for immediate application of GP by surrounding teams. Robots (and their teams) in this condition are often unable to appreciate the severity of their condition, let alone know who to call for help. The Red sticker should serve as a magnet for helpful FIRSTers.

We won't use Black stickers....because we never give up in FIRST!