[garyk]

In San Diego, intermittently a robot on the field would never come ready. A Field Tech would work on the control system, under the drivers' station, and sometimes it would be fixed, and sometimes not. I know this had to be frustrating to the teams and alliances affected.

Speaking as a hardware/software guy, sometimes this happens. I've had demos fail in front of real or potential customers. What can be learned from all this? When today's students become professonals and find themselves creating products, you'll remember what happened to you as students and take extra care to avoid it. And to those who end up in management, remember that quality takes time, resources, and money.

And when the crashes happen, you learn from it, and you go on.