[Justin Montois]

I don't want to make it seem like it's is definitely a field issue or a team issue but there are an awful lot of teams voicing similar concerns, mine included.

We sat dead on the field after ~5 seconds of operator control for both of our quarter-final matches. In the first quarter final match, two robots on our alliance were dead. It is a terrible way to lose. I give all 3 teams on our alliance credit, we handled it with GP but it still is a tough way to go out after working so hard all build season.

No one on the field team could tell me what went wrong, they insisted it wasn't a field issue, and perhaps it wasn't. But the sheer number of teams reporting random dropouts of their connection during elimination matches especially is disappointing.

I remember using the old IFI system it was almost plug and play. It had generic code that could have you at least DRIVING in almost no time at all. I think the system we are using is way beyond what we need.

I think a good solution would be to have a 'lite' control system for teams that don't need all of the bells and whistles that our current system has. Maybe some teams can use it but the vast majority of teams, especially rookies don't need that expensive of a system to run their robots.

I appreciate what FIRST and NI have done to give us a control system with some amazing capabilities. I really do hope that these growing pains pay off in the end, but right now they certainly do hurt.