[rsisk]

The only way to make this better is to improve the front end or the back end


Front end: Apply occam's razor to the rules. They seem to be getting more complicated every year, maybe certain areas can be simplified. Maybe the bumper rules need the first review to see if they can be simplified. Perhaps a panel of interested parties can be created to review and simplify rules.

Back end: try to catch as many problems as possible before the competitions. Maybe official inspections at pre-ship events. Teams get a token of some sort that shows they have been inspected pre-ship and this is given to inspectors at competition so they can go through a simplified inspection. Certified robots; once a robot is certified by an inspector it remains certified and only receives cursory or random checks. Teams that repeatedly fail random checks would lose ability to be certified. Peer reviews; teams step up to help do some of the basic inspection duties leaving the more complex processes to the Inspectors. Release the inspectors checklist to the teams so they can self inspect either pre-ship or at the competition.

So why are rules growing so complex? Is it because the size of FIRST is growing? Are the games/robots becoming more complex? Is it a natural progression? IDK, I haven't been around long enough to see the less complex rules, so I really don't have a way to tell. I suspect it is a bit of all three.