[dtengineering]

The FRC rule book is pretty thick.

One thing that makes up for it is knowing that there is no such thing as a "Minor Technicality". I expect each and every rule, no matter how obscure, will be enforced to the best ability of the inspectors at an event. I hate to think how many hours I spent going through the rule book our first year to make sure that we would pass tech straight out of the box. We were through tech by about 1:00 pm at our first ever regional. I think we only had to do the obligatory and ceremonial filing of a few sharp corners in order to pass tech.

And that was with one adult, working with 12 students, and well before General Motors Canada became our sponsor. None of us had ever even seen an FRC robot in person before. We just read the rule book... painstakingly... and followed it.

It has become easier over the years, as many of the rules stay the same, but every year I go back to that rule book, and go through the team updates, and read the Q&A... and measure the robot (usually just 1/2" under... this year about 1/4"-1/8" under as it was very short and very square) and weigh the robot and double-check our wiring requirements and pneumatics (for leaks, as well as rules... we know it's our job to build a "tight" pneumatic system that doesn't leak... or suffer the consequences.)

It is one responsibility that I won't pass off to the kids. As the lead technical mentor, the buck stops with me when it comes to tech inspection. If we don't pass, even for a "minor technicality", then it is MY fault, and I don't whinge about it. Strangely, the kids seem to pick up on this and are pretty careful about following the rules, too, but it takes a lot of care and attention to detail to set that tone.... and if we're called on something that I don't think is right, I take the time to read the rule a second time, and take it with me when I go to have a quiet talk with the inspector. While I've seen an inspector miss something, I've NEVER seen an inspector enforce something that wasn't a rule. (Its probably happened, somewhere, to someone... but every inspector I've worked with has gone out of their way to help robots pass.)

A few years back I had the pleasure of doing tech inspection on Galileo, and working with some of FIRST's truly awesome LRI's. I loved seeing the robots up close. I felt bad for the teams that were non-compliant, especially when they were non-compliant with a few rules that I wasn't particularly fond of myself, but we did everything we could as inspectors to get them compliant ASAP. The vast majority of teams took time to say "thank you" for this level of care, support, and attention to detail.

So I know it's hard to do, but if a tech inspector catches something on your robot that you've missed, then don't blame them... THANK them. They caught your oversight. Chances are, they'll do what they can to help you fix it, too.

And if the inspection team missed something on another team's machine (quite possibly the inspection was done by a less experienced FRC hand) and you think it needs to be brought to their attention, then please do so at the earliest opportunity. The inspection team should thank YOU for helping them do their job more effectively.

But never blame it on a "minor technicality". It's either a rule or it isn't.

Jason