Advice from a grumpy old man :)

[IndySam]

After a few years of competitions there are a few sage words of advice I would like to give about what goes on at regionals and a few things that I dislike.

#1 Carts - Big heavy carts are a major pain in the rear for queuing folks. Please keep your carts light and easy to move. Big carts can cause major headaches for the folks trying to help you play as many matches as possible (and don't even get me started about music on carts!)

#2 Keep your drivers station simple and plan ahead for where everything plugs in. Also don't forget that Velcro on the bottom. Controllers taking flight and hitting the floor in autonomous is an ugly sight.

#3 Think now about how you are going to lift up and carry your robots. Our Lunacy robot was quite a pain to lift and carry. One of our mentors hurt his back when he was placed in an awkward situation while moving it at IRI. After that I vowed to never let that happen again. Last year we put simple eye-bolts on out robot and used a nice big soft rope and carabiners, it was a joy to move. I have also seen some sweet built-in handles on robots.

#4 Don't hang banners on the back of your pit facing the other direction. I have seen this a number of times and it's just plain rude to you stablemates behind you to have your banner in their pit.

#5 Roofs and canopies make your pit seam small, dark and not very inviting. Leave them at home.

#6 Some pit areas have inadequate lighting. Plan for a simple solution to add light to your pits.

#7 Bring all the parts from the kit you didn't use. They don't count against your withholding allowance and that window motor or pneumatic fitting you didn't use can really help another team out

#8 Rookies have a heck of a time making bumpers that comply with the rules. Bring extra wood, noodles and fabric with you and you will almost be guaranteed to be some teams hero.

#9 If your robot is working fine, seek out the head inspector to find another team that needs help or watch the inspection board for obvious problems. Odds are that team you don't help will be in your first match of the morning.

#10 Inspectors are a huge resource for helpful advice. Most of them have been around the game for a long time and have seen most everything. If they give you advice to change something because they think it will cause you a problem, change it.

#11 Be kind to your referees, they have a completely thankless, impossible job. Take them a bottle of water and be sure and thank them even if a ruling goes against you.

These are the ramblings of a grumpy old man and don't represent the thoughts of anyone but me.

Please add your own words of advice.

[JohnBoucher]

Great post. All good hints.
I would add take extra care this week and get your BOM bill of materials 100% complete. Have a second set of eyes look at it and use the template.

[synth3tk]

Excellent post, Sam.

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Great post. All good hints.
I would add take extra care this week and get your BOM bill of materials 100% complete. Have a second set of eyes look at it and use the template.

That gives us a huge hassle every year. Great reminder.

[Matt C]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Great post. All good hints.
I would add take extra care this week and get your BOM bill of materials 100% complete. Have a second set of eyes look at it and use the template.

Also make sure it is in electronic format . .
and please, make sure the flash drive you bring it on is free of viruses.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Matt C

...and please, make sure the flash drive you bring it on is free of viruses.

Assume the stick you bring it on will be contaminated with a virus after you deliver the BOM.
Isolate it until you have time to run a virus check on it and clean it before plugging it into any other PC.

We don't want everyone's Classmate at the competition to spread a "cold" virus like what happened last year.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Assume the stick you bring it on will be contaminated with a virus after you deliver the BOM.
Isolate it until you have time to run a virus check on it and clean it before plugging it into any other PC.

Some flash drives have a read-only switch. If yours does, set it to read-only before you hand it over.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Ether

Some flash drives have a read-only switch. If yours does, set it to read-only before you hand it over.

Mine does
That's what I carry all those FIRST Updates on just in case someone needs them. I don't have to worry about spreading any viruses aquired from a previous machine.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Please put extra emphasis on talking to your lead inspector. They are trained to help, dedicated to get you playing, and know most of the teams they can turn to for assistance. Don't wait! Small problems on Thursday morning become huge problems Thursday night.

[Nicandy]

Thanks you! As a rookie team, this will prove to be very good advice!

[Mark McLeod]

All rookies should know that I heard Lead Inspectors respond well to candy and donuts, too...

[BJC]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

All rookies should know that I heard Lead Inspectors respond well to candy and donuts, too...

All rookies should also remember that "but I heard it on chiefdelphi!" is not an excuse, and although they'll probably still eat your candy and donuts, if your robot doesn't follow the rules the Inspectors will not pass you no matter how full they are.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by BJC

All rookies should also remember that "but I heard it on chiefdelphi!" is not an excuse, and although they'll probably still eat your candy and donuts, if your robot doesn't follow the rules the Inspectors will not pass you no matter how full they are.

But they read this on ChiefDelphi ..........

[BJC]

Touche!

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

All rookies should know that I heard Lead Inspectors respond well to candy and donuts, too...

That's funny - I remember running into a bunch of robot inspectors, oh, ok - went looking for them - at the Championship event and they all wanted coffee. I have no.idea.why.

Edit: I should contribute to the thread - please refrain from running at the event, esp. in the pit area. (It will just slow you down.)

Jane

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

All rookies should know that I heard Lead Inspectors respond well to candy and donuts, too...

So do Lead Inspection Managers....

Also respond well to "Please" and "Thank You."

See you in the pits.