A plea for a quieter pit area

[SenorZ]

Day 1 I would agree with you. The pit was half full in the morning and a team was screaming ROBOT! ...uncalled for.

Day 3 I don't agree. I was leading my kids from the practice area to the staging area because our match was in 5 minutes and there were SO many kids/parents/misc. people crowding the pits you had to scream, and sometimes they still didn't hear you.

Maybe each team should only be allowed 4 guests at a time with a check-in/out sheet to keep it from looking like a county fair.

[216Robochick288]

In Waterloo, I think I heard about 4 loud -but appropriately placed- "ROBOT!"s. For the most part, travel through the pits was unhindered, allowing robots to move effectively through the pits. A few times I had to ask a large group of parents to move out of the way of the isle as there was no room for robots OR people traffic to move through, so they moved right out of the way. I really do believe it is unnecessary to yell robot. Asking nicely or tapping them on the shoulder and saying excuse me 6 ft [2m] ahead of the robot is enough to clear a good path to walk through. Also, if a team's safety captain made sure that more than 3 people didn't pack themselves in front of their pit, the isles would be much nicer to walk through.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

It could be more controlled. I've been to regionals where middle schools (leaning on the younger side) were bussed in on Friday and basically, turned loose with very few chaperones/teachers in attendance. Sorry - the pit area is not a place for babysitting the future generation.

I've also had the displeasure of approaching a young family: father holding the hand of a 4 year old, mother holding a newborn - and telling all of them that they needed safety glasses, covered shoes, and by the time I got to the stroller, the mother (almost in tears) tucked her head and said, "we'll just leave," and made arrangements for her husband to take the young son on a stroll through the pits. That was ghastly. Awful. That family should have been able to experience a tour of the pits with joy and with someone to guide them through the experience.

These are just two examples of many that I've seen/had to contend with as a volunteer. Not fun for anyone.

There is always room for improvement and creating opportunities for more order in the pits that allows for deeper understanding of what they are and what they achieve is a good thing not a bad thing.

Jane

If someone visiting the pits suffered a severe injury to their foot or eye because we let the rules of the pit slide they'd really have something to cry about. it may be unpleasant enforcing the rules but they are there for a reason so they don't have to go through something even more unpleasant.

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

If someone visiting the pits suffered a severe injury to their foot or eye because we let the rules of the pit slide they'd really have something to cry about. it may be unpleasant enforcing the rules but they are there for a reason so they don't have to go through something even more unpleasant.

Very well said. Everybody that replies from now on should read what koko ed has said (yay it rhymes )

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by SenorZ

I was leading my kids from the practice area to the staging area because our match was in 5 minutes and there were SO many kids/parents/misc. people crowding the pits you had to scream, and sometimes they still didn't hear you.

If a few of the kids you were leading formed an "advance guard" with you in front of the robot cart, you could warn each of the miscellaneous people to make way and not have to scream at all. I think a personal tap on the shoulder works so much better than a generally broadcasted shout of "ROBOT!".

[Eagleeyedan]

As I stated earlier, as to the calling out "ROBOT", I think it is nessecary. It alerts people that you are coming. If you just tap them on the shoulder, they probably won't understand that the robot is coming but will think that you are trying to talk to them. A better way to do it would be to call "ROBOT" and tap only if they don't move. Our team also has flashing LED light sticks and a reflective green vest we use to escort.

If you really want to cut down on the noise, turn the music down or even off! We take decible readings and it is almost always in the danger zone of more than 85 DCB for 8 hours and in the stands, it's usually around 95 which causes hearing damage for more than 3 hours. If the DJs would turn down the music, it would help with making the pits (and stands) quieter. I understand that the music helps make the competition more exciting but it is not worth the excitment if you lose partial hearing.

That's my opinion.

[Koko Ed]

I spent the afternoon and Saturday trolling the pits of GTR having to drag teams to the field (they weren't coming out on their own and I wasn't doing any good playing traffic cop in the middle of the Hershey Arena with no teams showing up) and the pits were a disaster area of full teams hanging out in the pits holding conversations in the middle of aisles and visitors just standing in the way causality observing the teams trying to get ready for the next match and holding teams up from getting to the field.
FIRST needs too do something about this. Not only is it inconvenient it's dangerous. It's too crowded in the pits with too much going on and pieces of heavy machinery being moved back and forth. I do not understand why teams have to bring 30 kids into the pits to stand around and do nothing and then follow the team to the field so the quers have to turn them away AGAIN and while your at it thanks for blocking the entrance and exit to and from the arena floor.
I said it once and I will say it again: If you don't need to be in the pits stay out of the pits.

[Karibou]

IMO, there were problems with the noise level at Livonia this weekend. At one point when I was in the stands on Friday, I jumped back about two feet when I heard the first field noise blare from the speaker. I discovered that I WAS right next to a speaker, but there was still no excuse for it to be that loud. I also saw someone who had moved next to it during autonomous jump back when the teleop bell played. However, it WAS fixed by Saturday.

In the pits was another story. My team was located towards the back of the pit area, and I was able to hear voices very clearly from the doorway at the other end of our part of the fieldhouse. I cringed whenever one of these loud callers passed by our pit, or even through the row right behind us. The traffic flow was bad, but not bad enough to warrant a voice that loud. There were a few times when I was told by another student that I needed to belt out "ROBOT" at the top of my lungs, yet I was having no problems at the volume that I was using.

This last issue that I have was not a constant noise problem, but was still not pleasant. I was walking through one of the aisles to the door from my pit. Since it was around lunchtime, the pits were mostly empty, so I was able to move at a quicker pace. I was halfway down the aisle when someone jumped down from the bleachers along the wall, yelling at a volume that was louder than the calls of "robot," and was waving something that I think may have been a stuffed animal of some kind at me. Saying that it startled me would be an understatement. Because I was in a hurry, and was already in a bad mood, I didn't stop to express that what just happened was not appropriate pit behavior. I wish I had, but I hope that it never has the chance to happen again.