Einstein Field issues Handled correctly?

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Undertones

The volunteers that I dealt with were all less than helpful, they brushed me off more than once, and not once did they give us a straight answer. I realize and recognize that they didn't have answers, but the least they could do is admit there was a problem (which they did when we replayed those matches). It made it hard for anyone to believe that they fixed the problem when the problem continued. I was standing there listening as a volunteer tried to tell 2056 is was a battery issue with their bot. I mean, 2056 has had a perfect record this season in terms of up time and robot reliability. Loose connection in one match; improbable but plausible. Loose connection in 2 matches; highly unlikely but possible. Loose connection in all three matches; I mean, look at the stats and tell me that's what happened.

I've seen this over and over.

I've commented on it here (see post 204):
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...104713&page=14

The problem is that if it is power quality issues they suspect, the field folk lack the tools themselves to confirm promptly and to some extent so do you.

So it's an easy fix all to move you forward. They tell you that it's some part of the power system. They have some authority so you naturally move forward.

Course when you realize that you've exhausted all your capability, you have not satisfied them, and you're still stuck. Then you start to get the impression they are messing with you.

I've not seen anyone recently make such a recommendation just to cause you problems to a team. However, if they did you'd never get past it at a competition....no matter how hard you try at the average competition I've seen you'll never prove your point with the tools on hand.

Sometimes I think that the field personnel when increasingly confronted over the issue naturally side with the familiar and assume that it's more likely it's your problem then the field. Their observation is just as anecdotal. You could have dropped a DC-DC converter after 3 matches as we did. Not a wiring problem in sight, but a bad D-Link AP power supply none-the-less.

In any case, neither the field folk or the teams should point fingers at each other. More often than not you didn't have the tools to remove the doubt, that doesn't make the concern invalid.