Petition to end the shouting of ROBOT

[Kusha]

100% in support, yelling robot is obnoxious. We've found that just telling people,
"Excuse us" in an indoor voice works, and usually people are more polite to you. We had no problem at our last regional doing this, and we got from point A>B as fast as if we were yelling "ROBOT".

[wesbass23]

Similar to what someone above posted, our team has sometimes taken to sarcastically yelling "human" as we transport the robot to and from matches XD

My question for you is how do you fix the issue? As a member of the drive-team as both a student and now coach I can tell you it can be incredibly difficult making it through the mass of people milling about in front of pits. Some of these people can be incredibly clueless as to what is going on around them and sometimes it takes a loud shout to snap them out of their daydream or pull them out of the text they are sending. While yelling "robot" does get annoying and and sometimes comes across as rude, it gets the job done and gets the robot to the match on time.

[nlknauss]

I also support this. It's easy to excited shouting "robot" but it's just as easy to say "excuse me" as you move through the pit with your robot.

[Mark Sheridan]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

I personally the yelling of ROBOT as tradition. its not hurting anyone, and it gets the job done faster than quietly asking everyone to move. If you tried to get through the pits of GSR by quietly asking every single person to move, it would take 10 minutes to get through. Its just one of those things that makes a competition what it is.

I strongly disagree with this statement. I have been in the most packed concert mosh pits and "excuse me" still works. You don't have to say "excuse me" quietly, often you have yell it at a regional. When its noisy (like queuing for a match), I think most people expect you to be yelling. If someone wont move because you said "excuse me," they are not going to moving if you say "robot." If an indoor voice works, why not use an indoor voice?

Excessive car horn honking in New York got banned for the same reasons. Certainly it was not a tradition that added to the New York atmosphere.

[BigJ]

I hate "ROBOT!"

I fell over laughing at 2 kids at the end of the day Saturday at Wisconsin. One was riding on the cart, paddling with a broom while the other pushed, yelling "ROWBOAT!"

People on my team also sometimes yell HUMAN at each other in jest when trying to get into our pit to do something

[Nate Laverdure]

Warning: Some uses of this document may also be arrogant and rude. Think before you act.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by buildmaster5000

The pits are plenty loud. Any extra noise just doesn't help the problem

Pfft, I tried to get my team to stop yelling "robot" only to be told back that "The pits are a loud place anyways. If you're looking for quiet, the pits aren't somewhere for you to be." Guess the team more or less needs to find a new Captain and Driver... Excuse me usually worked for me transporting the robot, and it helped that at Greater Kansas City there was plenty of space to maneuver a cart.

[Deetman]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

I personally the yelling of ROBOT as tradition. its not hurting anyone, and it gets the job done faster than quietly asking everyone to move. If you tried to get through the pits of GSR by quietly asking every single person to move, it would take 10 minutes to get through. Its just one of those things that makes a competition what it is.

This is FAR from a tradition. I don't ever remember teams yelling ROBOT! in 2005 and earlier when I was in high school and we had no issues moving our robot to/from the pits. This practice seemed to (wrongly) evolve while I was away from FIRST from 2006-2009.

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

I personally the yelling of ROBOT as tradition. its not hurting anyone, and it gets the job done faster than quietly asking everyone to move. If you tried to get through the pits of GSR by quietly asking every single person to move, it would take 10 minutes to get through. Its just one of those things that makes a competition what it is.

I agree, and it has never really bothered me.
The problem is when people yell it TOO loud, TOO frequently.

[twetherbee]

Signed.

[Phyrxes]

*signed*

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by CalTran

... at Greater Kansas City there was plenty of space to maneuver a cart.

And plenty of seating, and plenty of dancing room, and plenty of pancakes. KC has a great venue and one of the FRC community's finest volunteer corps. I also recall seeing plenty of Championship calibre teams compete at KC in recent seasons.

Some other FRC event venues are much tighter on space, and queue crossings can become dangerous, requiring special attention to traffic flow timing in some spots. [Queuing leads, please jump in here.] However, even in those cases, yelling "ROBOT!" generally does more harm than good, IMHO.

I support sanddrag's petition.

[yarb65]

I sign the petition. It is just rude.

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by Mark Sheridan

Excessive car horn honking in New York got banned for the same reasons. Certainly it was not a tradition that added to the New York atmosphere.

Very topical.
From last month: "NYC ends 30 year experiment with "Don't Honk" signs"

[seg9585]

I'm not really against hearing the shout of "ROBOT", because I know that robots usually have to be moved frequently and urgently and it signals my need to get out of the way.
The pits can become very noisy and crowded and it becomes hard to hear quiet students trying to make their way through the pit. Shouting "Excuse me", although polite and sometimes works, is not very explicit (are they calling to ask me a question? Get out of the way?).

Maybe it's the golfer in me, but I know when I hear "FORE!" yelled on a course, I put my head down and turn by back to the sound. It becomes instinctual. If I heard "Excuse me, ball coming towards you!" it would take longer to process.
Hearing "Heads Up" is even worse!


The same way with "ROBOT!", its a cue for me to get out of the way. Otherwise, I need to determine what I'm being queried for.

I don't like when it's abused (ie people shouting ROBOT when no robot is coming through), but I respect the sense of urgency when urgency exists, and I've made the announcement before.