Petition to end the shouting of ROBOT

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

At the events in Michigan I attended, they were almost requiring us to yell robot, which definitely is a change from the past.

If this happens at the FIRST in Michigan State Championship, someone please come find me. As the Volunteer Coordinator, I can quietly and politely talk to the Safety Advisers to make sure that we're not requiring teams this of teams.

Shouting loud noise over more loud noise does NOT help people listen more. Two quick stories:

At Troy District this weekend the pits are in a completely different room than the field. It's a pretty chill event, the music is not too loud and there is PLENTY of space for teams to get through when queuing for their matches. And yet, teams are yelling, "ROBOT!" at the top of their lungs.

What happens is that when LOTS of people yell the same thing, you start to naturally just not hear them. Which makes for a MORE dangerous situation. My response, once I notice them yelling, is usually, "'Excuse me,' works much better. Please don't yell at me."

To put it in perspective:
The Boilermaker Regional has pits, field and stands all in one big giant room that echoes. In my ten years of participating in FIRST it was the LOUDEST event that I ever attended. The music was insanely loud. The crowd was cheering like crazy all weekend. And the pits had power tools working constantly.
Not ONE team at BMR yelled "ROBOT!"
Indiana hospitality, I suppose. I saw teams walking through pits with robots carefully, always saying, "Excuse me," if someone was in their way, and here's the kicker: NO ONE got hurt.

I have never heard of anyone saving someone from injury by shouting, "ROBOT!" in their ear.