Frank Answers Fridays: July 12, 2013: Question about Q&A

[dtengineering]

Speaking as a tech inspector, I try to keep up with the Q&A, but don't keep up with it in nearly as much detail as I did when I was mentoring a team. So I won't know ALL of the Q&A when inspecting your robot, and will appreciate it if you know of a Q&A that you think is applicable and bring that to my attention.

I find relevant Q&A responses extremely persuasive, not just becuase they provide insight into how to interpret the game rules, but also because they provide some guidance on how an inspector at another event will likely interpret the rules.

In my experience other FRC volunteers, including refs, have found a great deal of guidance in the Q&A, and while there may be an occasional instance where an official disregards the Q&A, or is unaware of an appropriate Q&A response for a particular situation, I think you will find that Q&A answers continue to be extremely informative and influential in the decision making process.

So the answer makes sense to me...

Jason

[GaryVoshol]

I agree with Jason. With several hundred Q&A's about game rules, it's hard for a ref to keep up. I'm sure it's the same for an inspector. You know the answer to the question that affects your build or strategy, because you asked the question and paid attention to the answer. But we may have missed it.

And then there's those few answers that are just flat out wrong, and don't get fixed until late in build or even during the competition season. Most are minor and don't make a big difference. One example this year was an indication that a robot could get 30 points for climbing interference, and then another 30 points if they actually climbed the pyramid. We could have figured that this would not be possible in the scoring system - yet the Q&A said so until it was corrected.

[nicholsjj]

I agree with Jason when it comes to inspection. I know our team asked a Q&A regarding the window motor gear boxes. We printed the question out and presented it to the inspector in order to prevent any possible confusion.