[FRC Blog] Software Downloads and Administrative Manual Release

[kjohnson]

Originally Posted by FRC Blog

Reading between the lines – you can stop yelling ‘Robot’ to let others know you have a robot on the move. Please.

This makes me happy.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by nukemknight

This makes me happy.

Except now we get beeps and things. I am not sure this is any better.

Also I liked the Chairman's feedback form, it helped us from our first event to our second. If done well I believe those forms could really help teams figure out what they are missing.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Except now we get beeps and things. I am not sure this is any better.

Also I liked the Chairman's feedback form, it helped us from our first event to our second. If done well I believe those forms could really help teams figure out what they are missing.

I will personally strangle the first team that adds one of those backup beepers to their cart and then gets stuck outside my pit while we're in the middle of a harried repair job between matches.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I will personally strangle the first team that adds one of those backup beepers to their cart and then gets stuck outside my pit while we're in the middle of a harried repair job between matches.

I won't go that far. I will say, that there will be a "special" discussion during our pick list meeting about teams with beeping carts.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I won't go that far. I will say, that there will be a "special" discussion during our pick list meeting about teams with beeping carts.

What can I say - I prefer the more direct approach.

[Travis Schuh]

I think the yelling robot/cart noise change will be a net positive. I have seen the robot yelling mostly propagated by volunteers insisting that teams do so. This new directive should result in different training and fix that. I also think that most teams don't read the administrative manual/are lazy in general when it comes to things like this, so I doubt we will see many teams doing this.

[Laaba 80]

This is coming from someone who is not part of our chairmans/awards team, but I don't see why everyone is so upset. What feedback could possibly be better than seeing the submission from the winning team? This now allows teams to review their entire program against many of the top teams, rather than focus on a few specific points from a feedback form. I think this is a great change.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Laaba 80

This is coming from someone who is not part of our chairmans/awards team, but I don't see why everyone is so upset. What feedback could possibly be better than seeing the submission from the winning team? This now allows teams to review their entire program against many of the top teams, rather than focus on a few specific points from a feedback form. I think this is a great change.

Some regionals give great feed back. for Example: X outreach is really innovative!! or you need to focus in Y and Z. These are the things that teams need in order to improve. The release of videos and what not are only of limited value.

[Electronica1]

Wait, can the cart use music to make others aware? For example, could I loop the 1960's batman theme to make others aware?

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Electronica1

Wait, can the cart use music to make others aware? For example, could I loop the 1960's batman theme to make others aware?

If you're interested in irritating the entire regional, sure.

[Electronica1]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

If you're interested in irritating the entire regional, sure.

Fair enough.

[Kevin Sheridan]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Some regionals give great feed back. for Example: X outreach is really innovative!! or you need to focus in Y and Z. These are the things that teams need in order to improve. The release of videos and what not are only of limited value.

I dont like the current feedback form because of exactly this reason. It implies that there is a "formula" to win Chairman's when that couldn't be farther from the truth. General presentation and essay feedback are great but I'm on the fence about judges telling teams specifics about what they need to "fix" for Chairman's. It puts an emphasis on "winning" the award which FIRST is trying to steer away from. Rather than teams leaving a regional thinking they might have won if they started just mentored a few more FLL teams or called more politicians about STEM in the classroom, FIRST probably wants teams to leave inspired by the award "winner" to do more stuff for their community.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by mman1506

The only thing that stands out for me is that Canadians don't typically stand facing the flag. It caught me way off guard when everyone did it at IRI. I'm assuming its a traditional American thing?

The United States national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" is all about the flag.

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Laaba 80

This is coming from someone who is not part of our chairmans/awards team, but I don't see why everyone is so upset. What feedback could possibly be better than seeing the submission from the winning team? This now allows teams to review their entire program against many of the top teams, rather than focus on a few specific points from a feedback form. I think this is a great change.

When you watch their video you don't get to see what their presentation was, just the non-judged video that was created.

Coming from a team that has only participated in chairmans twice, we really enjoyed the feedback. We got notes about presentation ideas, information about who spoke clearly or not, who's pacing was too fast or just right, and what content was good and where they felt we could use work compared anonymously to other presenters they had viewed.

Of course at our other event we got a near blank form...

[sanddrag]

Reading this blog from Frank makes me feel like my 2014 FRC end of the year feedback survey responses were really read in detail, taken seriously, and given a lot of individual thought, and not just aggregated into a pie chart. It's nice for an individual to feel as if he or she has influenced an organization's policies and procedures on a national level.

I agree with the changes made to the Chairman's Award process for 2015, and I hope to see good things come from these changes.