Dealing with robotics regrets

[Chief Hedgehog]

"This too shall pass"...

No matter to whom it is attached, the meaning remains the same. I have been a coach of a few different sports in my time. I rarely regret decisions as they are typically made with sound judgement and with the team at heart.

However, when the season ends and I have to face each of the seniors sobbing, sullen, or stone-faced, this is the only thing that is ringing in my ears.

Nothing I can say can ease the pain. No embrace can take away the sting of defeat. And I never utter those bitter words of "this to shall pass" - because they will know it in time.

There should not be regrets in Robotics. That is the joy of the program. Only learning from failures (see this).

FRC 4607 has been built upon the mantra of fail now, succeed later. We do not allow regrets. I think that every one of my students can attest to this - but I would bet each of us would like to dial back time a bit to right a wrong.

No Ragrets!

[RunawayEngineer]

I am familiar with FRC mistakes. Many years ago when I was a student on another team, we lost the final match on Einstein by a hair. I think that if we had followed a different strategy that we could have turned that easily. Most mistakes are the result of hindsight - but I saw the perfect strategy at the time and pushed for it. I just didn't push hard enough for it and we lost.

But here's the beautiful thing about FIRST: you are supposed to make mistakes. The whole point of a hands-on experience with a competition is for everyone to try things to see what works and what doesn't. You are supposed to wrestle with the technical challenges, the logistical challenges, the quasi-political challenges, the morale challenges, and the emotional challenges and learn from them.
If you are making mistakes and learning from them, then you are getting the prime FIRST experience. Winning feels great, but growth is priceless.

[Kevin Leonard]

Literally every team has regrets- its not just you.

I was discussing regrets with some people on 5254 a few weeks ago and they were ranting about all the different ways we COULD have won the Finger Lakes Regional (5254, 340, and 174 lost to 4039, 3015, and 378 in finals by 3 points).

And I just laughed, because it was going to be the first of many experiences like that for them.
I could complain about WPI 2013, Archimedes 2014, and three different IRI's all day and how if things had only gone slightly differently, each of those events could have gone better.
At some point you have to just learn from your mistakes and move on.

I'm sure 1114, 148, 254, 973, 2826, 2056, etc. all have regrets about their championship performances this year- they're trying to win a world championship, and "if only we placed a stack here instead" or "if only we placed X more totes" are complaints for both teams at the top and teams at the bottom.

Everyone has regrets in robotics- it's how you learn from them that makes all the difference.

[Jon Stratis]

I never have regrets about our robot or on field performance. Simply put, for me it really isn't about the competition, it's about the kids. And that's where, if anywhere, I may experience regret occasionally - when you have trouble reaching a kid, or walk away with the impression that you had a negative impact on them it hurts, and is something that you tend to dwell on for a while until you can make it right. It's one of the reasons I became an LRI - telling a group of kids that their beautiful design is illegal is probably one of the worst experiences they can have at a competition. I hate doing it. But I know that I can approach it in a way to both soften the blow and help set them on a path towards success. And for me, seeing that illegal robot get fixed and then be successful is one of the most rewarding parts of an entire competition.

When it comes to my team, a lot of it has to do with setting expectations and managing the entire process. We have a process in place that lets us analyze the season to pull out both the good and the bad, work towards improvement for next year, and leave everyone excited at the end of the season, regardless of how the season went. I know that students walked away just as excited for next year, even though our on field performance this year was horrible, as they did in 2011 when we had an amazing run to win North Star and go to champs for the first time in team history. And really, that's what it's all about.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Munchskull

I think one of the harder parts about FRC and improving is that many of us use build season as a metric for improvement. This becomes a problem because buildseason is only once a year and so you don't get the instant feedback that people like to have.

You should use the entire year to judge improvement. Build season is the test, the time to apply your knowledge that you've gained over the off-season and from previous seasons. Grade how your build season went and realize that studying and preparing for it will often make it go a lot smoother. Very few can just show up to the test without preparing and ace it

[Mitchell1714]

The one experience I still have some regrets on is 2013. Our team built a well designed 50 point corner climber, which actually did work very well. My regret was not pushing harder for a corner climber that could carry 2 other robots up with it. It probably would have failed epically but I can't help but think we could have been one of the best robots in FRC.

[Rman1923]

In my mind, there isn't anything to regret when you fail during the season. It's all a lesson. For instance, our 2014 season, not gonna lie, was crap. The manipulator (Four marshmallow wheel shooter) was actually really good and the standard 6 tread traction wheel drive was fine, but the combo of both was deadly (for us). We actually did amazing in our first competition (Mt. Olive District) or for at least the first day. because we had a drop in our DT, every time we angled our shooter with the piston, the whole robot rocked back and forth. This is fine when we were stationary and shooting, because we'd wait for the rocking to stop and then shoot when ready, but during day 2, teams figured out that we can't play at all against defense or shoot while driving. So we got stuffed the second day and we learned a lot. The main problem of the season though, was we didn't know when to stop modifying. we changed the intake so it could intake faster and at wider angles, which ended up not working. we also made several small adjustments so that we could try to shoot and drive, but they were sorta unreliable and I can't honestly say they worked well. At the end of our season we had a bot with several things added to it and kinda rachet honestly and it didn't work too well. So for the 2015 season we designed a new ten-wheel drive (during off-season) that stayed flat so there was no possibility of rocking. We also agreed we wouldn't use drive-in-a-day (it showed up week three last build season) and that we would exclusively use VEX and versaFrame. So we fixed the rachetness issues as well as the drive train issues. We also built a more robust robot that wouldn't need too many fixes or mods from the get go. The major thing we did was change team culture and rules so that modifications had to be reviewed by both the mentors and students before they could go on. All of this contributed to the success of this season. We wouldn't have made SF in TVR or Mt. Olive and we wouldn't have been QF in MARCMP and North Brunswick had it not been for this overhaul. And we keep learning through the season. in the beginning we could maybe do some 5 stacks on the platform. But by the end of comp season (including IRI) we were able to do three stacks of six with noodled cans even after Can-burgling (third fastest in the world).

TL;DR: My main point is that regrets in robotics are your curriculum. They are they way teams get better and no team hasn't messed up before. Without these teaching moments, I honestly can't say that we would've been this successful and I honestly can't say I would've had so much fun building the robot. These regrets teach you to out-smart challenges and engineer something better.

[pandamonium]

Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap. Failure does not lead to regrets. Not failing enough, early enough, and especially when there is low risk is from my experience what leads to regrets. As I plan the year I try to create failure opportunities and learning experiences in pre season.

[safiq10]

I have a tendency to point out really important things that somehow end up as major game changers, but I guess out lack of confidence in my ideas or someway or another the idea never gets put forward and I end regretting it later on.

2013- My freshman year I drew a sketch of a robot that looked like an exact replica of 148's robot. When I got to the Dallas regional, I was amazed that they pulled off what I dissed as a crazy Idea.

2014- I was strategizing on the car ride to Dallas, I thought about skipping the high goal and racking up cycles by a 3 assist and low goal, but I later dissmissed the idea cause I once again convinced myself it wasn't a good idea.

2015- Right after kickoff I said the exact words, "Forget the Totes, get all the cans." Then after the discussion with my team we thought only certain teams would need it and it would too risky of a strategy.

So instead of being in and extended regret over I decided I would find a solution to the problem. So I have started carrying a notebook in my bag everywhere I go, so if I have an Idea about anything I jot it down and I can later revist the idea and think about it in depth about it.

TL;DR: Learn from your mistakes and try to prevent them from happening. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"-George Santayana

[techhelpbb]

Speaking only for myself:

I have some regrets from 20 years or so of on and off involvement with FIRST at many levels.

1. I never regret helping students.
2. I never regret when our robots perform less than expected - because I never regret helping students and helping them learn how to recover from failure is part of that (that does not mean I don't have empathy).
3. Winning at all costs is becoming a way of life seemingly around all of the the World - and the problem is often 'at all costs' is not really just your costs or consequences and I regret that more people do not understand that (a lack of empathy).
4. I often regret that some of the things FIRST aspires to and inspires to achieve are somewhat scope limited to FIRST. At some point I think that it's possible to outgrow FIRST and to sit down and rationally say - I don't need this 6 week deadline to get these benefits for my community or me.
5. I may yet regret that between 3 and 4 that the glue of competition is more appealing and binding than the benefits beyond the competition in this World. Sometimes you have to do what's right because it's right - not because you will win an award.

[John Retkowski]

Every year I look back on as a student, I regret not working harder during build season.

[Taylor]

I see mistakes, but not regrets.
If the mistakes had not been made, I (we) would not have learned from them.
If the mistakes had not been made, I would not be the person I am today.

This is not to say I'm not remorseful, but I don't have ragrets.

[jlindquist74]

If you have no regrets, you fall into one of two categories:

• You didn't try
• You didn't pay attention

That's it. The technical mistakes you regret are just part of the learning process. This is the time in your life to make those mistakes. The stakes almost could not be lower. Yes, these competitions mean a lot to you, as they should. But the regret you may feel now will fade with time. These are small regrets. Don't sweat them.

Failing here will not cost you your job, your living, your home, or your ability to provide for your family. The coin in which you pay now is pride and prestige, and maybe a couple of trips out of town. What you learn now will make you less likely to derail or damage your career in the future.

The regrets you truly want to avoid are the interpersonal ones. Be ready to make mistakes in technical contexts, expect it to happen, even welcome it. You should be much more careful in how you treat your teammates, your opponents, your mentors and coaches, and how you represent your team and your community. (The few mistakes I've made there are the only ones I would go back and change.)

Of the fantastically talented engineers I've known, there's a few that I think little of as people. (One or two names, you would recognize.) Given the choice between working or socializing with them, or with lesser engineers who are outstanding people, I'll take the latter every day and twice on Sunday. The work will still get done well, and it will be a lot more gratifying.

What would you rather say? We won Worlds but I hated the experience and half the people? Or that we fell short on the field, but I loved everything we did and everyone around me?

[tickspe15]

Like Art Said, never make the same mistake twice.

We lost three events in a row as the number one seed in the semifinals because of stupid mistakes. Although we were angry and sad about the loss we did everything in our ability to remove the possibility of failure in the future.

Central Washington Regional 2013: Upside-down Frisbee jammed shooter(had the solution fully functional in the pits)

Glacier Peak District 2014: Designed robot to extend in two directions -> 150pts G28 in each semifinal match(became non issue with driver practice)

Shorewood District 2014: Pneumatic tube for shooter came unplugged(lost by less than 20 points)

All of these problems were heart breaking at the time and definetly made the wait for the first banner, of my career on the team, much longer and harder. But the lessons that we learned in solving these problems, and other ones that materialized at less catastrophic times, taught us a lot and led to us winning five consecutive events.

[The other Gabe]

I regret few things that I dont feel are directly my fault; things like our terrible 2013 robot, or our pneumatic failure in 2012 that potentially cost us making it to Einstein, and definitely cost us the quarterfinals on our field (most were learning experiences, especially on the building side of stuff). That being said I regret two things in my two years of scout leading

The Mount Vernon District, 2014: I played my cards wrong during alliance selection, letting 2 of the best wheeled collector robots end up on the same alliance, amongst other strategic errors.

DCMP both years: not selling my team's robot hard enough (fun fact- despite being one of the most successful PNW teams, 2046 has never played an elimination round at District champs

Originally Posted by Munchskull

2.not making a Frisbee shooter in 2013

hey, you guys didn't have a drivetrain before it was cool