Petition to end the shouting of ROBOT

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Woody910

At the Palmetto Regional, I know I personally got told by the green shirts that "When the robots moving, your mouth should be moving." And was asked to keep yelling robot. Even though it seems extremely unnecessary to me, I was asked to do so.

Interesting. We've been at competitions this year and last year where teams were asked to not shout robot. Personally I think screaming robot is very rude in addition to being an ineffective method of clearing an aisle.

For the most part there are three types people in an FRC aisle: you, FRCers in a rush to go from point A to point B, and visitors who have no idea whats going on. The FRCers hear you scream robot, know that its there, are partially annoyed you are screaming, and will most likely continue moving on the same path because we all have somewhere to be. Visitors hear that, are startled, and have no clue whats going on because they are already overwhelmed.

Be polite and send one person in front of the cart and ask everyone to politely move in a calm manner even if you are late for the match. Its not hard to do and reflects volumes on the character of your team.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by alyssa2485

It's really difficult to have to walk around to the front of your cart to tell someone, "Excuse me, I need to get through here with my robot."

The solution to this "difficult" problem is obvious:

Originally Posted by dodar

Just always have someone out front like 2-3ft from the cart...

Originally Posted by Kpchem

...could you instead have someone else on your team walking in front of the cart...?

Originally Posted by Libby K

You have four people on the drive team..., and you can use at least one of them to help clear the pathway.

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Be polite and send one person in front of the cart...

Too many drive teams seem to treat the robot as a mother duck and trail along behind it. Instead, think of it as a valuable artifact and give it an honor guard.

If there is a problem with people blindly stepping out into the path of a robot after the vanguard has passed, I offer a possible mitigation strategy. Have the vanguard carry a banner or a flag or other device, with brightly colored streamers trailing it and connected to the front corners of the cart. That will help keep the way clear and call people's attention to exactly the right place.

[GreyingJay]

I didn't think it was excessive at GTR Central. People said "Robot" in a slightly louder than normal voice, we all figured it out. There was no outright screaming, not at least by my definition of it. I thought it was kind of fun.

My pet peeve? People who were SPRINTING down the pit aisles trying to get from point A to point B. I have a real issue with that given the number of collision possibilities with robots, with sharp objects sticking out of robots, with cabinets filled with heavy tools, with people actively operating power tools, etc.

[GreyingJay]

Funny story. I just got back from the North Bay regional (great weekend by the way!) At the end of the day a few teams went to a local restaurant for dinner. So, there were a lot of us standing in the lobby area, chatting, waiting to be seated, and servers were madly scrambling to configure the tables to seat everyone.

At one point two servers were trying to move a table through the crowd. They were saying "Excuse me" but having a hard time moving through the group. A few of us called out "Robot!" and suddenly there was a clear path through

[brandon.cottrell]

At Ventura last week we got by with just a simple "Excuse us", usually it takes a second but people will move out of the without even looking as to what it is that's trying to get past them because it's kind of second nature.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The solution to this "difficult" problem is obvious:









Too many drive teams seem to treat the robot as a mother duck and trail along behind it. Instead, think of it as a valuable artifact and give it an honor guard.

If there is a problem with people blindly stepping out into the path of a robot after the vanguard has passed, I offer a possible mitigation strategy. Have the vanguard carry a banner or a flag or other device, with brightly colored streamers trailing it and connected to the front corners of the cart. That will help keep the way clear and call people's attention to exactly the right place.

And this is what safety advisors are suggesting this year.

[Wayne Doenges]

I hate to revive this old thread but it is still a problem.
I have seen and heard people shouting "ROBOT" when there is NO ONE in front of them. It's usually the person pushing the robot cart so they are behind the robot and they don't take into consideration that they are yelling into people's ears.
I have even heard them shouting from outside of the pits.
Since we have a banner this year, why doesn't the person holding the banner lead the robot caravan and ask politely for people to move?

[GreyingJay]

My team has tried to set an example by gently calling out (not YELLING), "excuse me please, robot coming through, excuse me please" as we slowly work our way through crowded pit aisles.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

Since we have a banner this year, why doesn't the person holding the banner lead the robot caravan and ask politely for people to move?

That's what we did. I would hold the standard up in front and say excuse me. Worked pretty well.

[ROULT]

I sign.

Besides, many teams yell robot and however manage to hit people.

Better be cautious and silently arrive to your pits.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Ah, if it isn't my favorite thread. Again.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

Since we have a banner this year, why doesn't the person holding the banner lead the robot caravan and ask politely for people to move?

And if that doesn't work, you can whack 'm with it?

[TheBoulderite]

At Arizona North this last weekend, I don't think I heard anyone yell robot once. So, there is hope!

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

Ah, if it isn't my favorite thread. Again.

We only yell "robot" when the mentors built it.

[mentos54]

We were yelling robot at first during week 1, but were actually asked to stop by other teams seems like teams are communally deciding this is a bad tradition