Discussion: Release Team Field Drawings Early

[dtengineering]

I'm certainly not opposed to the idea of releasing the game element designs early, but the practical limitation of backing up against Christmas holidays is an issue.

As mentioned earlier, a bit more refinement of the "wooden field" drawings would be helpful. The drawings may have improved, but I remember thinking "this was drawn by someone who has never built anything." (To quote one of my colleagues... "These were drawn by a @#$%@#$ engineer.") A bit of an exaggeration, but the drawings certainly didn't express any empathy for the builder.

Having a team of people who have never seen the final elements build and assemble the "wooden field" based on the drawings would not only provide feedback on how to improve the drawings but would also provide a chance to have a photographic step-by-step guide on how to build the field.

It would also help to have a parts list so that teams could have plywood, 2x4's and any weird hardware bits in stock, rather than having to spend the weekend chasing them down.

Good suggestion, though... having some practice field elements makes a BIG difference in building a reasonably competitive robot.

Jason