Robot Rodeo - fixing control problems

[Nathan Pell]

Originally Posted by Marc P.

Best thing I can recommend is have one member of your team volunteer as field crew for a regional. After most regionals, a number of volunteers will stick behind Saturday night and help break down and pack up the field. There's no better way to learn the internal workings of a FIRST field than to help the professionals tear it down. You'll see where every part goes, and how it's plugged in. I believe all the fields are standard to each other, so it shouldn't have mattered that you got the electronics box for another field. I've been to Beantown Blitz and Battlecry@WPI, and everything runs like clockwork once you get used to working with the fields.

If possible, it's also a good idea to set up the fields a full day in advance, because there are quirks that can take some time to iron out. That way, you can run a number of test/dummy matches the night before, and again the morning before to make sure everything's working properly.

The two people we selected to run the field did just what you suggested. Both of them volunteered at the Florida Regional; I think another really good idea is have the field delivered earlier so you have more time to de-bug; also it would probably be a good idea to hook up the electronics first thing while people are setting up the field to make sure all the sensors work; we were even going to test the field with our robot to make sure everything was working, but we were never able to get to get that far.

I also agree that the registration fee should be increased to bring in a professional person like they do at IRI.

Just my two cents worth.
Nathan Pell