Practicing after Ship - pros & cons

[Kris Verdeyen]

Originally Posted by kevinw

I see a difference here.

If you practice after the FIW, and a wheel falls off, you would put it back on and continue practicing. If it falls off again, you may make a mental note that when you get to the competition, you should look into making the wheel more robust. You can not make modifications and bring them. You can not develop design modifications. All you may do is put the wheel back on and continue practicing.

If the driver complains about how the robot handles, you can make a mental note that when you get to the competition, you should look into improving the handling. You can not spend the necessary time to tweak the gains, etc. after the FIW. All you may do is make a mental note and continue practicing.

This seems consistent to me.

Software development, like I said before, is as much knowing what doesn't work as it is what does. It is more than coding!

If you walk into the competition with the mental note, it is more than you would have had if you hadn't practiced. You are further down the software development path than you were at the end of the FIW; therefore you have done software development, and broken the rule.