Suggestion: Abandon the term "tele-operated"

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by dlavery

It is called the "teleoperated period" because that is what it is. "Teleoperated" and "autonomous" are common, industry-standard terms used to describe the type of control used by a remotely operated device.

So by this response I assume calling it a "remote-controlled period" would be incorrect? I have no doubt that there are subtle differences, but I'm not clear on what they are.

I'm simply trying to point out feedback that I heard from "outsider" visitors. Not all who visit are lucky enough to know someone who's competing to explain things to them (and yes, of course I explained it to my guests). If "remote-controlled period" does not adequately describe it then I would be in agreement with your statement, however to me it seems to describe it just fine.

When we litter the competition with technical jargon that is unlikely to be known to a non-engineering audience, it is my opinion that rather than make engineering seem more mainstream, cool, and fun it has the opposite effect of making our competition appear elitist. Should I tell the next person who asks, "Sorry, FIRST didn't want to dumb it down for you"? I'm not so sure that that would lead to the acceptance of engineers as superstars like FIRST wants.

But alas, as I said before it's not that important. Anyway, it was worth a shot.