Quote:
Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII
I have a pretty obvious question. (someone might already have answered it)
What happens if no team from our area gets the chance to beta test the new system? After all, there are only 15 of them... Do we just get to read about it online?
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Divide the total geographic area populated by FIRST teams worldwide by 15 or whatever the heck the actual number is, and you still get......a really freaking big area. I imagine most teams will have to LEARN (don't say "read" - we want audiovisual documentation too!) about it online as they will be too far distant from their closest beta tester to actually visit them and see the hardware in person.
I hope whichever teams are given this burden and responsibility to the FIRST community, they leverage whatever technology they have at their disposal to effectively demonstrate their findings to all of us. Written documentation alone simply isn't enough. The community needs pictures, videos, online tutorials - perhaps even teleconferences where remote teams can see and speak with beta testers in realtime. If you arrange seminars for in-person demonstrations, plan for an online component as well, via webcasting and other means.
Whoever is chosen for this privilege - be creative and thorough in how you share with the rest of the community. We're all depending on you!
Aside from all beta test teams learning the control system basics early on, which is a given (and hopefully beta testers will conspire early and often to decide who is going to document what and when and how such that we end up with the most diverse body of documentation possible following this testing phase, instead of 15 "This is how you turn the thing on" videos

), will there be any mechanism in place to ensure that teams will specialize in enough "custom" development areas that there isn't too much overlap? I don't think we need 12 teams focusing on vision development, for instance. Who will manage the overall program coordination?