Musings from a FIRST Inspector for 2009

[lukevanoort]

I'm going to repost what I said last year on this topic:

To give some advice from the team/student's perspective:
1) Relax. Inspections are only stressful if you let them be. Remember, both you and your inspector are trying to enjoy the competition, not stress each other out. Tell an amusing anecdote or two if it helps (just don't start on some bad "a blonde walks into a bar... ouch" type of jokes and stories).

2) The scale is usually open for use for a lot of the day. So, the first thing you should do after uncrating your robot is to go weigh it. It makes for an unpleasant surprise if you discover at 5pm that you are over the weight limit. It doesn't have to be part of an inspection or any sort of official weigh-in, just get an idea of where you stand.

3) Partial inspections are your friend. Since there is only one sizing box, in my experience, a lot of time is wasted waiting to use it. Get weight/sizing done early and the rest should be a breeze. If you know your electronics won't pass at the moment for some reason, go ahead and do the rest while you wait for the parts to fix the electricals. The same goes for just about anything. (Just don't try to get a partial inspection when the incomplete subsystem poses a hazard to the inspector)

4) Know the rules well and keep copies of relevant Q&A responses and the rulebook at hand. Everyone fears getting an incompetent (or just inexperienced, which can have the same result) inspector, and it does happen (usually pretty rarely though). Knowing the rules like the back of your hand is the most effective way to get through such an inspection.

For this year, I want to add extra emphasis on #4. In previous years, (disclaimer: this is based on my personal experience from 4 yrs of being a student going through the robot with the inspector, YMMV) inspectors are a mixed bag. Inspectors are intelligent and helpful, but knowledge of the rules is highly varied. On occasion, you'll get an inspector like Al who can detect electrical problems from 20 paces with his back turned, and on other occasions you'll get an inspector who barely understands the basics. I have seen teams passed with blatant rule violations and seen changes required to perfectly legal robots. With the difficulty interpreting stuff like the bumper requirements this year, you absolutely must know the rules well, and have a rulebook on hand, even if your robot does not have any unusual features. If something comes up, do not be afraid to disagree with your inspector, but be nice about it and support your argument with facts; otherwise, you are just whining.