Musings from a FIRST Inspector for 2009

[Elgin Clock]

Just a few words of advice for all teams in which I have seen personally & cringed at.
They are not official rules (that I know of) but, rather more common sense things to be aware of.

~Do not fool around at any time over the course of the weekend with the sizing box, or the scale.
These are tools that FIRST uses to make sure you are in compliance & can compete fairly with everyone else.

~Do not do stupid things like stand on the scale to weigh yourself, or jump in the sizing box for a picture unless you ask someone in charge of that area. If they say it's ok, at least you have deniability if something breaks.
The odds are though, that an inspector who does not want to have to deal with the hassle of a broken scale will NOT let you use it for yourself or let you play around in the sizing box.

I've seen regionals where the inspection process is in a back room or so far off to the side that these are usually non-issues.

I've also seen regionals where the scale was right next to a walk way & when that walkway was crowded many people just walked right over the scale.
That's not cool.

Please do not do these things.
Treat these tools that FIRST uses as you would your own robot, or team tools, or better yet your own tools & be very respectful of them.

$0.02