Robot status in the crate

[David Brinza]

Our robot will get weighed as soon as we get out of the crate (our scale failed and we have some 11th hour mod's to get things to work). If our weight problem is less than 2 or 3 pounds (as we suspect) , we should make inspection by noon. Otherwise...we'll be working into the afternoon with our fall-back options.

I've been a robot inspector at the SoCal regional for the past 4 years and it seems very few robots (<10%) are ready to be inspected right out of the crate. About half of the robots are "mostly" inspected (i.e. they have either completed or have a few minor items to deal with to be in compliance) by noon. By mid-afternoon, there are a few teams (10%) that are really struggling with the rest assured to be complete by the end-of-day. By Friday morning, there are a handful of robots that haven't quite completed, but I've not seen a team miss their first match because of inspection issues. Most inspectors want to help teams get through the inspection process, even if it means doing several partial inspections and re-inspections to complete. Have your bill of materials ready, meet with an inspector early, ask questions and even request advice: we're here to make the competition fair and fun!