This is your first reminder, please be sure to sign up for Championship volunteer positions if you plan on being in St. Louis.
Right now, we are running behind on getting Inspectors and Inspection Pit Managers. Please sign on to your VIMS account and pick Championship. It only takes a few minutes.
Inspection is a great way to volunteer for the event. I highly recommend it.
Al can confirm, but I believe the biggest need is Wednesday afternoon if you can only commit to 1 day of volunteering, I think it can be accommodated for inspectors.
Hey, Ill learn to be an inspector for it if I can/need to. 
I am qualified for FTC inspection so I just need to know a little more.
Hi Al… I’ve done RI for over 16 years, 5 events/yr; 3 regionals, scrimmage + CMP… passed 2016 test; 20/20 in 5 min, but VIMs only assigned me as RI in 1 of 4 events signed up for in Feb. (Judge in 2, now completed)
No reply as of 3/30 re: CMP??? have inquired; no response.
Dona Sisk is looking into it for me.
(2015: RI’d & Judged CMP)
have you any Insight? ::ouch::
approaching too late to make reservations from LA at a reasonable cost, an out of pocket expense for this 2006 TRW Inc. Sr Engr Scientist retiree!!! devotee of FIRST principles.
Hope to see you in April!
Dale,
If you have signed up in VIMS the Champs VCs will make the assignments. I am going to guess they are pretty busy with other events and only check once or twice a day. Please be patient.
I’ve registered in VIMS and will be there, but so will Team 980 (our last trip to Champs was 2011).
I will help with inspections in whatever division Team 980 competes. I’m the drive coach, so I’ll have to stay near my team for practice matches as well as quals and, hopefully, elims.
See you in St Louis!
I signed up to Ref and RI, and was assigned to Ref. I’d be happy to RI until Practice Matches start at 6:00 pm.
Sam,
You have to sign up first and then be invited to take the inspection test. It’s not hard.
Is this true Al? If 5279 qualifies at the CHS Championship then I’ll need to be with them at least when qualifications start, but I’d be happy to help before that.
Alright, I updated my VIMS role application and added RI to the top.
Is there anything I else I need to/should do?
You will get an email when the CMP volunteer coordinator has assigned you as a robot inspector. Then, you should log into VIMs again, and click on Go to Certification (left side of screen under the Testing header). That will take you to the RI test, which, as Big Al says, is not very hard.
Pretty much true. The big need for RI’s is on Wednesday getting every team inspected. It is a little easier at Champs because all the teams have been through an inspection already.
In 2014 I RI’d at Champs, and the rest of the time, I spent in the que giving a quick look for secured batteries, bumpers, and anything else that caught my eye. This year, I can envision having a few RI’s for the que. With the defenses, this is a much more brutal game on the robots. Making sure that batteries are secure will be important.
You only need 1 or 2 RI’s for the que (per field). In order to clear 600 teams, you are probably looking at 150-200 RI’s for Wednesday since most teams will want to be inspected as soon as they unbag.
It’s easier for most teams. But there’s always the non-compliant robot whose team argues against changing it because “…it passed inspection at Regionals twice already, see the stickers?”
Read over the Robot Rules again (section 4). The test is then open book.
Pack a RI bag:
Tape measure
Flash light (helpful to determine if a bumper is contacting at the corners)
Plumb
Safety Glasses
Piece of wire to short the switch for Pneumatics
Multi-meter to make sure the frame is not connected to ground
Hard copy of Section 4 for your reference, and so you can show the team the rule
Pen
At Champs, you will get a cool yellow hat to wear.
I inspected a robot that had passed inspection at another regional. I found wiring problems, and made them fix it. It included wiring the radio into the 500 ma slot, and not the 2A slot. Amazing how that fixed their connectivity problems.
If a team gives me guff, I get an LRI. That’s what they are paid the big bucks for.
My greatest need is any time prior to Qualifying matches until everyone is inspected. After that, there will be a rush to get everyone weighed/inspected prior to Elims on Saturday morning.
Al, once again I am coming with my team. Three of us who also volunteer as inspectors plan to carpool separately from the team bus, leaving a little earlier.
What time should we plan to arrive at America’s Center to be ready when you assemble all the inspectors, and do you already know where that meet-up will happen?
Since pits open at 1, I would expect the meet up to happen a little earlier - probably no later than 12:30. Add in some time to get registered, and I would really try to be on site before noon!
Is there a room Robot Inspectors can hang out in before 1pm and tell stories about inspections? I have a good one about a 180 pound robot that tried to get inspected.
As a volunteer, you are entitled to lunch. That would be a good place for the yellow hats to hang out and exchange stories before the 12:30 meeting.