Posted by colleen. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #246, Blue Light Special, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.
Posted on 8/8/2000 2:44 PM MST
The team forum is coming up on August 17th and I was wondering if there was anything in particular any people want brought up for discussion. In the same respect, do people who are attending have ‘topics’ or ‘issues’ they will be bringing up that they could possibly post here so others can be prepared for the discussion and we can get a widespread opinion on the issue before discussing it in our groups.
I think it would work to everyone’s benefit to hear a little of what everyone else has to say before we attend (may streamline some discussions to make more time for more topics)… and as a former ‘student’ i know i never got the chance to voice my opinion on Team Forum topics because it was summer and we weren’t regularly meeting with the team representative to talk about it…
So, outside of the topic of Chairman’s that Vinny spark our fires on… what else does the FIRST community have to say???
Posted by Ryan Shanley. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Student on team #191, The X-Cats, from Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School and Xerox.
Posted on 8/9/2000 2:06 PM MST
In Reply to: Discussions for the Team Forum posted by colleen on 8/8/2000 2:44 PM MST:
I’ve been developing some ideas–with some input from team members, as well as Ken Patton (of the Huskie Briggade)–for a scouting system in which team representatives submit questions to FIRST (such as ‘how many balls can your robot hold?’; or ‘can your robot hang from the bar?’–which might have been questions asked this past year).
These questions would be compiled, agreed upon, and distributed (as a questionaire) to all teams upon registration. Each team would send it with their robot to the regional and national competitions. This would not replace all scouting, because watching matches is still the best way to determine a team’s/robot’s performance. But by distributing a database of scouting information to all teams at the competitions (in the pits) in spreadsheet–and maybe even Palm Pilot–forms, all teams could be spared the time spent asking and answering such questions in the pits. Many a time I and my team-mates have been working hard to get the robot tuned up or repaired for our next match, and were interrupted by scouts. I understand their need for information, but it would make it easier for all of us if this was avoided.
So if you think this is at all feasible (and worthwhile to spend some time on), let me know…or at least give me input on how to make it better. I’ve already given the idea to our team’s representative for the Forum, so she’ll bring it up there as well.
again, I appreciate any/all input…
Ryan Shanley
Posted by colleen. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #246, Blue Light Special, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.
Posted on 8/9/2000 4:11 PM MST
In Reply to: re: Scouting posted by Ryan Shanley on 8/9/2000 2:06 PM MST:
I’m sure Elaine will bring it up (I assume she’s your rep 
That’s a really good idea i think… the questions wouldn’t be able to be distributed at kick-off though (we wouldn’t know the competition yet)… but maybe similar to how people contribute ‘game name ideas’ they could contribute ‘questions to ask’… i have an idea i’ll email you about!
good idea… I’ll definitely back that one up at the Forum… hopefully it’s something FIRST will support…
colleen