Posted by Mike McIntyre, Coach on team #47 from Pontiac Central HS.
Posted on 3/31/99 9:40 PM MST
Is it just me or do other teams find it equally annoying when certain teams set up their pits with immovable structures that block the aisles? At Great Lakes, there were no aisles, just equally spaced tables everywhere; some teams completely blocked the space between their table and the surrounding ones so that everybody had to circle around their area to get by. If everybody decided to do what these few teams did, nobody would be able to move their robots anywhere as we’d all be locked in gridlock. I feel bad that I had to keep pestering the same few teams to let us squeeze by ( the ones who DIDN’T block the entire space between tables)but our routes to the playing fields were severely restricted by the same few teams. There! I feel better now.
Posted by Jerry Eckert, Engineer on team #140 from Tyngsboro, MA High School and New England Prototype/Brooks Automation.
Posted on 3/31/99 10:57 PM MST
In Reply to: Pet peeve in the pits posted by Mike McIntyre on 3/31/99 9:40 PM MST:
: Is it just me or do other teams find it equally annoying when certain teams set up their pits with immovable structures that block the aisles? At Great Lakes, there were no aisles, just equally spaced tables everywhere; some teams completely blocked the space between their table and the surrounding ones so that everybody had to circle around their area to get by. If everybody decided to do what these few teams did, nobody would be able to move their robots anywhere as we’d all be locked in gridlock. I feel bad that I had to keep pestering the same few teams to let us squeeze by ( the ones who DIDN’T block the entire space between tables)but our routes to the playing fields were severely restricted by the same few teams. There! I feel better now.
I can’t comment on Great Lakes, but at Hartford the pit area was smaller
than in previous years in Manchester. Even teams who were conscious of
space limitations in planning what to bring may have found themselves
exceeding the allocated space.
In many cases the teams which bring lots of stuff to the pit area are also
VERY generous about sharing their tools and spare parts with other teams
in need. I don’t want to think about how much more difficult it would be
all around if these teams are forced to cut back on what they bring to the
competition.
- Jerry
Posted by Chris, Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monster, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.
Posted on 4/1/99 9:20 AM MST
In Reply to: Pet peeve in the pits posted by Mike McIntyre on 3/31/99 9:40 PM MST:
My pet peeve in the pits is teams that bring carts that are so big that all of the teams between them and the door have to stop what they are doing and move out of the way so a team with a 5 foot wide cart can get through.
: Is it just me or do other teams find it equally annoying when certain teams set up their pits with immovable structures that block the aisles? At Great Lakes, there were no aisles, just equally spaced tables everywhere; some teams completely blocked the space between their table and the surrounding ones so that everybody had to circle around their area to get by. If everybody decided to do what these few teams did, nobody would be able to move their robots anywhere as we’d all be locked in gridlock. I feel bad that I had to keep pestering the same few teams to let us squeeze by ( the ones who DIDN’T block the entire space between tables)but our routes to the playing fields were severely restricted by the same few teams. There! I feel better now.
Posted by Mike S of team #21, Boeing NASA-KSC “ComBBAT”, from Titusville HS, Astronaut HS sponsored by Boeing.
Posted on 4/5/99 2:35 PM MST
In Reply to: Pet peeve in the pits posted by Mike McIntyre on 3/31/99 9:40 PM MST:
I Second this.
Some people do not understand gracious professionalism one iota. Each
team should have the courtesy to take up only their space and no more.
I saw teams that brought the equivalent of small condominiums to the
pits. Complete with walkin tools bins, stereo systems, and who knows
maybe even a kitchen or two. We were unable to get near our machine,
unable to properly converse or even find members of other teams etc.
Worse yet we snapped at a lot of our kids, because of such little room in
the pits.
PLEASE IF YOU ARE READING THIS DO NOT TAKE UP SPACE OUTSIDE OF YOUR PIT
AREA AT EPCOT. Get your machines fully inside your pit area ASAP and
don’t allow your whole team to gather in the pits.