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Congratulations, you have made it past the construction and now have only a few weeks to finalize plans for competition.
Hopefully, you did do some work on getting ready for competition during the other phases. One thing that your team may
want to think about is a small reorganization of the roles and responsibilities of your team members. Read the team
section and see if it will make sense for your team.
Good luck during this phase and SEE you in ATLANTA!!!!
Safety System
It is time to make
sure before shipping your robot, that you have your safety equipment packed or have the ability to take it with you when you
travel. Safety glasses are an important factor in the competition pits and game field. Inspect the glasses and
make sure they are are relatively free from scratches and other damage. Also, make sure you review the competition
safety guildlines in the handbook and game manual. Make sure everyone knows what to expect and how to conduct themselves
safely at the competitions. While at the competitions, have your Safety Captains periodically check for compliance
in the pits for all your team and their guests to the pit area. Be Safe and HAVE FUN!!!!
 TEAM SYSTEM
While you were in the construction phase, your team structure probably had design, manufactoring, media, electronics,
programming, etc.. Now going into competitions, do the roles and responsibilites change? YOu may want to look
into changing up the team and defining new groups. Obviously you need a robot pit crew which fixes and repairs any hardware,
electronics, or programming problems or changes. Your team may want to think about having pit outreach crew to talk
to teams, judges, and guests to your pit. Also a outreach team that goes and talks to other teams and gain recognition.
Make sure you have a driver, human players, coaches along with their backups trained and ready to go. Put together
a scouting team that analyzes other teams strengths and weaknesses and look for a good match for your team. Spirit team
that comes up with cheers and create the fun in the stands and with other teams on your alliances. Basically, take a
look at your team organization and see if during the competitions you may want to do some reorganization.
 Archive System
Keep records and take pictures of what happened at the competitions. Attend the strategy sessions and look
at what worked well and what didn't to gain some lessons learned for the next match and/or competition. The pictures
can be used in your recruitment for the next year and for recognitions at the end of the current year.
Robot System
Robot, pit area, transportation system, control station, drivers, human players,coaches, pit crew, and the fans
in the stands are all part of the robot system at competitions. Have a good plan for how they will all work
together. MOST important create a checklist for your teams. It is important to make sure that the batteries
are charges, safety pins removed, the robot positioned correctly, robot turned on during the match. The
checklist could have three components to it, Pre-match, match, and post match. Look at all the steps it takes
to get the robot ready to go and create a checklist, you will not regret it.
OUTREACH SYSTEM
Outreach at the competitions is the way to get to know other teams and for them to get to know you.
Networking and learning about how other teams operate, looking at strategies, and being ready for the final alliance picking.
Outreach is important for the judges to understand what your team is all about if you desire to win the big awards such as
Engineering Inspiration and Chairman's. Make sure EVERYONE from your team at the competitions can talk about your
robot and what it does and about your team. Create a set of talking points that you want others to know about your team,
how long has it been since your rookie year, major awards, your outreach to the community, and what you have done to promote
FIRST.
Financial System
Your team has probably spent most the money on the robot and travel to your competition. It is important
to keep good track of the financial status in case emergencies pop up and you have to get someone back home or need parts
to keep your robot operational.
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