The Roles in Robot Inspection

The following roles contribute to Robot Inspection at FRC events:

• The Lead Robot Inspector is responsible for ensuring that all robots competing at the event comply with the safety and game rules.  Since robots are not allowed to compete until they are inspected, the LRI has to move quickly to check them out.  Besides the technical responsibilities, the LRI has the administrative responsibilities of managing the team of Robot Inspectors and scheduling inspections in an orderly manner.
• The Inspection Manager is a non-technical (administrative) person responsible for organizing and sequencing the inspections.  When available, this person operates the Robot Inspection Station thereby reducing the load on the LRI.
• Robot Inspectors help the LRI by inspecting each robot at the start of the event and whenever a robot has been modified by the team.  This is a purely technical role.
• Referees and FTAs occasionally need to report on safety or rule issues with a particular robot.  They also need to get updates on previously reported issues.
• Queuers need to verify that a robot has been appropriately inspected before it is allowed on the playing field.  Today, they verify that inspection stickers are on the robot to indicate compliance.  These stickers may not reflect the latest re-inspection requirements for a robot, especially if has been modified after initial inspection.

The Robot Inspection Process

Each robot goes through a sequence of inspections.  An inspection by a certified Robot Inspector is required to move the robot through the sequence.  The Inspector may perform multiple checks at a time and move the robot ahead by multiple steps in the sequence.   After inspection, the robot may enter a new ‘state’ which may allow it to participate in matches.

State	Description	Comments
Initial	Team is registered for the event.	Team may not yet have arrived at the event site.
Un-bagged	Robot compliance form has been checked.  Ready for weighing & Safety checks.	Team should have checked in and registered with the Pit Admin
Weighed	Robot ready to be safety checked.	Safety checking can be done simultaneously while weighing.
Safety Checked	Cleared for practice matches	Robot may be overweight and have other unresolved checklist issues.
Partial	Robot has been inspected at least once, but has issues	Robot is not OK for Qualification matches
Qualification OK	Cleared for Qualification matches	Robots will not be queued for qualification until they pass this state.
Playoff OK	Cleared for Playoff matches	Robots will not be queued for Playoff until they pass this state.

In addition to the above states, a robot can be marked for re-inspection or re-check.

Re-inspection required FLAG	Possible robot modifications or  safety concerns that require immediate fixes.	Robots will not be queued for any matches in this state
Re-check suggested FLAG	Robot flagged for further investigation for minor concerns.	Robots can be queued for matches in this state

Teams are often not ready for an inspection.  They may be working on the robot or testing on the practice field.  When they are ready, they need to request to be placed on the queue for inspection.  The LRI (or Robot Inspection Manager) will assign a RI to inspect the robot (typically) in order of the queue.  The earlier the team gets on the queue, the earlier they will get inspected.  This may take a while since there can be a sudden burst of teams ready for Safety Checks.  There can be some variations: the queue may get adjusted based on match schedules, or the LRI may choose to bump a team into the queue if they are simply taking too long.  The type of inspection will also be a factor, e.g., a robot needing to be un-bagged will have priority over all other robots waiting for a weigh in.

The difference between the LRI and IM roles is that the LRI can also make technical decisions about the robot’s safety and conformations to rules.  Next to the FTA, the LRI is the authority for these issues.  The LRI often works as a RI, mostly for fun.

The RI’s process is easy to describe, though hard to perform.  They are assigned the task of inspecting a team.  The inspection may be a safety check, a full inspection or a re-inspection.  After the inspection, the RI reports the results back to the LRI (or IM) and is assigned the next task.  If the robot passed the inspection, they would move it to a new ‘state’.  The robot will get an inspection sticker which authorizes it to enter the playing field.  Team signatures are required at the end of qualification inspections.

From an administration point of view, the LRI (or IM) must track teams that are falling behind in the inspection process.  They should also manage queues so that teams are inspected in a fair sequence.  They should track the inspections done for each team and ensure that a team does not get conflicting technical directives from Robot Inspectors.  Lastly, they should monitor the rates at which inspections are being completed to ensure that all inspections are completed in a timely manner for matches.

The current system (without GMS) uses paper checklists to track team statuses.  These checklists are often organized into piles labeled ‘completed’, ‘in progress’, etc.  Checklists are sometimes misplaced or taken away by a Robot Inspector.  Sometimes they are left behind at a team’s pit.  All of these make life unnecessarily difficult and stressful for the LRI or IM.  GMS was developed to alleviate these tribulations.