What role do pit interviews play at FTC Decode competitions?

Pit interviews play a significant role in FTC Decode competitions by providing judges with a structured opportunity to learn about a team's design process and programming. During these interviews, teams can articulate their strategies, explain how they tackled various challenges, and discuss their team's collaboration and decision-making practices. This insight helps judges evaluate the engineering process, which is an essential criterion for scoring beyond the robot's performance on the field.

The interviews allow teams to demonstrate their understanding of design principles and technical concepts, showcasing the thought that went into their project. This opportunity for teams to directly communicate their efforts contributes significantly to their overall evaluation, reinforcing the importance of the engineering design process in the competition's scoring rubric.