Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

Here's the link: http://www.mercurynews.com/campbell/...e?source=email

They interviewed many people (including yours truly), and managed to write an accurate story on what FIRST is, the mission of FIRST, and how the game is played.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

$20k-$30k per robot? Someone had better check those BOM's...

Good article, though... my only other complaint is that they didn't mention the EI winner, as it is the second most prestigious award, after all :p

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

I think the $20k-$30k means the budget for the full team. Since it takes a team to build a robot.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

Actually, if I was to value a robot, with control system, at material+labor at market rates, that's a very reasonable number. I figure a Kitbot with limited other materials built by a small team in 6 weeks at about $10K. Something like some of the cooler robots at SVR? That's an easy $20K-$30K.

Some quick looking shows that just in the cRIO and the 4 Jags in a rookie kit, there is a $1700 donation/discount. (For a 4-slot cRIO--an 8-slot can easily be close to half of that $20K budget by itself.) That's half of your robot budget that you don't have to worry about. Not to mention all the other stuff you have to account for that you're allowed to not count against your BOM costs.

And then you get into labor costs. Figure the students work an average of 10 hours a week apiece, minimum wage of $8/hour, that's $80/week for 6 weeks, $480/student for the build season. You do the math for a 10-20 student team.

And don't forget the travel and the "blood, sweat, tears, oh wait how do we put a value on this" factor. And I haven't even gotten into added value for winning awards...

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

10 hours a week? I go for at least 40.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

I'm figuring a bunch of short meetings. But, you do the math.

Oh, and while you're at it: I also left out what would happen if you figured mentor pay (at their normal rate) in.

If all that labor wasn't donated, the BOM cost would be way over the limit...

Re: Silicon Valley Regional in CA newspaper
 

Don't forget the various machine shop, powder coating, anodizing, ect. services that you don't have to account for on the BoM. On bots where most or all of the frame is custom made and made pretty, the cost for those services can be pretty substantial without a sponsorship. Plus, some designs might require special tools to be purchased or made that can even more to that number.

Also, I agree with Gray; if I'm not losing sleep, I'm not at the workshop enough :D