Re: What is the real concern?
 

Agreed. While having no first-hand experience myself, one of the people lightly involved with our team is a former Battlebots participant. He's got a lot of very good knowledge on robot design and designing components to be durable, light, and field-repairable.

While I have to cringe when Battlebots is all that many outsiders can relate to, I don't always like the Battlebots bashing that runs rampant, either.

Re: Giving First A bad name
 

Man, it's interesting how these threads can digress! To bring us back to the original point, a possible approach to those kids who only want to build warrior robots is to tell them that, though that is not part of what we do at FIRST, you will learn everything you need to know if you want to participate in that type of competition in the future. This won't work for all kids, but may get the attention of those who have the ability to project actions taken now, to future possibilities. From my perspective, these are the same kids that will be the drivers of future technology ... and isn't that what we're all about?

Re: Giving First A bad name
 

If anything, I believe Battle Bots is in the best interest of FIRST. Battlebots helps to create an interest in robotics, and FIRST gives us the opportunity to participate in a robotics program. Everytime I tell someone I'm on a robotics team, the first response is almost always "do you build battlebots?" After explaning the concept of FIRST, the game, and the 130 pound robot, we have a new rookie class every season. :)