[Matt2081]

I saw a bit of the CARD competition and here's my suggestions as far as a collegiate FIRST competition goes:

First, I thought the aerial robots were pretty darn cool! But I worry at the potential to create a FIRST-like game entirely out of flying robots. The complications I see are that it is hard to get a flying robot to do much else other than fly... It's difficult to put robotic arms, grabbers, etc. on these types of robots because of weight and balance, and I worry that these limitations will take away from the creativeness of designs that you see in FRC. I like the flying idea and think it presents a great challenge, but maybe not focus the competition entirely on flying robots every year. Possibly have ground and flying robots work together? The flying robot could push a switch to unlock game pieces for the ground robot to score, or the flying robot could activate a tower that allows the ground robot to score on it, or something like that. I feel like the flying robots present the Electrical/Computer Engineers and CS majors with a challenge, but not so much of a challenge for some of the other engineers (like mechanical). If the goal is to make a competition that is more challenging than FRC, then instead maybe make the autonomous period a bigger deal (with more actual automation rather than just pre-programmed steps like in FRC), or incorporate more video recognition and automation into the game. Although flying robots do have some practical applications, I see more development of controls and automation on ground robots in practical robotics applications, and getting practice and experience with these would benefit participants. Automation, sensors, and video recognition are still tough challenges for the Electrical and CS guys, but the challenge to design and build an effective drive train and manipulator that quickly, efficiently, and smoothly implements a game challenge is great for mechanical guys. Maybe I'm the only one with this viewpoint, but I wanted to throw it out there just as a suggestion.

All in all, I think it is great that a FIRST collegiate program is being pursued, and I fully intend to start a team. I already have a group of guys who are excited to get started.

Do we know if FIRST is going to officially take on this new level as part of the program? And if FIRST doesn't, will the competition still happen next year? I don't want to send my Electrical/Software guys off with the task of building a quad-copter this summer if there's no competition (but I very much hope there is)...