Might as well jump in and keep beating the dead horse.
First off, I like both competitions. I went to the Las Vegas Battlebots competition (as an audience monkey, but I still saw quite a bit), and I've been on FIRST, like almost all of you here. Yes, there are some pretty "vanilla" designs in Battlebots. But before we go off the deep end and talk about how FIRST is so much cooler and unique, allow me to summarize the standard first designs I've noted over my 2 years experience:
1. Goal Grabbers
2. Ball-grabbers
3. Generalists (those that can grab goals and balls)
These 3 types of robots make up 99.5% of any of the robots you'll see in a FIRST competition. If you're at the right regional, you might see one or two robots that uniquely buck the standard classifications listed above. Now, if a FIRST competition is so much deeper than a Battlebots competition, how is it that we 600-ish robotics teams can seemingly churn out only 3 different types of robots?
Also, I'm not sure where this "compete in Battlebots, make loads of money" mentality came in. The champion award for the superheavies, last time I checked, was about 5,000 dollars. Subtract from this to all the stuff BSMFIRST listed, and assuming your robot rolls through like an invincible juggernaut of death (not likely), you're not going to make much. The only robots I can think of that are the ones that paid for themselves are Ziggo and Biohazard (and the fact that their drivers are also quite skilled plays a part).
Asking why people compete in Battlebots is kind of like asking why we compete in FIRST. Education aside folks, the regionals are a fancy way of saying "look what my team built!" We use thousands of pounds of metal and wire to make robots that run around and pick up/move things around, simply for the sake of showing that we can. Aside from those who we pay for parts/arenas, FIRST does not benefit anyone, at least not right away, and neither does Battlebots.
However, robotic competitions are set to become to robotics like racing is to cars. Some of the best technological innovations have come out of racing. What's to say that some Battlebots/FIRST monkey, having tinkered with a part for 20 hours straight, couldn't potentially come up with the equivalent of the Holy Grail for robotics? Yes, a lot of advancements will come out of a lab. But keep in mind a working airplane came from a couple of bikemakers in Ohio.
I'm sure Mr. Kamen is a nice person, and has a lot of great qualities. However, he seems to have a chip on his shoulder. While he's earned it, he seems to pull it out whenever he talks about other robotic competitions.
I've done a parody on his dislike of combat robotics, but I'm not sure what makes him so angry about it. Hell, some
Battlebots competitors have even helped some FIRST teams. Think about it: these guys have designed robots that can hold together, and we're teaching kids how to build robots that hold together. What a great concept! And, like so many people have stated before me, these combat robotics competitions have good sportsmanship. Yes, you're going to have your Gage Cauchois's. But, you're also going to have a lot of decent people who just enjoy tinkering with things.
Why do people build things that are going to get broken? Folks, they do it for fun too. Have we become so locked on "YOU ARE HERE TO LEARN" that we forget that you can do it just to screw around? RA is a good example. In its fight vs. El Diablo (2nd season, didn't make TV), the robot was pushed under the hammer and smashed to pieces. It left the arena in a trash bag. Its owner allowed the beating to continue far beyond what would have been allowed. Why? Because he saw everyone was having a good time. He didn't seem to care about losing: he had a blast, and that was all that mattered (it's interesting to note that he brought the outside tire shell into the melee. Everyone was rooting for it).
The area Battlebots could improve in, however, is that it never shakes anything up. Every year, the arena maybe has 1 or 2 new hazards that don't really do anything. Titans like Ziggo and Biohazard are almost guaranteed "you lose" matchups.
Yes, Battlebots is different from FIRST. But just because it's different from what we prefer (and how much Kamen throws a hissy fit about it) doesn't mean it's bad by default.
-Reed
"It's long, rambling, and has no point...PERFECT!"