[EricH]

Originally Posted by de_

I can't say if this scenario applies in this case

Lets say you are a super team and you build (or help build or direct the building of) an identical robot for a non-super team and the 2 of you form an alliance that wins not only your local regional but you go to say 3 other regionals and win all those as well.

If the second super robot did not exist, at 4 regionals another 4 (deserving) teams would have virtually certainly been in the winning alliance and would have received:
- a permanent very desirable trophy
- a highly visible regional championship flag
- a very limited availability invite to the championship (a huge growth experience for students)
- substantial recognition in their school, mentors, sponsors, students etc
- substantial improvement in funding opportunities to go to the championship (versus if they had come second place with no invite, no trophy etc)

This may not break any current FIRST rules but it is clearly inconsistent with the goals of FIRST and the student base overall are the losers.

Clearly its okay to help a junior team get a basic robot to the a regional. To get them into the finals in my mind crosses the line.

There are multiple problems with this scenario that you outline.

The first, quite frankly, is that the team(s) in question do NOT fall into the super-robot class quite yet. They're mid-pack, though near the upper end of that. In other words, your entire scenario does not apply.

Now, assuming it did, in fact, apply:

The second issue is that it's not always advantageous to pair with a team that is just like yours. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You're also assuming that you can do so every time. There may be another, better team at the event to break things up. (Say your hypothetical collaboration shows up to an event with 188, 1114, 1503, and 2056, among others. Or any event with 67, 217, and 469. Or... Or... You get the picture.)

The third is that the invite to Championship is not exactly limited. Any team can register for the Championship (given that they aren't a rookie and they register during their time to do so). Teams that don't get in get spots on the waitlist in case of scenarios like you propose where teams get multiple invites, which of course they can't accept all of.

The fourth is that if you're going to 4 regionals (and Championship), someone's going to be hurting anyway. That's why most teams don't do it. It'll either be robot quality, student homework quality/quantity, or sanity of various people on the team.

The fifth is, quite simply, it's not a collaboration as you outline it (maybe in one of your three cases, it is). If one team with one design is merely copied by another team, is that other team going to do as well? I think not. There are infinitely many tweaks that can be made to improve performance.

And now, a little discussion on the goals of FIRST. What is the goal of FIRST, in your mind? Is it to inspire students? Is it to educate them?

Or is it:

Originally Posted by FIRST's vision

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."

Originally Posted by FIRST's mission statement

Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

These are taken from http://usfirst.org/aboutus/vision. Or is it:

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

More students inspired by a powerhouse robot (or two) means more mission accomplished. Despite some people not liking said powerhouses, or said collaborations, they do fit right in with those goals.