[2471ANNA]

It's not unethical. Other teams wouldn't hate you for including more students into FIRST and allowing more students to compete in FRC while fostering their STEM interests in an environment geared towards our age group specifically. More so, if you don't have the resources then do the right thing for the students.

On 2471 we build 2 robots and bag one and then use one the other for practice and spare parts. You could argue that this is unethical but it has been extremely beneficial in refining our design process and allowing our growing team to get 2x the building experience, distribute more leadership roles and anticipate successes and failures in regards to our robot.

That being said, for the local Bunnybot competition this year, we have enough resources to build 2 robots but they're not identical. Two students who have demonstrated ample leadership skills each presented a robot design and both were supported by our mentors. Thus, we're currently in the process of creating two different robots and, again, giving more students the chance to work on a robot. In doing so, we're allowing more room for error yet ample growth as a team as our students work to meet deadlines and troubleshoot different problems individual to each robot.

Personally, there's more of a safety net insured if two teams work side by side to create two identical robots to enter into the same competition. However, there's something about taking chances, trying different ideas, experimenting with different technologies and building off of one another instead of simply copy and pasting.

I wouldn't hate 1510 if you held your competitive edge and made two identical robots. I would however hate it if you pushed your team to the edge and didn't enjoy your build season like you should.