Quote:
Originally Posted by maddoctor90
Before FIRST Choice you would not have gotten anything more than what is still available to you right now on FIRST Choice. No motor controllers, Classmate PCs, cRIOs, Axis Cameras, drills, or a load of other things unless you were a rookie. We are still going to get a kit of parts at kickoff. With all of the items in the virtual kit and the physical kit we will get at the kickoff teams will have far more than they have ever received in the past.
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Honestly, in addition needing to spend the extra money*, one of my issues with this in terms of KOP is that it has handicapped our final robot design by hundreds of dollars. We regularly design to our limit (in terms of the $3500 cap as well as time, energy and coffee), and this doesn't seem right. Why is a team that didn't get stuck in a glitch allowed to write off, say $660 in free Talons, when a team that didn't want that many but got kicked off/couldn't log in, not only has to pay for them but also has to make their final robot $550 cheaper? Aside from simply feeling cheated out of the system we were promised and having no use for $1000 worth of gearmotors or anything else now available [what Jared said], this just doesn't make sense to me.
Personally, I believe both the FIRST Choice procedures and rule R13 [2012] could use a change (though obviously I push for the former more). Even if it was changed to focus on those truly in need or some other fundamental change, it has to be better than the system simply failing.
*I can't imagine how difficult this is on teams that simply can't afford alternatives. I'm dreading the impact it could have, but something tells me we'll be donating more parts than usual this season.