Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertones
FIRST is trying to mirror real life situations. If you have a deadline, you work to complete by the deadline, and find ways to work around it (practice robots). This ties into the whole "there are two types of underprivileged teams; the ones who whine about being underprivileged and the ones that work to become privileged". Bag and tag is an integral part of FIRST. It will always be around.
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+1
FIRST is more than the robot... It's about the culture. Believe it or not, we're training the future workforce of the USA and the world. Working under tighter pressure to produce more with less, while maintaining a high quality standard is required for competition on a global scale.
While I see the OP's point, I will disgree that Bag and Tag is unnecessary.
First, I'd like to state that building a complete second robot isn't that expensive, especially if you're getting donated components. The initial higher cost in buying duplicate transmissions and a cRIO (which is dirt cheap at $525 loaded) will be less in future years if you end up reusing the COTS items.
It's not a bag-it-and-forget-it competition. You're allowed to bring a weight-limited sum of parts (R21) to the competition to add to your robot, why stop at Bag and Tag? Watch webcasts of regionals, get inspired, come up with strategy refinements, and add to your robot.
Life isn't fair. Overcome its challenges and learn. I guarantee you the most successful teams had a steep learning curve before they "got it". Understand your constraints and work within them. Learn what your team does well and capitalize on it.
Over the last three years, my team has grown in expertise and skill tremendously. At the same time, we've had funding difficulties, but found ways to make it work. We have also made a firm decision to build two robots every year because that's what it takes for us to field a successful robot and a trained operator team.
I don't see banning use of second robots or eliminating bag and tag to be of any use for this competition and it would only serve to spoil the experience for the tens of thousands of students and mentors.