Quote:
Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi
As much as I hate to admit it, this very thought is also on my mind. I too hold 217 in high regard, but all these stories are disconcerting. :/ I hope Paul and others on 217 can look into the matter and see who, if anyone, was saying these things to teams.
|
So, I'm going to preface this with, "I don't know Paul Copioli or 217 as well as I would like". I know they are a fantastic team, and I have had the honor of working with them years ago (you'll recall their last Finger Lakes visit in 2011 when I was with 1126, right Simon?). This is the impression I've gotten from them:
At heart, 217 is a competitive team. They take their robot's on-field performance very seriously. They take the time to ensure that their robot will live up to the legacy of domination they set for themselves from 2006-2011 where they were one of the most dominant teams in the world. One of 67's goals (as I've read in their design logs) is to win the world championships. I'd bet 217 sets forth a similar goal. Competing at a high level in their division, making it to Einstein... These are all goals 217 holds very seriously. To that end, they would never decline an alliance offer from a team, unless they were in a position to put their own alliance together (Newton 2011).
They did the right thing by telling teams their issues. It is a noble thing that many teams in FIRST don't do. They made sure every team knew that by picking them, it's an likely possibility that they would be sitting on-field with a dead robot. I'm sure that is exactly what Paul expected would happen, were they picked. But they wouldn't decline, because declining would mean missing out on a shot at Einstein that they didn't even have a chance to compete for last year. So Paul made sure that every team knew the risks, and let every other team decide their fate after that. It just so happened that the teams gutsy enough to try them made up the #1 seeded alliance. I don't think Paul or 217 would have intentionally tried to rig the system just to get a shot at Einstein. From what I've gathered from working with Paul and 217, they would much prefer to let their robot handle these things for them, not behind-the-scenes, cloak and dagger efforts.