[MechEng83]

I struggle with this. On one hand, 90% of engineering is using ideas and designs that other have created to solve a problem. However, the other 10% is inspired designs, being creative/unique to push the design envelope.

In a commercial industry, there's production environments and research environments. Production tends toward conservative approaches - i.e. using established methods and avoiding risk because you need to get a product out the door.
But there's also research and development. This is where new ideas are tested -- where radical designs are allowed, where failure isn't always bad thing, because it increases knowledge.

What is the point of FIRST? I think it's both, but Ri3D pushes toward the former.

One thing I guess I'd add to spur discussion: would people's opinions change if someone released "FLL Robot in 24 hours"? Is there a reason the answers should be different?