To start with, I agree with some of your sentiments regarding the 6 1/2 week build schedule and the withholding allowance (I hope for a year with 0 LBS withholding). That said:
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Originally Posted by fox46
I should have known this would spin off into a "who art more gracious than thou" debate. Face the facts- there are individuals in FIRST who do not follow the rules or intend to bend them to their advantage. People like us who abide by them cannot implicitly expect everyone else to. If so, then why even have a bag? Why not just agree that everyone will stop work on a specific day? The fact is that not everyone is 100% honest, gracious and rule/law abiding. If you debate this then you are in for some serious disappointment later in life outside the protection of the FIRST community.
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1> Gracious professionalism should be a look inward not a measurement outward. It is not for me, or anyone else, to say whether another has been gracious and professional.
2> What difference does it make what other people or teams do? What difference does it make to you and your team if they are not 100% honest. Remember, this is
NOT about winning a competition, it's about inspiring others and winning the game of life.
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Originally Posted by fox46
I've been involved for well over a decade in FIRST and have yet to win a regional. You think you need to tell me this?
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This is my 13th season, and I have won a regional. Are you trying to say something about me being (or not being) Gracious and professional?
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Originally Posted by fox46
It is however, about preparing students for their futures and lives. I can assure you that as a high school student struggling to get a drill motor to power a wheel I learned a lot more than one would when they are given a kit chassis. It taught me about every facet of machine design. The environment in which we are currently operating is breeding a flock of catalogue engineers who are completely dumbfounded when their solution doesn't exist on a website. You cannot deny that it squelches innovation - why would a team build a multi-speed gearbox when they can buy one off the shelf? (This of course is not a generalized statement- obviously).
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Perhaps we should go back to the PIC processors from IFI or, better yet, tether our robots because we don't want Wi-Fi.
Yes, some things are easier. All that means is that we can (should) do more. This years game is both easier and far more difficult than previous years. If designing a multi-speed gearbox gives me a significant advantage then, yes, I should design and build my own ... if it gives little to no advantage then why reinvent the wheel. Wasting valuable time/resources is
NOT good engineering.
I do disagree that it squelches innovation. Innovation, many times, is putting a new twist on existing technology. Most real innovation did not start with a blank sheet of paper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fox46
With respect to the liberties with stop-build-day, you remove some of the challenge of the entire process. No longer is there a brick wall at the end of build season. This is very unlike the real world! It is no longer representative of if a company misses a delivery date they lose the contract. Instead teams could entirely legally continue building all the way up until their competition, disassemble their robot and walk in with a 45lb frame and pre-cut wires and assemble their entire machine. Why even have a stop build day?
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The process is not about the challenge. The challenge is about inspiring.
... I also disagree that this does not mimic, at least in part, real world. Design iteration, even after the product has hit the market, happens all the time and any company that stops innovating/iterating their designs will soon find itself out of the marketplace.
JM(NS)HO