Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hill
Clearly our definitions of "fair" differ. Surely you can't think that a rookie team building out of a parent's garage is expected to be able to afford and build two identical robots in the same manner as teams with access to CNC waterjet, milling, lathe, etc. All that stuff doesn't appear over their first year just by "working hard". There's a clear analogy to socioeconomics we have today, but I'll refrain from going there.
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I guess I would argue that there is no good way that I can see to make this competition "fair" for rookies. But I would also argue that that is okay. FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, not Fair yet Inspiring for Rookies and Second year Teams. If your team can inspire your kids by building and bagging one robot that is fantastic. If not bagging your robot so that you can keep working on it inspires your kids that is also fantastic. On my team we build two robots and I hope that we are inspiring our kids, and I hope that you think that is fantastic as well.
I can tell you this from personal experience. Team 1983 started in 2007 when I was a sophomore and the robot that we produced in Coach Steele's portable was no mechanical work of art. We could drive, and... well... that was about it. The idea of making a practice robot was something we had never thought of, nor would it have been something we could have completed. We crated our robot just like everyone else did on ship day and we waited to compete. When we got to competition our robot was nothing special, and we didn't win many matches, but we were very proud of the robot that we built. We were fortunate enough to compete at the Las Vegas Regional during our rookie year, which afforded us the opportunity to sit on the carpet with some of the great teams in first. We played with the Poofs, and we played against Pink and the High Rollers, and those teams inspired US to strive to be better.
To this day I am still inspired every year when I see the machines that teams produce. I am also a bit taken aback by your statement that teams are wasting money on a practice bot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hill
I'm saying teams waste thousands of dollars every year to build a second robot that doesn't need to be built.
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Our team thinks that it is worth it to spend the extra money and time to reap the benefits that building a practice bot can bring. I don't think it is a waste for our team in the slightest. However, if you prefer not to build two robots, don't! From reading this thread it seems 610 was able to win a world championship without a practice robot, bagging on stop build date just like everyone else.