Quote:
Originally Posted by mentorDon
OOOHHH! Life isn't fair I'm told. How many of you squawking that sentiment have access to a sponsor with CNC equipment? Consider yourself lucky. And I'm willing to make a large wager most teams don't. We had one once. But with the economy as it is, they couldn't support us any longer. So we adapted to what we have. And then there is the lack of machine shops. Kansas City use to have shops scattered throughout the city. Not any more. Most of that work has moved to Mexico or China. I started working in a machine shop back in 1974. I have seen and experienced the change. And I don't see NASA building a shop here anytime soon.
Getting back to the rules, for the Robot:
4.4 Budget Constraints
R9 The total cost of all items on the ROBOT shall not exceed $4000 USD. All costs are to be determined as explained in Section
4.4: Budget Constraints. Exceptions are as follows:
A. individual COTS items that are less than $1 USD each and
B. KOP items
R11 The BOM cost of each non-KOP item must be calculated based on the unit fair market value for the material and/or labor,
except for labor provided by Team members (including sponsor employees who are members of the team), members of other
Teams, event provided Machine Shops and shipping.
How many Squawkers here could build a robot for less than $4000 if they had to count CNC machining time at $100+ per hour and all materials? (Programming and run time for just 1 or 2 parts would be even more costly.) Very few in my estimation. I don't care if you continue to use your machine shop sponser, you just need to count it in your budget.
Do they have rules in other sports to even the playing field? Yes they do! Ever heard of "salary caps"? NASCAR has a host of rules to keep the cars alike. Do I need to go on?
So there you have it. Life is either the 'haves' or the 'have nots'. The 'haves' never want to change the rules because they would lose their advantage. Seems to work out the same in First.
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When I was starting out in FRC I had a conversation with a couple very well known mentors. The discussion focused around gaining resources and how resources can make a difference. The biggest surprise for me at the time came from one of these mentors telling me that no matter how hard some teams work, they simply cannot attain the same resources as others. This is simply true in many areas of the US, as you have stated. However, machining resources don't make good robots. They make the process easier, and the designs perhaps a little more complex, but the fundamental strategies and robot designs don't have to be. There are plenty of teams whose biggest resource is the PEOPLE. Good people, motivated people, and people who want to learn are the ones who make good robots. You can have a small budget and minimal resources, and still build a very competitive machine. You don't have to have the same machining resources at your disposal, or the engineering experience (although it helps more than machines), but you can still learn as much as possible from the best out there and become great yourself.
Word of advice though, when you do want people to hear you out on a very valid point, try not calling them squawkers or other names. With a more subtle tone in your posts, your point would have come across much better. Like I said, your point of view is very valid in the sense that not all teams can achieve the same level of resources because of their area and whatnot. I don't think cutting others off from their resources works either though.