These are my replies and opinions. I think we agree more than disagree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
... but it's not nearly as impressive as watching 120lb machines that you helped make driving around a playing field in a sports arena.
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Once an FRC team reaches a certain size range, many of the students doing the watching in the stands, are the same ones that watched someone else build, program, design, drive, iteratively revise, maintain, etc. that machine. With only one expensive machine (per team) involved, as the number of students goes up on an FRC team, the hands-on experiences per student inevitably decline. For me, watching (or driving) an FTC machine that I was an intimate part of creating is far more STEM-spirational than watching an FRC machine someone else built, that I (for the most part) can't drive/change.
A subtle, but important point is that over the course of a day I might enjoy watching an FRC circus more than I would enjoy watching an FTC circus (the same is probably true for my next-door neighbor and other average joes); but! I would get more STEM-spiration out of being an intimate part of my FTC team, than I would get out being one of the herd in an FRC team; especially if I'm not one of the core members of that FRC team.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
I would also point out that another way FIRST has worked to inspire students is to pair them with mentors from STEM fields, while I personally have no experience on an FTC team, I would venture to guess that there is not nearly as much need for professional mentors on an FTC team where kids can build most things by hand, compared to an FRC team where various manufacturing techniques are employed to design and build machines.
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FRC teams can put together a kit-bot with very little tool use. In fact, every year some (too many!) show up at competitions with little more than a pile of parts; and then the teams around them turn those parts into a working robot. There are differences in mentor needs and involvement for FTC and FRC, but they are minor, not major.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
You're right that FTC is more cost effective, but it remains to be proven to be equally or more inspiring than FRC.
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My belief, arising from extensive personal experience, is that you get more inspiration per dollar (in addition to more robots per dollar) from FTC/VRC than you do from FRC. By this I mean that more students are directly involved (hands-on) in a greater number of inspirational STEM activities. YMMV
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
... The question that remains to be asked is this: has anyone bothered to actually send an email to FiM and ask them what their rational is for their policy?
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Plenty of FiM folks read CD. If they care to, they will write something here. Alternatively, they might individually choose to (or have a policy of that says to) stay out of CD conversations, much like FIRST HQ stays out of CD conversations.
Blake
PS: FRC is a great program to use as the cherry on top of the sundae, but it's not so great as the one-size-fits-all sundae.