Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
Except, at its core, FIRST is not a robotics competition.
No where, in ANY of that, does FIRST or Dean talk about robots. Robots are simply the vehicle FIRST uses to reach it's goal, it is not FIRST's core. That "fluff" you talk about, is probably more at the core of FIRST than you give it credit for. Getting all of the programs together to inspire each other, bringing in colleges from around the world to talk with students about their future, having technology companies on hand getting immersed with the event, hosting conferences to help spread knowledge... those are all a big part of FIRST's core, and I HIGHLY doubt DCMP's come anywhere close to CMP when it comes to those things. FIRST is about so much more than the performance on the field, but so many people seem to fail to grasp that.
|
While I did say that some of the things like College Row and Conferences were not absolutely necessary to the competition, I also said that I thought that they should be expanded at the DCMP level. Also, when I said robotics competition, I was not just talking about the competition on the field, I was talking about what the FRC community has come to describe as a robotics competition. Those events where you meet all sorts of different people from different places and backgrounds and where you are able to learn from and be inspired by those people. It is those things that I have seen and come to expect from all FRC competitions that I use to define a robotics competition.
Upon rereading my post I probably could have been more clear in my thoughts. The stuff I meant was fluff, is things like the flight simulator, the big show after closing ceremonies, the decorations, etc. While I do not think they took away from the event and I have no idea what cost those things might have had (I assume a lot of it was donated or heavily discounted), I personally would not really miss them if they were gone and they certainly have nothing to do with FIRST's mission. I don't have anything against those things, but if we can reach a point where the largest difference between DCMPs and CMPs are those superficial things (which I am aware we are still a long way from), I will consider DCMPs acceptably close to the "Championship Experience."