I've learned more about humans from this program than I did robots
. I don't think that would've happened with the stress, pressure, and fun of competition. Having competitive robots and events is important.
However, I believe that competition is a way to inspire
students. It's when adults get overly competitive (i.e. angry enough to swear over the outcome of a match, pushing for their own designs) that something is wrong.
Er, so I guess my answer is: FIRST is about robots only to the student.