[Marc P.]

It's a fine line to walk between action and destruction. Why do more people watch wrestling over golf? Football over tennis? Battlebots over FIRST?

From my 4 years of involvement with FIRST, I've noticed they tend to be geared more towards creation, both on the physical robot end, and mentally by fostering an interest in math, science, and engineering. Battlebots, on the other hand, seems geared at simple destruction, made for TV, "because it's cool."

I think FIRST is doing a fine job as per growth rate: I've seen and learned from many experiences that too high a rate of growth is not a good thing for any company... i.e. growth beyond what it's capable of handling. True, it would grow more if on network TV, but there is no more powerful growth medium than word of mouth.

That aside, I'd like to see FIRST maintain the intellectual integrity in competition. Anyone can drive a battlebot, given the parameters of the controls necessary to implement destruction, but with FIRST, strategy, as well as a capable bot, is necessary to succeed. The scoring may not be friendly to spectators intially, but after watching a few matches, it's not so difficult to pick up, especially given the many willing participants in the audience who can explain the game with their eyes closed. Personally, I enjoy the friendly competition atmosphere over "I want to rip your robot's electronics out while toasting it over an open fire." Whoever says matches like this aren't exciting weren't watching the divisional elimination matches, or even the championship finals. The carpet serves a number of purposes, from sound dampening, to alliance identification, to scoring zones, to robot protection, to venue protection. Imagine the sound of aluminum scraping concrete every match. Think of the scratches in the concrete left by pushing and shoving robots, and how much damage FIRST would have to pay to each venue as a result.

Overall, I enjoy FIRST the way it is. It would be nice to see continuing, steady growth, overcoming the population with friendly competition that supports the changes FIRST is trying to make, rather than mindless destruction that can be seen with battlebots. It's been said Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was society. Society has been established over the course of decades and centuries, and won't be changed by a mere 10-11 years. However, the changes it has made over the course of such a short time are phenomenol. Thousands of students who would have never considered it are now persueing engineering degrees. To change a society overnight is impossible. To change society over a year is impossible. The only sure way to invoke change is to use time as an ally. While media coverage would invoke the changes faster, if we stoop to a level where violence is necessary to grab that attention, would that not defeat the purpose of what FIRST is trying to teach?

Sorry for the long rant, but I feel I must defend the program that's changed my life.