If FIRST wants to find a way to improve as they expand, they need to find a way to keep & help the better teams. Last year there was a “FIRST STAR” rating that ranked teams based on past average performance over the previous 4 years. To improve the quality of Nationals FIRST could use a system similar to this ranking. From what I have seen good teams continue to be good. This is not to say that below average teams cannot make vast improvements. If FIRST used the ranking for qualifications & then allowed current year Regional winners, the quality of robots at Nats would be awesome.
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Originally posted by Koko Ed
When I think about teams like 340 Grr robotics or 144 Who and Team 64 the Gila Monsters possibly falling out of the FIRST scene that is a great loss to the FIRST community. I'm hoping that if another company in the Rochester area steps in to start a FIRST team and if Nortel has truly dropped Grr Robotics that they'll take a good look at an already established team first with a solid base in FIRST before starting another team fresh. I hope the same can be done in the Cincinatti area for Who and in Arizona for the Gila Monsters. These are the teams that help make FIRST great and they should be maintained.
Progress should never made at the expense of the past
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As for teams finding money to continue, we will find a way to continue & hopefully so will the others in our position. When we finally realized the situation our team is in we set out with a better plan. Granted we still have not found a new sponsor yet but we have found a way to become a more organized and a more determined group of people. Rather than look to the obvious, our former sponsor, we looked within(we have not received any funds from Nortel since December 2001). We have a core group of mentors from, J&J, Kodak, Nortel, Pactive, Delphi, Valeo, Pfaudler, and, Manning, Hennig & Squires, not mention other mentors from other companies. If we can find a way to get people from all of these companies to find the value in the FIRST program we can find a way to get sponsorship. There is money out there we just have to be more active about finding it.