Like a moth to a flame…..better yet…from Don Quixote… “….march into hell for a heavenly cause”
Consider this….
FIRST and BB are different experiments, but they share some common ground. Let's try to find it.
We should be teaching students not to make assumptions.
Dan has an open mind about BB/Robotica and FIRST…This speaks volumes about Dan as a person and as a gracious professional. Dan has an open mind because he works hard to keep his mind open. Sounds simple enough right?
Not so. Keeping an open mind takes a lot of effort. Dan serves as a good example. We should all practice keeping an open analytical mind about the things we DO and THINK about.
The practice of adopting, believing in, or voicing strong opinions about ideas or methods of which we have no empirical data is frowned upon in science and engineering…
Accomplished scientists and engineers test theories and hypotheses.
When engineers think hard, develop mechanical concepts and then test them…they are defining themselves as professionals. Your family physician has taken promises to “Do no harm”…your mentoring engineer promises to.. “Make no assumptions”.
I’d like to refer everyone who bothers to read this thread to a very exciting and illuminating, engineering website.
http://www-me.mit.edu/Research/DesManResearch.htm
This site contains the course notes for the MIT Design and Manufacturing I , ME course. These notes were authored by Professor Alex Slocum…Alex runs the MIT 2.007 course…a course that was conceived by Woodie and served as the inspiration not only for FIRST, but for the process of learning engineering by DOING engineering at hundreds of universities worldwide.
If you are a teacher, then please, take the time to read the megabytes of wisdom offered in these notes! If you are a student of engineering design…then you would be unwise to miss this opportunity. If you are a practicing technical professional then you’ll enjoy Alex’s POV.
One of the key underlying points Alex makes is that good design is “Deterministic Design”. Deterministic Design is an engineering creation process founded on the scientific method. A principle stating that you cannot know something to be true unless you perform the experiment that validates the assumption. He terms these experiments BLE’s or bench level experiments…but the point remains constant, good robust designs come from ideas that have been tested …..not from assumptions.
BB and FIRST are experiments…..(refer to all of the above) If you haven’t done the experiments…you don’t have the data. Once you have the data…the conclusions you reach are all yours….
Think about this.
When your team gathers in the early weeks to develop designs for your robots…and a member of the team advances an idea or concept that is “Bleeding edge”…and is asked why the team should commit thousands of man hours and thousands of dollars to that idea….they respond “Because I think it’s the best idea”…..doesn’t that fly in the face of reason?…There is a chasm between thinking and knowing…an eternity if your thinking is too far a field of experience.
So,
I try to offer points and counter points, not to champion one experiment over the other, but rather to keep the river of ideas flowing…and to break down the “Beaver Dams” of opinion and assumption.
Good and bad are subjective concepts …but facts are worth pursuing in the quest for any objective…
Here is some data gleaned from experiments my students and I have performed.
1.) All BattleBots are not catastrophically damaged during a BattleBots event….in fact most are not catastrophically damaged during an event…and they go home happy and no worse for the experience. We are currently building our 3rd and 4th BB. Intelligent designers insure their robots have “Mouth guards, shoulder pads and Locktite on their nuts.” These machines are built to score points and to absorb mechanical energy…remember, it is often necessary to win up to 8 matches in order to claim the silver nut.
2.) All robots break during competition. That’s why we have machine shops and spare parts at the FIRST competition sites.
3.) FIRST is about Inspiration and Recognition and education, and that is a good thing. FIRST and BBIQ are different “Experiments”.
4.) BattleBots IQ is about education. BBIQ is a student centered program that recognizes the benefits of learning through active participation and recognizes the educational benefits of failure. BBIQ teachers and mentors sign a registration form attesting to the fact that the BBIQ robots were wholly designed and built by students….not by teachers or mentors…as I’ve pointed out, this does not make BBIQ better or worse than FIRST, It’s just a different experiment. It’s like shop class used to be…but these are not bird houses! (Although I love building bird houses)
5.) As an educator responsible for the emotional and social well being of the students under my charge, I see no difference in the “Crowds” at either event…I’ve seen good and bad sportsmanship all my life…the “Bell Curves” remain constant…my son and his friends are in my class, and on our BBIQ engineering team!.
We should all visit again 10 years from now…FIRST, BB and the many versions of mechanized competition that will follow will be markedly different. They will evolve to meet the needs and expectations of the participants. They will all improve, and the levels of sophistication will be extraordinary. Witness the birth of home computing in the early 80’s…I still have a Trash 80….anyone have a Sinclair?
In closing I am willing to risk the following statements in an effort to counter the deconstruction of communication I am witnessing all over the Internet….and to “Raise the bar…”
Poor spelling and deliberate vulgar language is the bad breath of the written word…we (including myself) should always endeavor to practice better textural hygiene.
I wish to support Michael and Joe in asking that all responsible adults and students endeavor to “edit” their posts and to practice the same careful discipline they employ in creating their robots, to the creation of their written thoughts and ideas…BOTH FIRST and BBIQ are founded on a deep respect for the importance of maintaining high standards employed in the communication of ideas…..
Mr.B
http://www-me.mit.edu/Research/DesManResearch.htm