Quote:
Originally posted by MisterX
Well although Battlebots catches the kids eyes it is safe to say that is by far FIRST that truly gives the kids the knowledge and hands on experience
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Have you tried Battle Bots/Battle Bots IQ?? That is my first question
I started doing Battle Bots right after my first year in US FIRST.. I was going into the 10th grade. Rather then just a 6week period, my team and myself worked on our robot for the whole year. We started the summer of 01 and then comp was held April of 02, and it has been like that for the past 2 going on 3 years. Going into my 2end year in FIRST, I was able to help my team out and play a larger role due to the fact that I had more knowledge because of my experience I gained while working with my BBIQ team. In Battle Bots you get loads of hands on experience, in my case more then FIRST. This is due to the fact that my Battle Bots team is way smaller then my US FIRST team. My first year I went from working on a team of 50(US FIRST) to working on a team of 7(BBIQ)!! I learned how to use all the machines and became even more familiar with them then I already had been. Due to the time I have spent on working on my teams Battle Bots, im one of the best welders in the shop, and I feel pretty comfortable working on the rest of the machines.... You get hands on experience in both programs, the more and more you work you are only positively reinforcing your actions by gaining more experience. Battle Bots/BBIQ is a lot more then just what you see on TV, just like FIRST is a lot more then just going to a National and or Regional. Its the hard work, team work, time, and dedication that went into creating something that you really do value. I just spent this past weekend working with little kids and helping them build table top robots... The experianece was amazing, and I did not have any machiens to go off and machine parts, or things to weld. It was all nuts and bolts!! Yet I had a field day with it, and I felt like a kid again. Even with little table top robots there is a large hands on aspect that you must take part in....
As for the knowlede aspect...
both are great.
all I can say for Battle Bots is try to keep a 50 pound mass that is spinning at 2000 RPM at equlaibruim. Its not that easy!