[miketwalker]

Both have their own impact, and both I see as good programs. Especially, as others have pointed out, with the Battlebots IQ program, I looked at that, and there are camps around here during the summer getting middle schoolers involved with hands-on robots at this program, yet I know for a fact they try to get FIRST participants to help out since they have a background, and can help shed a different view point. So, both have actually influenced one another, and in term then gone out to impact society. FIRST reaches out to the students that see "robotics" or however someone may label it before they know what FIRST is... and try it out, and in that way, they become part of FIRST and are influenced, and I know for a fact they pass on some of their knowledge to their friends, even if just joking around.

Some people have mentioned that just "seeing" TV isn't an impact, but I personally disagree. I have watched some amazing things on channels like Discovery Channel, TLC, etc. and even though I haven't been hands-on in, for example, Monster Garage or Junkyard Wars... just watching them teaches you something and you see how others creativity flows, and you can reuse similar tactics to solve a similar problem in your own life, even if it has nothing to do similar, it simply gets your mind flowing. That's the same as what FIRST does, a team gets together... brainstorms, and develops a robot as well as work on many other aspects. In real life, you're not going to go build something to go up a ramp and knock down a wall of plastic tubs, and in real life your not going to run out to a junkyard and start building a catapult (even though that would be fun)... but it's the knowledge you learn from others, and from hands on. FIRST helps with the hands on area, as well as the knowledge passed on, it just doesn't have the media coverage for as much knowledge to be passed on. With Battlebots and other shows, they might be "fighting", but someone could get hooked into trying something new out, and they might start brainstorming from something they saw on Junkyard Wars last night (I know I sure do when I watch some of these shows). Both the commercialized programs and FIRST rely on triggering your mind to start becoming creative, and THAT is what creates an impact, and they both do it in the same way, even if it's hard to notice, both rely on you seeing something and being inspired to be creative.

Therefore, I say we don't just say "FIRST is better" or "Battlebots is better" but to really look at it and see, "Ok, both are accomplishing the same goal and just getting people to start thinking and take action and evolve from there" and they do it very similar fashions, if you really get down to the main way it "affects society", it affects each person individually in the way it gets their mind to think, and I think that both commercialized and hands-on programs work together in our minds, and both make us reach our full potential. Being influenced by one won't get you sparked as much as both, you need to get involved, as well as see different people's approach, and at different problems... not just one problem, leading people to solve other problems. Wow, that was a long post, but that's my take on this.