Championship is one of the REWARDS of the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST isn't even about robots. FIRST is about changing the culture. FIRST is For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The robot is one of the vehicles or tools used to drive across the message of FIRST. Yes some of us obsess over our robots, even I'm guilty of it. But if you want to know why I'm doing engineering, its cause of working on that robot when I was a student on 180 (in particular Lexy and Fluffy
). I found that it was fun and exciting (well not tapping holes, sanding, etc...
) but you know what I thought I could do this. Its never been about the robots, they come to life for a season and pretty much are useless for the next. But its through the robots that FIRST hopes to get students interested in Math, Science, and Engineering. Just read the Chairman's Award criteria and maybe you'll understand why.