[KenWittlief]

I dont agree - cars are not made in machine shops, they are made on assembly lines with equipement that would never be taken offline to build a part for a FIRST robot

I cant think of any part or component on a FIRST robot that could not be made in any basic machine shop - there are only a handfull of different types of metal-working machines

and they are used in machine shops all around the world.

or maybe Im looking at this the wrong way? by 'more competitive' do you mean more aggressive and less cooperative maybe? In most of the regionals I have been to we would rather spend our time and energy helping a rookie team get their bot running well, than to focus all our attention on winning

now that I think of this, teams from the area you are talking about have been know to be, well... snooty? aloof? not as friendly?

is this what you mean by 'competitive'? or maybe this is a part of it?