I did not want this thread to lead to us vs them, but what i simply meant is that by allowing a school professionally manufacture parts seems unfair...if you have engeneers thats fine, but i get the feeling that we are all being fooled by the big man; Dean.
The kits cost $5000 and are worth a fraction of that, all the stuff can be bought only from them....If a school dosen't have a good shop, you share, for instance, my school has a nice shop : 3 lathes, 3 mills, welding and casting facilities. But since we have all this, we had about 5 other schools in our shop on a regular basis. Its not hard to share.......
but that was not my point, all im saying is that FIRST is supposed to be about " motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. " (quote from
www.usfirst.org) and i don't think that is what happens when a machine shop makes half your robot and the other half is made by engeneers.