[Elgin Clock]

(Yay!! I finally get to (maybe) post this!!)

I have decided to offer an idea into play that just may be able to come to be with the advances FIRST is making with this whole collaboration ruling.
I think everything that needed to be said about that whole 254-60 thread has already been said. So, I am going to pose a question for all of you and you tell me what you think about it.

Two years ago I talked with a member of a very competitive and good spirited FIRST team from California. (No, sorry, it wasn't team 254 - I cannot reveal my source - yet - unless they want me to.)

Anyways, we talked about the fact that in 2002 it was the first year that a team could make a custom electronics board. (With, I believe, it was a $100 limit.)

The idea that was proposed was to work together with a team, like 60 and 254 are doing this year, but allow your two robots to link physically and electronically somehow during competition and make one robot that is

a) possibly double the weight limit
b) double the electrical power - hence the intergration of the custom circuit board
c) allowing a sort of partnership to form over the six weeks between team members of the two teams
d) allow the robots to possibly compete together in the competition and just possibly win it all - together (with the current qualifying structure that exists you could do this - alliance pickings are NOT random as of yet)
What do you think of this as a possibility of happening, or the legality of this under FIRST jurisdiction now or in the future???

While I wondered over the technical aspects of this possibility it never came to my mind that members of an organization such as FIRST who are on the cutting edge of technology at such a young age, would have such a problem of trying to have an open mind and "thinking outside of the box" as I have seen in that closed thread about 254 & 60.

While in this particular case team's 254 and 60 are not essentially linking together their robot's to "win it all", in the scenario that was concieved a few years ago on a Saturday night in Epcot after a few days of heavy competing, trading information with fellow teams, wins, losses and some major bonding and heartbreaks, a few assumptions can and will more than likely be made for the two, or more, teams that do this.

Is it fair? Probably not. But is the FIRST competition fair as it stands?
As it was quoted before, even Dean himself said that FIRST was not fair to all, even though they try to give everyon a level playing field so to speak.

Does every team get the same knowledge coming into the competition every year?
Does every team have the same facilities and/or resources that all other teams have?

Does every team have the same number of students and engineers?

The bottom line and question I want you to think over is:

Do you think FIRST will ever write a rule that says something like:
"You can not pool resources together with another team and help each other. You can not build similar robots, or ones that interact with each other?"

I personally think not....
But, that is just my opinion!