[Steve W]

Just a few notes.
1 - Emery is entering 2 robots into the Canadian Regional this year. One robot built by the girls and the 2nd by the guys. This should prove very interesting.
2 - My belief is that I am against teams building for other teams. I work for a company that has 1 group of people that do all leading edge installations and all major installations. What this has caused is a serious weakness in the system. There are a lot of technicians that have dwindling skills, abilities and confidence. The longer that you are away from something the harder it is to rebuild your skillsets. With multiple teams doing their own functions they will be able to improve on their part but what happens to the rest of their skillsets?
3 - I am proud to be part of a team that builds it's own robot. Each year the students learn new skills and pass on to others what they have learned in the past. That does not stop us from helping other teams solve their problems. We are more than willing to share ideas and resources with other teams to help them improve on their ideas but we don't build their robot for them.
4 - Not all decisions that are made by FIRST are right. They are still the rules but they are also made by people that will, can and do make errors. Everyone of us (I am #1 in line) makes mistakes. This is how we improve and learn. This is how we make the best product around. Just ask any engineer and I am sure that they will say that nothing is perfect and the best possible design, on the first time around. FIRST is a great organization and does a great job. I believe that they also listen. There are decisions made that may not be liked by all of us but need to be made and evaluated at a later date. Let's continue to discuss and support one of the best informational, educational and inspirational organizations in the world.