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Originally Posted by TKatsAniMentor
2. The animation competition needs to not be at the same time as the robot build. This gives the students an opportunity to work diligently on both.
3. We need a judging rubric. How are we supposed to know what it is that we are being judged on besides general categories?
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I totally agree with your second point. It really inhales audibly to see some students not be able to build the robot or work on the animation because they are at the same time. However, I can see why FIRST does this, and understand %100. There are some teams who don't have 24/7/365 access to computer software. This technology is only available during the six weeks. Some teams are lucky enough to have virual any-time access (234 included) and I'm thankful for that, however, I don't think it is "fair" (I hesistate to use the "f" word) to teams that don't. FIRST has reasons for everything. I see and understand this one.
The third point is what I have a main problem with. As Andy Baker said, "Don't concentrate on the entry itself, concentrate on what you do for the entry." (or something like that, sorry if I screwed it up AB) He was talking about the Chairman's Award in this quote, but it applies to all of FIRST. The Kit of Parts does not come with a rubric of what will win this year's game, nor should it. The Chairman's Award info does not come with a rubric of what is judged and what isn't, because the point isn't to win the award but to be inspired and inspiring while doing it. Cyber Blue runs a total design review process. We don't do this simply to win awards, we do it because it is a part of some fields of engineering and even if you plan on being a bum, presentation and oratory skills are vital to sucess. When students walk into the Chairman's Award presentation, they have some idea of what they are being judged upon, but I have never seen the official rubric of how I am being judged, and I'm glad for that. If there isn't a rubric for "FIRST's most prestigious award" (that's in quotes as a quote, not as sarcasm) why should there be one for anything. Once we start creating animations/chairmans awards/robots/lives simply to satisfy a rubric...the creativity is lost, the passion is gone.
I love watching animations. About all I had to do with ours was to sit and say, "Man, that's really good. Good job Ryan/Chaz." I think animations and animators are some of the coolest things in FIRST, but that doesn't make it fair. I heard somebody from our team say, "Yah, Gunn always has a cool animation." They won Arizona's Animation Award this year. Does that make it any more <shudder>fair</shudder> than when it seemed like Hammond was invincible two years in a row? "Life isn't fair."-Dean Kamen There is no letter in FIRST for Awards. The only reason I believe "Recognition" (from an award standpoint) is in there is because "FIST" isn't that inviting. Do it for the "I". Be proud of your team and your robot and your chairman's and your mentors and your animation and and and. Don't do it for the award. Again, I'm not an animator by any aspect of the word...however this stems much deeper than animation.
/climbs down from soapbox