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Originally Posted by Justin
Last night I was having dinner with Andy in Boston and we were talking about this very thing in fact so I figured I'd post with my thoughts.
I agree I think that these awards should return. I totally agree withy our comments about FIRST being centered on the "purpose" in the last say 3 years. I find it interesting that these awards were just one year not there and all of the sudden the "Engineering Inspiration" award just appeared. Now I'm not out to diminish the winners of this award which is after all "the second highest honor FIRST bestows" I just don't like how FIRST makes it sound like this award has always existed. I think that the focus of FIRST has shifted DRASTICALLY in the last few years more and more the focus shifts away from robotics and the game to things like entrepreneurial spirit. If you think this isn't true look at the awards but also look at this year’s game. The primary method for scoring was to depend on the human players. I remember once upon a time when FIRST was about designing a robot to compete in a robotics competition. It seems more and more like FIRST is a business fraternity than a robotics competition. I would like nothing more than to see a little more of the focus shift back to the game, design of a quality robot, and strategy. However I think that this would require DRASTIC changes in the mindset of the FIRST community which I do not see happening.
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while i agree with points in this post (the what's happening) I don't think they are a bad occurence. Granted, I haven't been around FIRST too long (three years not long enough to see these old awards) I do plan on being around FIRST for a while. I think one of the biggest problems that people that have been in FIRST for a while have is the fact that it is changing from a competition to something else (what exactly time will tell). But that's because FIRST is getting MUCH bigger. There are a thousand teams from four (maybe more???) countries. This is a good thing. Should there still be a robotics competition...YES...without a doubt. The competition aspect is what drives design to become better and what helps inspire some people (myself my first two years on the team included). Competition drives teams like 45 to create new designs applicable to robots...however...it is the new "entrepenuerial" spirit of FIRST that is instilled in them which leads them to share these ideas with hundreds of other teams. The same can be said for a lot of teams throughout FIRST. Our team has a slightly different focus. No doubt we love the robotics competition and strive to build a competitive robot every year, but we are become more of the Cyber Blue Corporation that builds a robot than simply a group of students building a robot. We do a total design review process (four gates during the season. an exact replica of what is used at Rolls-Royce), we have a business plan. Am I saying my team is better than another? No. Not in any way and I appologize if it sounds that way. We simply play FIRST's game a little differently and it's working for us. Teams should do what works for them (throwback to another thread where I put my foot in my mouth and had to work my way out of it...60 and 254 found what works for them and have obviously been successful with it (a Chairman's and regional victories and overall good showings (both sides of the coin)))
Now, to answer the question. Yes. The awards should be brought back, but awards like the Entrepenuership, Sportsmanship, Engineering Inspiration, and Chairman's Award should retain their prestige. There (in my eyes) is a lot less luck involved with winning these awards at the regional level. I see this as a double sided coin. Some teams will focus on the robot...some on the outreach. The true FIRST teams will focus on both.
45 or 71 would have recieved my vote for best offense. both made it to the semi's in Chicago (45 won but didn't beat 71 i don't think). 45 got the sportsmanship award. 71 got engineering inspiration. both examples of FIRST teams. there are others out there. keep up the good work everybody!
Hold on to the "I" and never let go.