[Gui Cavalcanti]

So, I'll reiterate my opinion from an earlier thread to say that, for no other reason, FIRST should not allow practice robots simply because a deadline is a deadline. Real engineering firms have ship dates, and refining and testing should be scheduled in the time allotted to the design. If you want to build an advanced robot, fine, but make sure you have the resources to finish it in the time that you have. Knowing your team/company's limits is a big part of the engineering process, isn't it? When students are in high school, should they be taught that they can finish assignments after deadlines pass, once they know the best way to finish the assignment?

I think something that hasn't really been addressed has been the difference between teams attending early and late competitions. The skill gap between teams who have been practicing for a week and those that are just showing up to the first competition may not be that great. Once a month passes, however, a pit crew could've taken a practice robot apart many times and drivers could have practiced for tens of hours (time they would never receive in a true FIRST competition). By the end of the regional season, the difference in teams would be substantial. In addition, there is a 20-day gap between the last regional and the championship event. Two-robot teams will have a chance to learn what strategies work well with their robot, what they need to work on, and what they need to learn how to fix quickly. Teams that don't have the resources to build two competition robots can only hope they can remember how to run their robot (It happened to us; we only attended the Richmond regional and championships last year, with a full month and a half between events).