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Originally Posted by 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?
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I would have to disagree. Even though a team makes a practice bot, it doesn't mean they miss the deadline. They still have to ship their robot at the same time everyone else does.
This is the way I see it. FIRST is an organization that governs the creation of these machines. It kind of oversees everything. As long as a team takes a robot to competition, and during that competition that team follows all of the rules, FIRST has no right to tell a team what they do during their build season, outside of what rules are listed in the manual and understood (i.e. a team should make their own robot and not completely steal another or.. maybe buy one.. just for the sake of an example.)
If you look at it from a sports angle: a football team shows up to competition and has an awesome defense or something. They're unstoppable. As long as the team is following all the rules, the NFL has no right to tell them how to practice. Its the same way with FIRST. Any team can practice anyway they wish. Building a practice robot is a very good way to do this.
And I personally do not believe in the "have" and "have-not" team thing. ANY TEAM CAN BECOME A "HAVE" TEAM. All they have to do is venture forth and find the resources. They're there. I come from a small town. I have worked to raise thousands of dollars from my community of 15,000. I personally believe that any team can find money as long as they approach businesses the right way.
And I believe FIRST is a year-round program (in reply to a message at the beginning of this thread). There is so much more to learn fron FIRST than in that 6 weeks. You can do LEGO League, Marketing, comunnity service. That's what FIRST is for. And I think having a practice robot allows students to further learn about engineering, and I think anything that teaches more to students should be in the best interest of FIRST.