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Originally Posted by CrazyBear
Wow. Great arguments.
blah blah a good points about a few years back with portable machine shops blah blah
more about FIRST and solutions to problems yadda yadda
blah plug to ghettobot 2k4 blah blah
"But in the end, we all have to remember, it is not about the robots."
sidenote on building 2 robots in two weeks yah |
nice points....
(sorry; had to make a plug to my older brother... and totally butcher his quote in the process. ^^;
sorry bout that Gabe…)
Anyways; everyone had valid arguments which were backed up with a good amount of persuasive detail, yet I still wish to insert my two cents.
From my personal experience and knowledge from past years,
team 233, which I wouldn't consider a "have"
or a "have-not" team, has never built a second robot
identical to the one shipped for competition. Although we do always (at least try to) build a prototype of some sort to test out autonomous programs and how sensors work, we never really have felt the necessity to build a
second robot for practicing driving. Every year we build a high caliber robot, yet it’s a one shot deal. We spend tons of time designing the robot before we even start to think of building the real thing because we only have enough resources to build
one awesome robot, which, in my eyes, is better than building two mediocre bots, even though every year drivers never get more than two or three days to practice before we ship off 6 weeks of hard work, dedication, and love. We are very blessed to be able to have mentors from NASA (KSC) help us, but we are not exactly that well off financially. We
are constantly doing fundraising, ranging from car washes during the summer to gift-wrapping at holiday time and everything in between, yet instead of devoting those funds to lets say, building a second robot, we decide to donate that money to
other teams who really need it or to help us pay for expenses related to competing out-of-state.
I suppose in the best interests of your own team and from your experience in FIRST, you can logically deduce what to do with your time and money not only in the six week build period, but throughout the entire year as well. If you decide that building a second robot to allow drivers to have more practice time after your robot is shipped is the best course for you, then by all means, expend your time and resources to fit your expectations best.
From a
drivers perspective, a second robot identical (or close enough) to the robot shipped off to practice with in between competitions would be
wonderful. It would be great to really get a feel for the robot and really get used to it so that when competition time rolls around, you're not just lost in an abyss of not knowing what’s going on. From a
separate perspective though, I feel that in the great scheme of all things, extra driving practice is really not that essential. Hey, that’s why we have Thursdays for, right? To practice, get used to the field, and get a taste of what’s to come.
That little taste is enough to fuel my adrenaline and get me pumped up enough so that I can let my instincts take over and I can not worry about messing up or figuring out how to drive the robot, but rather focus on getting the job done, achieving my objectives, and focusing more on cooperating with my fellow driver and developing our strategies.
However, that is not the issue we are discussing. we are discussing whether or not illegalizing the ability to build a second robot if a team so choses would be better for FIRST as a whole or not.
A lot of good points have been made about the parallelisms between FIRST and the real world, and since FIRST is geared toward high school students, almost as a preparation for the real world, it should enforce guidelines like the real world does, such as obeying deadlines and things of that such. But FIRST is also
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, and it should be used as a tool to whet the appetites of teenagers who will become the foundation of tomorrow's society. Personally, in the scheme of all things, I believe
whether or not teams should be able to build a practice robot should be left completely up to them, because in the end it is meaningless. Sure, your drivers get more hours of practice, but that doesn’t really
mean anything. That’s NOT what FIRST is about. FIRST is NOT just about your robot, how good it is, if you win at a regional or even at nationals. FIRST is about
teamwork,
gracious professionalism,
getting along,
learning from your mistakes and
learning to get through crunch time alive. FIRST is about
family,
making new friendships,
belonging somewhere,
doing something you love, and
finding out what your real love is in life so when you're old and wrinkly you can look back at high school and say "This is when I found myself." FIRST is about so much more than just
robots. Sure it’s awesome to go to competitions and get carried away in all of the hype, but that’s really not the point. That’s just a brilliant grand scheme that Dean came up with to get us teenagers off our lazy butts and excited about science and technology.