Getting a new Merit Badge approved is a difficult and time consuming process. I heard from Someone Who Knows These Things that a new MB can cost $75,000 to launch. Also, BSA tries to keep the number of total MBs at around 120, so they need to identify an unpopular MB to replace with a new one. Another problem is that MBs are in categories (sports, Eagle-required, hobby-oriented, career-oriented, etc.) and BSA tries to keep this balance. The biggest change over the last 30 years or so has been the collapse of the agricultural MBs from a whole bunch (20 or so?) down to a handful.
For my part, rewriting Computers would come before adding Robotics, not that I am unsympathetic to the idea. If you want to add a new MB you might want to think about which MB you would want to replace. You can see a complete list at
www.meritbadge.com. My choice would be American Business or Plant Science, both of which are earned by fewer than 1,000 scouts per year. Perhaps American Business could be combined with Entrepeneurship and Plant Science with Gardening?
Anyway. getting a new MB approved takes several years and a lot of work. Since this discussion started a year ago on this board, has anyone actually done anything to make this happen? I'll write to a scout leader I know who has been part of this process and let you all know who you can contact to support this idea.
Rick Tyler
Mentor, Team 1294
Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 575, Chief Seattle Council