This may not be a thread trashing or degrading battlebots but the "negativity" can still be spotted. I really do think it's sad that FIRST doesn't get as much publicity as it deserves but there are just so many reasons for that. The majority of the public has a short attention span - most will not take the time to even bother to learn the rules of the game and most will probably get bored and walk away. I love first as much as I do battlebots and I participate in both. But there is a reason robotica flopped, the general public doesn't really care much for "games". Believe me, I get annoyed just as you do by those comments but I also get annoyed when we display our battlebot and we get questions like "Can you use a machine gun?" I mean it's all relative. The best way to get more attention is to educate the public and that's a rather difficult thing to do. I really don't think that's the main drive and idea behind FIRST though, they want it to be popular but among students(and big name companies) im sure the general public isn't as important. FIRST is well known in Universities and other places of the sort, it's hitting where it counts and that's what's important. FIRST has made a huge impact on many people's lives, including myself and many of you.
We need to spread and inspire people in technology by whatever method, be it Battlebots(Oh no I used the "b-word"!), FIRST, HERC Bug Battles(Cute little ant weight robots play games or fight eachother
), or any other thing like SECME, etc.
-Dallin