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Originally Posted by Jack Jones
At least we can't be prevented from pondering! And I'm thinking that two five hour periods within three days during spring break after six weeks of work so we can hurry up and rest is unreasonable. We plan to follow the rule, but don't give a hoot what others decide, or accidentally end up doing.
Why is it that FIRST wants to see a bunch of malfunctioning robots? It's only the powerhouse teams that benefit from such dogma.
Flame-on, but I have a right to my opinion. I'm not alone. Many other die-hard FIRSTaholics are considering FA as well.
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As far as I can tell, the Fix-it Windows are designed with teams attending the later regionals in mind. Without any restrictions on robot development after the shipping deadline, teams attending week 1 regionals would be at a distinct disadvantage to teams attending week 3 or 4 regionals. The later regionals have the benefit of seeing how the earlier regionals play out in terms of strategy, design, etc. and would have the ability to fabricate "spare" or replacement parts based on what they see as working vs. not working. Essentially, the fix-it window caps what would otherwise be a practical extension of the build deadline from the shipping date, to the date of a team's first regional. Granted, there are rules about upgrade parts and identical replacements already in place, but without the specific guidlines of the fix-it window, teams could continue coding and fabricating competition parts up to 4 weeks after the robot shipped.
Of course, there is no real way to enforce that other than the team's honor, but I'd like to think the majority of teams can see past the need to bend the rules in their favor, and take a written rule at face value. Afterall, a deadline is a deadline is a deadline. In the real world, if a deadline comes up and a product isn't ready to roll out, there are consequences. Can't always bend the rules in the real world, and that's exactly what FIRST is supposed to expose students to- how the real world operates.