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Originally Posted by Chris Hibner
I've said this before, but I'll say it again here.
In my opinion, if you want engineers to be thought of as glamorous, then you need to put them in glamorous positions. In other words, we need to be on TV.
What about doing something crazy with FIRST: forming the NRL (the National Robotics League) - the first ever professional robot competition. You could have 30 teams from different cities around the US. Take the best engineers from FIRST teams and assign them to the pro team in their area, set up sponsorship deals, and get it on TV. Have super high-quality robots competing in a difficult game in a series of competitions ending with a big championship in the end. Think of it like NASCAR, but with robots and regional interests.
If a professional robotics competition were to take-off, the payoff would be huge. Engineers would really be heros to everyday Joe Schmos and their kids. Kids would really consider getting into top engineering schools with the hope of becoming a professional robot competition engineer. If they don't make it to one of the pro teams, then at least they have an engineering degree and a great career. If a minor league player becomes washed up at age 25 before making it to the Bigs, what does he have? A big fat nothing. But if the aspiring pro robot competition engineer doesn't make it to the Show, (s)he can still make it big in the right company.
Anyway, it's just a crazy thought.
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Think Battlebots and Junkyard wars. Yes these shows where around, but they fizzled after a while as with just about every TV show. There needs to be something more permanent and not something solely created for TV. The reason people watched battebots was for the destruction, and the reason people watched junkyard wars was because of the ingenuity of how junk was turned into machines. While cool looking bots may be nice, they may not draw a crowd or envelope a fan base.
There needs to be something that is more permanent and FIRST is doing a great job. I see no reason why FIRST can’t be watched on TV. It all comes down to editing anyways so only the best footage would get shown. I remember seeing a documentary on a first team on PBS once (the cheesy poofs I do believe). But it came down to editing in the drama and action and removing most of the day to day stuff.