[pakrat]

I have to agree with stephen on this one you guys. Think about it for at least 5 minutes, and really think.

What i came up with is a worst/best case scenario:

Single Team with no collaboration:
Worst : NO students inspired or learning
Bad: Few students inspired and learning
Good: All students actively learning and being inspired to do great things by mentors, themselves, and other teams and companies.

Multiple teams with collaboration:
Worst : NO students inspired or learning
Bad: Few students inspired and learning
Good: All students actively learning and being inspired to do great things by mentors, themselves, and other teams and companies.


But the difference was: when there are more students total, then it is more likely that x number of kids will become inspired. Plus, giving kids a chance at first and a chance at inspiration is more than worth it to me.

So the way I interpret the challenge is this:
FInd some kids, show them the robot. Get them to understand how cool this stuff can be and begin to inspire. Once things are looking good, try to help them start a rookie team. Offer them straegies for brainstorming, work strategies, and whatever else they may need (including but not limited to funding, workspace, travel, registration). Help them to design their own robot if they want. If they aren't comfortable with that, Offer them your robot design. Have them manufacture things if possible, but i guess you can make it for them if they can't. Bottom line, do everything to get those kids and hopefully some potential sponsors excited about FIRST and about engineering.

I personally don;t have a strong opinion about the ethics or whatever else behind collaboration, but I'm never going to do anything that keeps me from inspiring my peers or students next year when i become a mentor, and I hope that many of you feel the same way.

-Rich Ross