[WEHickok]

Thanks to all that have posted your comments. Having good constructive feedback is always great.

I do want to make a few comments about why we started this thread. FIRST is not about winning and losing and we did not post because we are upset about not winning this year or in an attemp to slant the game so that we would have a better chance. As a Hall of Fame team we feel that we should be helping all teams to have a great FIRST experience and helping to improve the game whenever possible.

With that said, we have been in the competition under both circumstances. The only difference is that when teams competed by themselves the level of engineering for all teams seemed to be higher. Teams tried to complete all parts of the game. Now we are seeing specialized robots that can only run around the field and climb on others. I would like to know, what type of engineering inspiration was given to those students? I talked to teams this year that had an arm, but it put them overweight, so instead of trying to remove the weight and use the arm, they just took it off and became a defensive robot. In real life, do engineers do that? Edison tried hundreds of materials before he was successful with the light. (I know he had more than six weeks.)

It is the belief of the Heroes Of Tomorrow that the most important part of the FIRST experience is the build season, not the competition season. Yes, we come to win, but our high (from the mentor's point of view) comes from seeing students work with some of the best mentors and them move on to careers in science and technology. We are asking the question, is the curent game format providing the excellence that we expect from FIRST? Or are we becomming Battlebots (win at all costs at the expense of inspiring students)?

I was an ambassador at the GLR and it is hard to show sponsors the positivies of continuing their sponsorship when all six robots on the field don't interact with the tubes at all and only push one another around. While this is leagal and a part of the game, we want to ask the question of teams, Are we doing the right thing? I ask that you look beyond the game to the real object of FIRST, changing the culture of the students.

Disclaimer: My comments in this post are not ment to be condemming of any team. Teams seem to be playing to the rules of the game and are right in doing whatever they want within the rules.

Thanks for listening and helping make the total FIRST experience great.