I can't say I disagree with anything stated here. All I can say from my perspective and from my experience in and out of the FIRST community is that..... $$$$$ makes the world go round. I'll bet anyone here a buck, that one way or another, $$$$ is at the core of this issue. Now, I'll just be like Forest Gump and tell ya that... "thats all I've got to say about that".
Now... I can say that some of us here in Georgia have made a decision to continue using the Vex platform for the foreseeable future. This discussion here in Georgia started back in the fall of last year prior to the progression of events this FVC season. This doesn't mean it will be a sanctioned FIRST event or any kind of program meant to steal any of their thunder. It simply means there are a lot of us that LIKE the VEX platform and are committed to utilizing it to keep students interested in technology through competitive robotics. The stated goal of having an event here once a month may be a bit ambitious. I certainly think it is to start out with. A more attainable goal for us to start out with may be once a quarter or twice a year in addition to the other FIRST sponsored events. In either case, there many teams that have a significant investment in the VEX kits, including my team with about 10 kits and a slew of add-ons from IFI. If IFI continues to promote the product, offer upgrades, add-on's, tech support, introduce new companion products, etc. Then many of us will continue to utilize what we have made a significant investment in. If they flounder in this area (speaking for me), eventually I'll drop them like a sack-a-potato's.
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Originally Posted by ManicMechanic
True, but was a complete overhaul of a system made after only 2 years of using the system (Vex was released only 2 years and 3 months ago)? From all that I've heard, this Vex season was considered a "success"; I don't understand the desire switch to something completely new when you can take something that works pretty well and refine it, especially when the capabilities have not reached saturation, especially with the introduction of the new advanced gear kit.
It's my hope that if a new system is introduced for FTC, they would at least allow the use of the Vex system as one alternative in the competition. While teams that have more technical training, talent, and financial resources might consider a major system overhaul every 2 years a fun challenge, we are slow learners with limited resources. We've invested so much time and money in this system (collectively, our team spent over $400 in Vex parts over the past month alone), that if Vex were disallowed, I doubt that we would have the money or energy to move to a new platform next year, which would mean the end of FIRST for us. We know individuals and schools that have purchased Vex kits that are wavering on the edge of deciding whether to take the plunge of entering teams in high school robotics, and disallowing the Vex kits would push them away. Vex resources for rookies that have gradually been developed over the past 2 will become obsolete, with similar resource development for a new system 2 years behind. In short, the teams that have less money and technical support are the least resilient when it comes to major change and will suffer the most. It was my understanding that FTC/FVC was deliberately designed to serve teams with fewer resources, and disallowing the Vex kits seems to go against that goal.
Last year, the release of Mindstorms NXT meant the introduction of a new system for FLL (after 6 seasons of exclusively using the RCX), but FIRST guaranteed that the old RCX system would be allowed and that the game would be designed to make the RCX reasonably competitive for at least one, possibly more years.
Allowing Vex as one of several possible platforms would at least lessen the effects of a major system switch.
Yolande
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