Quote:
Originally Posted by Pavan
As long as students and the masses are introduced to robotics and engineering and people are persuaded to pursue careers in those subjects, should it matter what form of inspiration is/was? Whether it is FIRST, BattleBots IQ, Botball, even Transformers (the movie) the bottom line is we are exposing people to robotics/engineering and I think that is what is most important.
The medium is irrelevant as long as the message gets across.
Pavan.
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The ends should not, in all cases, justify the means -- and I believe this to be a circumstance where that is true. Battlebots' popularity comes as a result of its focus on destruction and not for any of the thought or engineering that went into the machines. Creating a machine of destruction is not and should never be something to aspire to -- irrespective of the amount of thought, careful consideration and stress analysis placed upon it. A bomb that finds its target with pinpoint accuracy is still a bomb and I'm not interested in getting
anyone excited about that sort of engineering. If that's what we're trying to do here, I'll go join a soccer team or something.
Using Battlebots' destructive nature to try to appeal to people, then "convert" them to the ways of FIRST later, represents a core disbelief in the value of this program -- and worse than that -- is deceptive and a colossal waste of time and resources better spent on the folks who're most interested in making things better for everyone.