Posted by Raul, Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.
Posted on 3/11/99 10:01 AM MST
In Reply to: Re: Nah....! ready why: posted by Chris on 3/11/99 7:42 AM MST:
I agree with Chris and David.
Let's just do it after the Nationals. This way the rookie teams can look at this next year and incorporate some of what we learned.
I have a different reason for feeling this way. I just don't have enough time do it during the heat of the design, build and test phases (and apparently neither did Delphi this year
- right JJ?) - the Chairman's Award is enough of a challenge already . Besides, even if we found enough time during the hectic 6-week time period to document our designs properly, it would probably be too late for anyone to incorporate it into their designs that year.
Raul
: I completely agree with David that one of the most exciting parts of FIRST is
: seeing all of the other robots for the first time at the regionals. I also
: agree that if everything is posted, all of the robots will be virtually the
: same. One of the things I always tell people when I describe FIRST to them
: is that it is amazing how so many teams come up with so many different designs
: for the same task. I always found that that is a large part of what makes
: FIRST competitions so interesting to watch.
: Another point I agree with is that it would take away a lot of the incentive
: for being creative. Sure, some teams would be more creative to try and win one
: of the awards, but some teams would wait to see what the others are doing and
: then incorporate the best features from all of the postings.
: This is what I would propose: Do Joe's idea, but wait until AFTER the national
: competition. That way we would still need to be creative to win, we would still
: feel the excitement when we saw all of the different designs at the regionals,
: and there would still be a great variety of robots in the competition. The awards
: would just come a little later, but that might be good. It will help spread the
: FIRST cheer to more parts of the calender year instead of just the first few months.
: How would this help the rookie teams? Leave the pictures posted until the
: end of next year's competition. The game will change, but teams always end
: up needing a drive system, maybe and elevator mechanism, an arm, or what not.
: They could use ideas from past robots for how to implement the mechanisms, but
: still need to be creative with how to tackle the new task.
: : Hi all
: : Well, Joe you offer an interesting idea. BUT I think it's not a good idea.
: : Well, maybe it is good, but from what I think FIRST is, it would take away
: : some of the BIG excitement the competition has right now.
: : OK, here are my reasons
: : 1. It is a competition. If all the teams publish their good ideas, there
: : will basically be 30 (or whatever) teams with all the good features and ideas
: : from the webpage, which results in basically 30 equal robots. Then it's no more
: : the skills of engineering that make the most part of who wins and who loses, but
: : just the skills of driving or maybe even luck.
: : I tell you. We as a rookie team had NO IDEA what the competition would be like.
: : We had NO IDEA what the other robots looked like and I tell you, I WAS SO SO SO
: : EXCITED when I walked through the pits and looked at the other robots and when I
: : talked to the other people about their experiences and when I saw the other robots
: : in the practise rounds and how they managed the problem.
: : Your idea would basically take a great part of that away.
: : The other thing is, that probably especially rookie teams would just look at the
: : webpage and copy the designs of the veterans. Where's the fun? Where's the creative
: : thinking? And I tell you something else: As much as I wanted to know what the other
: : robots would be like, I think knowing that before we built and designed our robot would
: : kind of take away our motivation to design our OWN robot.
: : It's like that: You are there for the first time, still pretty unsure about everything and
: : then you read about the VETERAN'S ideas. And you think, well they must be right.. or even
: : if you don't think so you see what they designed and it totally influences your design even
: : if you don't copy... it influences you.
: : I think as it is right now, it's just fine. Rookie teams are "just" rookie teams. Nobody
: : expects them to WIN the competition. If they do, it's SUPER great, if they don't, it's GREAT
: : too. Rookies don't have to win. They have to experience and learn, not to copy ;-)
: :
: : The other thing is: What if some teams decides not to publish their ideas. And they happen to
: : have really good ones. And then you go to the competition see their robot which totally kicks
: : $@#$@#$@# and think: Wow we didn't think about that.... and since we thought the designs on the
: : internet are already good we didn't even think about designing something else, something new,
: : something unique, something on your own...
: : Or do you want to require all teams to publish their thoughts? Apparently you can't.
: : Another thought: Let's say you have THE IDEA. The ultimative feature for your robot. And then
: : you just want to give it away? Wouldn't you be proud if only your robot had that feature which
: : would allow you to win the competition or at least be really competitive?
: : Your idea would be just great if they gave us the problem and required us to solve it "on the
: : paper" (or the internet ;-) But since there is still the competition which decides about win or loss
: : I think it would just not work.
: : Well, these are my thoughts... comments??
: :
: : CYA
: : David (Germanboy from rookie team 269 BruQuest ;-)