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Posted by Daniel, Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M Gunn Senior High School and NASA Ames.

Posted on 4/5/99 8:54 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: my little analogy posted by Chris on 4/5/99 8:01 AM MST:



Chris,
I believe I can speak from the perspective of those 'small money teams' you mentioned. My team has, in it's three year history, only gone to a regional once. The NASA Ames regional this year was a godsend. From that experience, I can finally see why people feel it to be so vital to attend these smaller competitions. We started out with practically just a pretty, 4 foot tall paperweight. By the time the regional was through, we had what the judges had tagged 'The Enforcer'. The Regional was extremely beneficial to my team. I look at these wealthy teams (delphi, wildstang, etc.) and I see a goal, not a threat. It gives us something to work towards, because one day, I want to be able to have a team that CAN go to multiple regionals like Delphi or Wildstang. It just takes some doing. For our team, we try to have our students learn not only about building robots, but about fundraising. We have countless presentations to local Silicon Valley businesses.

And we never give in. No matter how much money we get, there's always more to use it on. Going to multiple regionals is simply another landmark, something to shoot for. And you know what? We may be small money now, but each year we do better. We build on what we had before. I think it's very possible that soon, the Gunn Robotics Team will be seen at Great Lakes. The day is coming...

Anyway, my point is that the regionals are a very beneficial experience. You can just look at how much Delphi has improved through the regionals it's went to. And do you think they weren't learning while their robot was starting to perform as well as it was originally designed to? Of course they were. I wouldn't want to keep them from that. Just think of it as a goal.

One last thing, if you're going to look at unfairness, look at the machine shops. There's only so much you can level out after the robots have been built. Think about WHILE they're being built. A school like mine who's machines have been called 'antique' by a NASA machinist have a decided disadvantage. If you're going to talk about unfair, talk about THAT.

My point is basically this: it's a lost cause. FIRST has done the best job it can to make this a fair competition, but it's never going to be perfect. And if you DO decide to change something to make it closer to that ideal, it shouldn't be a change that cuts any learning off...

Make sense?


-Daniel