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Posted by Bethany Dunning, Coach on team #163, Quantum Mechanics, from International Academy and Quantum Consultants/EATON/ITT Industries.

Posted on 4/5/99 7:21 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: and about the machine shop... posted by Chris on 4/5/99 5:56 PM MST:



Chris - not all teams have the space for equipment. we sure as heck don't where i'm at. We are short on classrooms, and it's only going to get worse as we add another class of students. you can use your money for whatever you see fit.
but don't tell me what to do with my team. i think that multiple regionals are a wonderful thing to strive for. each one presents a new challenge, and another step in the total refining of the machine itself. here is a copy of something i posted on this discussion a while back.
'Alright. I'd like to post my $.02 here as well. I'm all for teams going to
multiple regionals. Wouldn't you go to more than one if someone handed you about
$60 000 for your robotics program? That's an awful lot of equipment to buy for
those of you that said that's what you'd like to do with that money. Give it to
another team - I wouldn't. Competitions (from what I hear, and if it's anything like
ASCE concrete canoe competitions) are a blast, and a great learning experience.
It's not like there is nothing to be gained from regionals. If this isn't about
winning, then why are we all so worked up about other teams getting more practice
and more of this and more of that. To me, going to multiple regionals is something
to strive for and aim for. It's part of building a strong robotics program.'

: : : 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.

:
: Two points:

: 1. This is a big part of why I would like to limit regionals. As I've stated the last time that this went around: I believe that the money spent on extra regionals would have more educational value spent on other things. In your case, instead of spending the money on another regional, spend it on machine equipment. I haven't checked the prices in a while, but I believe you should be able to buy a decent lathe and mill for what it costs to have a team travel to a regional (note that I said travel), which costs a team around $10,000 to $15,000 (including entry fee, transportation, and lodging).

: 2. Why don't you use NASA's shop? We use TRW's shop for about 50% of the machining.