[Mr. Van]

It has been suggested that the Fix-it Window restrictions be removed and teams be allowed to work on whatever they wished for any amount of time up to the competition. I am very much opposed to this for several reasons:

1. FRC is a competition. It is much more a sports-like competition than a contract bid competition. It is artificial by its very nature. In sports, there are game rules, sallary caps, divisions based on team resources, and other restrictions. FRC is the same way - there are attempts to level the playing field to facilitate competition. The Fix-it Window is one of these rules.

2. There is a very good reason that FRC has a "Build Season" of limited time. Many mentors, teachers and other volunteers are able and willing to commit countless hours to teams for a restricted time period. If teams are allowed to work endlessly on their robot until the final regional or championship, the Build Season effectively stretches for three and a half months! Even now, the Fix-it Window extends Build Season by up to 70 hours over a month and a half. This becomes a MAJOR issue between "have" and "have not" teams - those who have multiple mentors who are able to give lots of time and those who are being held together by a single mentor/coach who also has a 70 hour/week day job.

3. If there is no "put your tools down" time after the robot ships, why ship the robot at all? Why not simply allow teams to bring the robot to the event in whatever way they can. Why have a "ship date"? (For that matter, why have a restriction on the number of motors a team can use?)

4. FIRST already has a program that allows for endless work on the robot: FTC. There are also many other programs (BBIQ) that similarly have no restrictions on build time.

In the end - either eliminate the Fix-it Window and not allow any work on the robots OR keep it restricted.

-Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox