[archiver]

Posted by michael bastoni of team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School sponsored by Boston Edison Co.

Posted on 4/27/99 5:27 PM MST


In Reply to: a box with wheels posted by Joe Johnson on 4/26/99 8:14 PM MST:



Sometimes in real life we allied with (metaphorical) plywood boxes.....And I don't like
it any better....but at least I can do something about it...

By the time we played them they were only a plywood box with wheels.
They did not have motors in the box at that time...they were immobile...rocklike,
very similar to last years placebo... just wires a control box
and some speed controllers.....

Now I hate to be a jerk...a complainer, a whiner etc....and I suppose I should just
shut up...but.....I want to share a thought and pose some questions.

What are we doing here in the National Robotic Competition, I mean what is really going on
and what messages are we trying to send
and what behaviors are we trying to re-enforce in kids?

If we are simply saying to kids that ANY attempt at this sport is valid,
That any effort you make to simply show up at the nationals is cool, and that it's
really only just fun and games, and that there is really absolutely no
reasonable expectation of winning, and there are not recognizable standards
and it's not about education or skill development and we should all just look the other way
in situations like this...then so be it...but there are easier ways to
cop this attitude.

I am so darn tired of being told by the man in denim that this is not about education,
but rather about inspiration....well who is inspired by a plywood box with wheels ?
None of our teenagers were very impressed.

Let's look at gracious professionalism....the gracious professionalism shown by six
different teams who played with the plywood box is admirable...but the fact
that some adult advisor somewhere would allow and worse encourage his team to
attend the nationals and severely compromise six other teams is not gracious professionalism by any means.
It could possibly be seen as a selfish act by someone who paid 4000 dollars and
did not make the necessary commitment...but because they spent so much money felt entitled
to their moment on stage.....at the expense of some dedicated and hard working people who
'did their homework'...

I encourage my students to search for the truth in many ways..one way is to extrapolate
a given condition...let's ask ourselves a question...Would the FIRST National
Robotics Competition, and the students who participate, be better off, or worse off, if all the teams showed up with
OBVIOUSLY ill prepared machines....that is if we all had plywood boxes with wheels?
Based on your answer, you can draw your own conclusions.

Do you think the plywood box on wheels will appear on the 99 TV production video...
Time will tell....but don't count on it.

How many of you would knowingly enter an inadequate machine in a competition
knowing that your presence would severly compromise some hardworking folks ?
I don't see alot of hands raised on that one.....

OK The wrap up.....

Problems like the plywood box are the result of changing the game every year.
They are 'Bugs' in the alpha version of the game.....we could change this...
We could make things better every year, not worse, by keeping the game the same for 4-6 years
at a time.....the competitions would get increasingly more competitive and the
recruitment of teams would be much enhanced not to mention the fact that some of
your colleagues at work might want to come and help out if it means not losing their wife, job and ski week
..and if you are getting red in the face
over this..chill out...you can't know until you try.....

So......

We agree that anybody can play...and no matter how hard some of you work to build a competetive robot,
it really does not matter in the end because were all equal under the rules of FIRST....I'm on board for that (not)

Or we try to develop a game that we can live with for awhile and that we
can massage into something educational, and equitable and something viewed as
a real robot sport.....something we can try to be better at over time...
something that does not require heroism to participate in....something others won't be afraid
to participate in......

And in finishing I ask for a response to this question....

Who among you are ready and willing to debug this game...produce the
beta version or maybe even the 1.0 release...and play it again next year?
Or do you want another alpha version with the same bugs and problems we have every year?????

What say all you wonderful students, mentors and teachers....?


Mr.B