[archiver]

Posted by Elaine Anselm.

Engineer on team #191, X-Cats, from Jos Wilson High School and Xerox.

Posted on 1/18/2000 2:41 PM MST


In Reply to: Consider the following... posted by Joe Johnson on 1/17/2000 7:02 PM MST:



We will abide by the rule as well but I think it is a really bad rule. One of the things we have tried to do over the years is to figure out ways to alleviate some of the stress on people during the six weeks, not add more. Adults and students are exhausted by the time we ship the robot and adding more work into that period stinks. The students are already pushing the limits to keep up with school work, so the creation of spares will rest with adults resulting in a lost opportunity to engage kids. In the past we have allowed students to make up lost time by helping ot make replacement spare parts for a few days to a week after we ship the robot when the pressure is off.

The competition has a enough chance to it, that the added advantage afforded teams who might re-design the entire time until the nationals is probably not that big a deal. They make the decision to put the added stress on themselves, knowing full well it is not in the spirit of the competition to update designs. So why should everyone need to suffer because of a few? Besides, if someone really wants to break the 'rule', they will get around it, and then who ends up suffering the most? The vast majority of teams who do things in the spirit of fairness in the first place.

Giving teams the flexibility to make spares outside the six weeks helps more than it hurts. Besides, how will it be policed. I am really against putting any rule in place that can not be enforced.

As a number of people mentioned, it will cause more headaches for teams and for FIRST at the competitons and from my point of view, FIRST doesn't need want to give themselves any more headaches than they already have. More stress, more flared tempers, in my mind not an environment which will foster gracious professionalism.