[Madison]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

P.S. An interesting example of the exact opposite situation occurred recently when an FRC team entered a non-FRC competition that was specifically student-build oriented. I am told that the skills that the students had learned through working with their adult mentors in FRC led them to design and build a robot for that competition that was so far ahead of their competitors that there were mutterings of "they cheated... the teachers did it". The students were simultaneously offended, flattered, and somewhat shocked, I think, to discover that they had advanced so far, so quickly through their FRC involvement. Oh, yeah... they won handily, too, and their machine IS really cool. (Patrick, if you're reading this... post a photo and show that puppy off, man!)

Our students are in the midst of participating in a non-FRC competition and we have had experiences exactly like those you're talking about. I wasn't able to attend last year, but my understanding was that our team was booed and jeered because of the considerable advantage they displayed over their competitors. It was a remarkably different experience for them compared to what they've come to know from FIRST events, I'm sure.