Quote:
Originally Posted by Herodotus
I think a team would miss out a lot on not going to a regional event, and especially on not going to Atlanta, but they are going to miss out even more if there is no team at all because they can't afford it. If a team were to hit a rough patch and couldn't afford a regional, I think attending off-season events would be a cheap way to keep the team going during a time of troubles, or a cheap way to get a team started. I'd rather a team attend only off season events than no events at all.
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For those who don't know, here is the situation with my team (1889):
We did not compete in 2008. We registered for the UCF regional, but when we had some sponsorships that we were expecting disappear, and we had less than $2000 in the bank in November, we contacted the regional committee and said we would not be able to attend.
However, we built a robot. We set our sights on building up our team and raising funds to compete in the 2009 season, with the intention of using our robot in fall 2008 off-season events. We followed all the rules (parts usage, build season, etc.) and have a perfectly legal robot, except that we have a 2007 controller instead of a 2008 controller (same with the batteries). We built a new chassis from the kit we hadn't used the previous year. We took our COTS AndyMark gearboxes and wheels from 2007 apart to the as-received condition and re-assembled them. We purchased an IR board, a trackball, and pneumatic cylinders, and built all new components. If this had happened a year later we would be stuck buying a brand new control system and probably couldn't have pulled it off.
What we have now is a team that has learned to work together under pressure of a 6 week schedule, and we have over $6000 in the bank, with a few thousand more coming in the fall for fabrication and travel. We will drive down to Mission Mayhem (~ 45 minutes) and will spend the night in the SunDome for TNT (~3.5 hours). It would have been great to attend IRI, but that probably would have put us in financial trouble for next season.
I think that offseason events are a good way to introduce students to what they can expect during the FIRST season and start getting them excited. We considered FTC as an option last year but by the time we could have started, their season was too far along and we had no experience. Depending on funding we may go that way in the future, but I thiink we have a solid foundation. My put is that off season events are a significant part of the total program, but are not a replacement.