Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Steele
Sometimes I think that the influence the FIRST community has on the industrial control community in general is not quite what we think.
i would like FIRST to become a greater influence... but to think that NI is doing this in order to make a significant gain in the real market is a not realistic.
I am not going to say more... whether you like the change or not... NI is providing equipment because they also believe in FIRST. Not for advertising.
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// These are just some casual observations...
I have a hard time believing NI would invest $10 Million dollars in a FRC-specific cRIO just from the goodness of their hearts.
Just as was pointed out above, NI is getting students used to NI hardware and software at a young age. As they get more familiar with it, they will be more likely to use it with future projects in college and beyond - in other words, creating a larger market share for NI.
While NI (and every other FIRST sponsor) may like the goals of FIRST, they all stand to gain financially in the long run from success in FIRST - whether through more available engineers or through larger market share of their components. And that's most likely the only way they can justify spending millions of dollars in donations to their shareholders.