[Steve W]

I would like to disagree with a few points given here. If FIRST becomes a robot competition without the GP based awards, it will slowly become like Robot Wars and lose many of the teams competing. If it becomes a GP oriented program then were is the competition that enlightens the individual or the competitive spark.

FIRST is as good as it is because of the marriage of the two ideals. One without the other lowers the quality of the teams and the events. I was drawn to FIRST because when I went through the pit area students reached out and brought me to their robot. Some of these robots did not work well BUT the kids were enthused. In those same pits were students from other teams helping the less fortunate. If GP was not encouraged (for awards or not) I would have seen students making their robot the best it could be to beat all on-comers.

If FIRST deteriorates to a robot competition I am sure that there will be many who will reconsider their time commitments. I know that I would rather spend my time helping others with their needs than just join another game to see if I can be better than others.

People you must consider the reasoning behind the action. FiM may be an extension of FIRST or it might be an offshoot of FIRST were some want a robots only competition. Time will tell.

I know that most if not all Chairmans Award winners did a lot of their work because of the award. They started something for one reason and yet continued for another. You see once the ideals of FIRST are implanted in a team it then becomes a natural way of life. The award isn't everything but it is something, otherwise why do the teams spend so much time and energy on it when that time could be used somewhere else?