[Pavan Dave]

Nobody in their right minds has any authority, and I don't care if you're Dean Kamen, Bill Gates, or any other notable figure, to belittle any other robotics program.

Who are you to say an FRC gear that costs $10 is more than a VEX gear that costs $5? I know FRC and VEX teams that work with generous budges and others that barely have enough to make bases and compete.

What's wrong with a standardized set of parts? I know that in FIRST you CAN get standardized parts and create a good robot out of them. And in reality THOSE parts that are simple, readily available, are the ones that make for the shortest down times as opposed to having tons of custom machined parts.

And there are many statements to chop up and clarify but using the search function would be much more efficient.

You might be able to compare apples and oranges because they're both fruits, but you can't compare an apple to my Toyota Camry... It just doesn't work.

Its not about the robot, its about what the person on the other end of the robot gets from building the robot. And I can honestly say I've seen more inspiration in EARLY, GEAR, and FLL from little kids and Legos** than I have from people who have driven and won competitions with FRC robots.

Pavan

**LEGO Bricks. Big deal.