[MikeReilly]

I agree with my 1771 mentors on their points. Want to level the playing field? Unlevel the surface. That is, let's get away from building a pizza box bottom, let's make these things crawl over something for an advantage, but still allow the common pizza box to go around. Something like that.

I now know that you can't be truly competitive without massive hours and generosity by mentors and sponsors, and enough money for a twin robot and preferably a second regional. If I calculate the volunteer mentor hours as cash donations, we probably spent over $50,000 this year. Heck, two regionals, the Nationals and a twin robot will bring you to $20,000, and that doesn't even include pizza on build Saturdays. The BEST competition is much more fair in this resolve.

Is it time for FIRST Elite, and keep FIRST FRC for those that can't get the cash? Maybe that's IRI? I'd like to know the average budget of other teams like the ThunderChickens, etc. Not to point fingers, but to bring reality to what exists. My guess is you can't get to the top without amazing dedicated volunteers and resources (material, financial, etc.).

On an ending positive: after only a few years, I have students disappointed that they didn't make it to the World Championship Finals of an engineering contest. Pretty cool.