Quote:
Originally Posted by Taylor
I would certainly hope that every year's KOP comes with a complete control system. Many new and/or struggling teams use their old robots in exhibitions and fundraisers. Having only one control system total would severely hamper the ability of teams to venture out into their communities and gain support.
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I'm betting if it were possible to do a hard core analysis of the full life cycle of the control components for all teams in the system there would be an annoying waste of material. The disposition of robots for probably 70%+ of the teams is probably negative.
Teams that do maintain 'showbots' have to make a business case to provide support to maintain the showbots. I think that is going to have to be the case going forward.
It has been a little bit of a peeve of mine with how some teams are not properly regarding the value of the KOP and the robot they build from it. Teams should regard their bot as a "capital asset" and treat it accordingly.
So for us that means maintaining the machines and in some cases rebuilding aspects to make it more "show ready". And that takes time and money.
Put it in your business plan and go from there. It is the same thing all businesses have to do and FIRST is a GREAT training ground for solving these types of problems.