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Unread 28-03-2010, 22:29
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VEX Robotics Engineer
AKA: Arthur Dutra IV; NERD #18
FRC #0148 (Robowranglers)
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Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?

The open spots at Championship serve an important task, and I certainly hope they never go away.

They help expose teams who might not have the best robots to the Championship experience, as we all know it's nothing like a Regional. This can whet a team's appetite and start a self-perpetuating effort in said team to improve their team to increase the chances that their team can win a spot in future seasons. A team who never has this opportunity might never know what Championships is like, and thus might not put in the extra effort to try to win their spot in. Since FIRST is about the Inspiration, giving all teams the chance to be inspired by the Championship should remain a top goal. Thus, we must always set aside a quantity of open-lottery positions.

Adding additional awards to become "Championship Qualifiers" is moot, because everyone will pick the one award or category that their own team is really good at.

As for the quality of robots at the Championship, even if every team there has to win their way in, there will still be mediocre robots. Just because a team wins RCA or EI doesn't necessarily mean they'll have an Einstein-caliber robot.

And one final thing: it may be impossible for some teams to ever go to the Championship (even if they win) unless they register during the open period. Why? Some schools and organizations have strict annual budgeting rules. Waiting until said team wins a spot to decide to go may not leave enough time for the school administration/etc to approve funding for Championships. On a similar token, it may be much cheaper for teams looking to attend the Championships to register during the open period to take advantage of better airfair/hotel rates than struggle at the last minute to arrange details.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrendanB
Chris, you are still missing the fact that teams who go every year for experience are taking that away from other teams. It is nothing against 1511 or evens others.
What does this mean?

The "other teams" you speak of have just as much chance to raise money and register during the open lottery period as every other team. Or if by "other teams", you mean the teams that may have won Technical Awards or finished the Regional as finalists, c'est la vie. Winning these awards, sans any additional ones that qualify for Championships, should serve as a "you're on the right track, now work a little bit harder next year" reminder.

This may seem contradictory to my earlier comments about the open lottery at first glance, but in reality it's anything but. They're two goals that serve different needs: one to inspire teams (every few years) to work harder, and the other to reward the teams that have worked harder.
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Art Dutra IV
Robotics Engineer, VEX Robotics, Inc., a subsidiary of Innovation First International (IFI)
Robowranglers Team 148 | GUS Robotics Team 228 (Alumni) | Rho Beta Epsilon (Alumni) | @arthurdutra

世上无难事,只怕有心人.

Last edited by artdutra04 : 28-03-2010 at 22:31.
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