[ICntIHaveRbtics]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

FIRST needs more Graphic Design, Industrial Design and other artistic focuses. Imagry is becoming bigger and bigger each year, video has become important and even photography is a key componant to a team.

Granted that Art is the total opposite of Science and Technology, but when you see teams that promote with their visuals and graphics and design, everything just looks so much more unique.

I wouldn't say that Art is a total opposite. You need an artistic touch to market to the masses. You can come up with technology for say -- a car, but if it doesn't look good/cool/appealing, its not going to sell. IMO Engineering, Art, and Business all go hand-in-hand.

Topic wise - FIRST does tend to preach that "anyone can join and benefit from the experience" but when it comes down to some of the perks (scholarships) all of the popular schools are "engineering majors only". While I firmly believe the 'triad' of Engineering-Art-Business are all needed to sustain a team, Engineering hugely overshadows the other two. I think FIRST needs to decide if it wants to be more open to "non-future-engineers" and work on supporting those students as well. I don't think I would call that "expanding beyond robotics" as much as just supporting the various 'subdivisions' within the robotics programs beyond the future engineers and programmers.