Quote:
Originally Posted by IndySam
Its not a collective we, it is a my team (and many other teams) we. We don't do FTC. We don't want to do FTC. We do a much more cost effective program.
They stated many times during kickoff how being involved in FTC would be an advantage for teams. To me that infers that teams like ours who choose a different rout to inspire and bring younger students into the FRC team will be deliberately and intentionally at a disadvantage.
This isn't about a challenge in the game it's about politics pure and simple.
Trust me I'm not the only one who feels this way, although I will be one of the few who will voice my opinion.
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To say it another way:
Imagine if the NFL gave out touchdowns at the last 2 minutes of each game based on how often an NFL team goes on youth outreach programs. Yes, it makes sense to honor and praise the teams that are able to do such great deeds, but for teams who go on elderly outreach programs are at a massive disadvantage because it's not a youth outreach program - and either way it's not about how well you do at playing the game of football.
What if a team can't start a FTC team because of money? They would if they could but every year they just can't get enough money. Are they to be penalized because they barely had enough to even build a box with wheels for FRC?
My quarrel comes from the fact that the majority of the legal parts and easiest way to build a mini-bot is though the FTC system. I understand why they chose to use the FTC system for the mini-bot, it makes perfect sense. FIRST controls what is FTC legal, thus what the mini-bot could be built out of is controlled easily. I just think more teams would be more comfortable with a wider array of legal parts and previous knowledge of FTC was an advantage.
That said, I LOVE everything else. I even love the Mini-bot race. I can't wait for this game...except for the field reset part...but I still love doing that too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UkuleleGuy
FTC parts are not that expensive, you can get a good set for ~$500.
You cant tell me that the winning teams spend less than $500 on special parts for the current year's game.
And you can also use these parts for prototyping during the next years.
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What if a team can't even spend an extra $500 outside the traditional built robot? $500 is a big chunk of change for some teams they just can't afford to spend on something that is, to them, trivial.