[IndySam]

I feel I need to explain my position on the whole FTC/Vex/Minibot thing.

Please note I have nothing against FTC or the people involved, there are some great people in it and I have even refereed FTC at the Championship. It's not about money or expense, those have always been part of the challenge for FRC teams. My problem is with what I see as a totally non-GP attitude from FIRST.

FIRST didn't say "we want you to only use these FTC motors because we want to limit the power of the minibot to be a good design challenge or for safety.

They didn't say "here's an FTC kit we want to encourage teams to use them and maybe that will inspire them to start or support an FTC team"

What they did say was "teams with FTC experience or who seek out local FTC teams for help will have an advantage and to facilitate this you must use these parts."

That's not an attempt to encourage us to experience FTC, that would be OK. It's a blatant move by FIRST to force FTC on us.

To put it simply FIRST isn't seeing the growth they expected in FTC. The kits have never been popular, they are too expensive. They chose the wrong partner (don't get me started about my dislike of PITSCO.) They made a huge mistake when they changed from VRC, they should acknowledge that and maybe work with those of us who do Vex and not try to force FTC down our throat.