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#18
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A Simple Proposal
Posted by Dodd Stacy, Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.
Posted on 4/7/99 9:46 PM MST In Reply to: Multiple Regionals posted by Dave on 4/4/99 12:23 PM MST: The teams who are able to go to multiple Regionals seem to feel they benefit from it in many ways and defend the practise. Not too hard to understand. The posts arguing to limit participation in Regionals seem to come from teams who are unable, for one reason or another, to attend more than one. The flavor of the latter posts seems to be that this is an unfair situation, tilted playing field, etc. Again, not too hard to understand that perspective. So I'll offer a simple proposal that speaks to this situation and perhaps offers many other benefits relative to FIRST's goals: LET ALL TEAMS KEEP THEIR ROBOTS AND WORK ON THEM THROUGHOUT THE SEASON. This speaks to the very real advantages gained in practise, shakedown, hours on the bot, etc by the 'lucky' teams. I disagree with Chris' analogy here about the expense of open wheel race car practise/testing. All we need is a flat patch of carpet, some electricity, and a roof. And lots of pizza. I think my proposal would do a great deal to give the 'less lucky' teams the same advantages of time with the bot and to level the field. A few other points: 1) This would drastically raise the level of competition as the season marched toward the Nationals. I predict many fewer broken 'bots and no shows. The stay-at-homes would have plenty of opportunity to see the tricks of the 'lucky' (and good!) teams at the early Regionals and develop strategies - and even new mechanisms - to better compete when their day comes. 2) This would give the students the chance to see, and hopefully be inspired by, engineering in the DEVELOPMENT phase of a project. Maybe all you other teams have figured out how to complete (?) the development of your machines in the six weeks. We sure haven't. And I'm awfully glad every time I fly or drive that the engineers who developed those machines had enough time to do a reasonable job. 3) This would give all teams more opportunity to use their bot in fundraising and outreach activities. We are a small team that relys on collective support from a very large number of small companies in a lightly populated area. Nothing works like motivated students showing off and talking about their bot to raise bucks. But, here we sit for 2 months with our bot in a box somewhere! 4) NO competitive athletic team operates this way. Analogous rules would crush sports. No practise or training between games? Come on! How is FIRST supposed to rise to the same level of support, respect, and enthusiasm as sports in our high schools? I could list several more reasons why I think this is a good idea, but at this point I'd like to stop and see what contrary thoughts it stimulates. Dodd |
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