[FTC]: Unlimited raw materials. Welding. Wow!

[jcarr]

Originally Posted by TRWSHSHLX

One of the things that differentiates FTC and FRC is that it's less of a competition of resources - mentors with advanced machining skills, advance machines (from school or sponsors) and resources to get the materials.

This is great for creativity and I believe this will push TETRIX to improve their kit even more so that the teams would WANT to use the kits because it's easy, simply yet they can be innovative with it. At the end, hopefully it will be like the teams chose to go one route or another (TETRIX or all the raw materials) or a combination of both and all the choices' advantages and disadvantages will balance each other out.

I strongly diasagree with the second part of the statement. I agree that FTC has not traditionally been about the team with the most resources, but this change completely reverses that. Now, only the wealthiest teams (which includes any FTC team that has a sister FRC team), can hope to compete at the state and national level. Any part you can make out of raw materials, you can use. Can you make a better wheel or a steel frame? I can't do that out of the equipment I have in my basement. That means teams that have access to machine shops, CNC machines, metal lathes, welding gear, etc have a shot. We saw that proven in last year's tournament. Only the people with custom lifts could compete. Setting up that kind of infrastructure is extremely expensive, unless you already have a 70-person FRC team funding the equipment. Even the raw materials are expensive - our lift cost close to $700 in raw materials, and that was the third lift we used. It will be the teams with the best toys who can build the best custom chasis and end-effectuator. It will not be about which team can use limited resources in the smartest way possible.

Only the wealthiest will win...