Opinion Poll: Proliferation of Prefbricated Parts

[Brian C]

Proliferation of Purchasable, Prefabricated Parts - P4 for all you DoD acronym lovers

I like this quote, it reminded me of the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz when he's called A clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caligenous junk! - C4

But I digress.

The OP for this thread has evidently touched a nerve with a few folks. I can vouch for his sincerity and I understand the reasoning behind his questions.

While I think very few, if any of us want to go back to the days of Small Parts and limited resources. There has been a natural evolution in FIRST for prefabricated purchased items. I think it comes down to some basic things that we have all seen both in FIRST and life in general.

There will always be the "haves" and the "have nots" Them's the facts, like it or not.

I always recall the days of drill motors and Small Parts and all the things that were FIRST back in the 90's and the turn of the century. There were occasions where our team at the time, 311 did exceptionally well. There were also occasions where we were, shall we say less than stellar :rolleyes

The important thing is to realize that it IS an evolutionary process. Recalling those days of dealing with limited supplies and equipment make me appreciate what we have now even more!! I believe that an influx of COTS items that are manufactured specifically for FIRST is a benefit to students in the long term.

Sure we can go through the whole process of designing something from scratch. But there are honestly only maybe 20% of teams out there with the ability and support to actually DO that and do it well. This leaves the majority of teams somewhat lacking in many ways.

If a team purchases a (insert item name here) piece for the robot then there now lies a great opportunity for students to learn from what they see and give them ideas for other things in the future. A little reverse engineering if you will. Over my years involved with FIRST I've seen far too many teams that struggle with fabrication of various components. Only to become disillusioned and frustrated in the long run.

The complete overhaul or deletion of "shop" classes in a many school districts has become a big factor in this as well. But that's a subject for a different discussion.

In recent years I see many of those same teams that used to struggle are now able to be competitive and fully partake in the competition. Much of it is a direct result of what this thread is about. When the team has success the students become more interested and inspired. Once that happens there's no telling what they can achieve!

Someone touched on this in an earlier post. It has leveled the playing field and I think that's a good thing.

The answer, IMHO is there's room for everyone. As long as the students are learning.

As long as they understand the engineering concepts behind the design.

As long as they are exposed to the principles that FIRST displays and embraces.

Then that's what's really important.

Oh one more thing. I can certainly assure that Andy is NOT a crusty, grumpy old man!

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Brian C

Proliferation of Purchasable, Prefabricated Parts - P4 for all you DoD acronym lovers

I like this quote, it reminded me of the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz when he's called A clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caligenous junk! - C4

...

I can certainly assure that Andy is NOT a crusty, grumpy old man!

I fully noted I was a grumpy old man on my first post to this topic
Anyone on my lawn right now needs to work their way through 24" of snow melting to get off.
So I will give you time before I give chase with my cane on a sled.

[Brian C]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

I fully noted I was a grumpy old man on my first post to this topic
Anyone on my lawn right now needs to work their way through 24" of snow melting to get off.
So I will give you time before I give chase with my cane on a sled.

Duly noted! I'll try and stay ahead of you in my walker....................