Is FIRST about Robot?

[gblake]

Knufire,

I think you might be thinking too narrowly about how just how powerfully an FRC team can perform that micro-outreach.

Using microcontrollers like Arduinos and Intel Edisons, plus all the inexpensive bells and whistles gadgets (including FTC and VEX parts) you can buy to go with them, an FRC team can connect with school clubs, school classes, scouting groups, public events, etc; and give students and adults a fun, hands-on taste of STEM. If they hustle, maybe they can connect with 25 to 50% of their young(er) peers; demystifying STEM for them.

Along the way they can point out that while their bigger robot is a more complicated machine, any single piece of it is no more complicated than the small microcontroller-based gadgetry the audience is learning to build/use.

Annually the team can also build a new FRC bot and enjoy competing with it.

My point is that FRC teams can have the best of both worlds, and aren't stuck in any one swimlane, or locked into any one method of accomplishing their goal(s). Sure, FRC robots and competitions are expensive, but FRC's not about the robot (and competitions). It's about outreach and culture change, and it uses robots and competitions (and Arduinos, and ...), along with other fun/exciting tools, to get the job done.