Is FIRST being cheap!?

[majorFIRSTnerd]

I have always admired FIRST and innovationFIRST but this year I have been greatly disappointed with what they have supplied this year. For the following reasons (mostly electronics)…

1) Why do they have female-female tether cables?! This only results in the clutter of cables while testing the robot.

2) Why have to tether in order to assign team numbers!?

3a) Why did they not have IR beacons and receivers pre-built?! I can see why they did it but they should have also shipped a built one.

3b) If you are going to give instructions on how to build circuits to hundreds of teams, MAKE sure they are right.

4) Why did they make all RC inputs PWM style and not supply us with spare cables for wiring the sensors...

5) FIRST.org has severely dropped in quality... just look at the Q&A section. And what happened to the Forum?

6) The final point is not aimed at FIRST but rather at ChiefDelphi users. People have been so caught up with their reputations and the idea that people should search before posting that this site has gone from a convenient place to ask question with the assurance that no one will curse at you for repeating a thread that had been posted in 2000 to a place where I rather avoid asking questions.

NOTE: This post is not meant to offend people or degrade FIRST’s outstanding reputation but rather to address the changes that I have seen through the past 4 years which I have been involved in this great competition.