Raising the $3500 limit?

[Andrew]

I think first should:
1. eliminate machining costs from the $3500 limit
2. eliminate the electronics sub-budget and the per electronic item limit
3. INCLUDE all spare parts costs in the $3500 limit
4. INCLUDE OI parts in the $3500 limit

Why?
1. FIRST ran into difficulties this year on whose machining costs can you waive and whose must you bill. The only way to truly solve the inequities of this problem would be to waive all machining costs.

2. The original electronics budget predates the $3500 limit. It is a relic of an earlier time. The $3500 budget and the $400 per item limits cover electronics as well as mechanics.

3. The problem with practice robots and the inequities of teams carrying bunches of spare parts would be solved if teams had to bill them as well as the main robot.

4. I don't know why this one really. It just seems that the OI is part of your robot and should be billed as well.

[Greg McCoy]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I think first should:
1. eliminate machining costs from the $3500 limit
2. eliminate the electronics sub-budget and the per electronic item limit
3. INCLUDE all spare parts costs in the $3500 limit
4. INCLUDE OI parts in the $3500 limit

1 & 2: Agreed

3: Not sure what I think about spare parts...

4: I don't really agree with this...some teams use laptops and such when they are going for "Leadership in Controls" awards and such and that could take a major chunk out of the $3500. Besides, I don't see how an "expensive" OI would give teams a big advantage...It's an area where I'd like to see more innovation and quality.

On the bright side, I'm glad that the electronics cost limit is going up

[JakeGallagher]

This season I think the most money we spent was on food... o.O We don't have many local companies to give us money, so we have to make due without. Other teams, on the other hand have seemingly unlimited funding, so the cap is what saves smaller teams like ours.
I don't think I would add anything to our bot if they did raise the cap because we ended up with a very competitive robot on a pretty small budget.

Originally Posted by Greg McCoy

1 & 2: Agreed

3: Not sure what I think about spare parts...

4: I don't really agree with this...some teams use laptops and such when they are going for "Leadership in Controls" awards and such and that could take a major chunk out of the $3500. Besides, I don't see how an "expensive" OI would give teams a big advantage...It's an area where I'd like to see more innovation and quality.

On the bright side, I'm glad that the electronics cost limit is going up

This year we got a Leadership in Control award, and the only laptop we used was an old WinBook MIT donated to us. Judges don't care whether you have PowerMacs (as one team did) or flashy stuff like that when they are looking for the Leadership in Control Award--they're looking for the team who put the most effort into making their control system work perfectly. Though, I don't think our programmer would mind much if we had some better hardware...

[kevin.li.rit]

We're using a 75 mhz laptop to program at the speed of light...
If you really wanted to get your robot under the limit, take out some code..........

[IndyStef]

The limit is fine, especially as many teams find ways to hide cost, anyway. Nobody can seriously tell me that the machining cost on many sponsor made parts does not exceed that amount! But that is somewhat beside the point. We are incouraged to find inventive ways to deal with that, and we do. If there was no cap, many rich teams (ones that have more than $50K at hand) would most certainly spiral the cost up, leaving the majority of teams in the dust, and without a chance to win. That could easily lead to a sponsor draught, because many medium sponsors would not want to pump money into a team with the knowledge the team doesn't have a chance to win. Such cenario currently exists in Formula One, and utlimately threatens the survival of that sport.
I like it the way it is. It's more fun, anyway.

IndyStef

Originally Posted by JakeGallagher

This year we got a Leadership in Control award, and the only laptop we used was an old WinBook MIT donated to us. Judges don't care whether you have PowerMacs (as one team did) or flashy stuff like that when they are looking for the Leadership in Control Award--they're looking for the team who put the most effort into making their control system work perfectly. Though, I don't think our programmer would mind much if we had some better hardware...

I think you missed his point. There have been teams that invest quite a bit into their operator interface such as T3 this year with their mini arm to control their real arm. If FIRST were to include the OI into the 3500 dollars, teams might not even have enough money left of that 3500 to even build an OI and then they end up having their OI mounted on a piece of plywood with 4 joysticks. Anyway, there have been some awesome achievements when it comes to OIs, such as T3 and 25 (I think they did too) with their mini arms or 447 with their glove controls, which probably wouldnt' have been possible if FIRST were to put the OI into the $3500...so to the original person who suggested that, I disagree.

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck

I think you missed his point. There have been teams that invest quite a bit into their operator interface such as T3 this year with their mini arm to control their real arm. If FIRST were to include the OI into the 3500 dollars, teams might not even have enough money left of that 3500 to even build an OI and then they end up having their OI mounted on a piece of plywood with 4 joysticks. Anyway, there have been some awesome achievements when it comes to OIs, such as T3 and 25 (I think they did too) with their mini arms or 447 with their glove controls, which probably wouldnt' have been possible if FIRST were to put the OI into the $3500...so to the original person who suggested that, I disagree.

I also believe that the OI hasn't been included because it simply doesn't matter as much. Do you seriosly believe that if a team that spent 100k on thier OI would be better than someone who spent $25? It all comes down to the robots.

[Adam Y.]

INCLUDE OI parts in the $3500 limit

There goes almost a quater of the budget.

[team222badbrad]

The 3,500 budget is fine. This is a good balance for teams that do not have much money and teams that have too much money.

If anything weight in the robot without the battery. I have seen batteries that have a weight difference of .3 pounds.

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

The 3,500 budget is fine. This is a good balance for teams that do not have much money and teams that have too much money.

If anything weight in the robot without the battery. I have seen batteries that have a weight difference of .3 pounds.

I have actually heard a story... not sure if it is true (I'm full of rumors this week )...

There was a team who one year couldn't make the weight. In order to make weight they emptied the contents (lead, acid, whatever) out of the battery. They went to the inspection booth with their faux battery. They were snagged when the inpector asked for them to turn on their robot to verify the team number was set correctly on the robot controller.

"Could you please turn your robot on so I can verify your team number is set properly."
"Uhhh.. Uhh... hold on let us get a fresh battery from our pits."
"I don't need to see it move, I just need to see the RC turn on..."
"Uhh....Uhhh...."