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Originally Posted by Karthik
FIRST is and always will be about inspiration. FIRST has always left up to the discretion of the teams, as to how the achieve this inspiration. To your team, it may mean lots of hands on work by students. To other teams it may mean watching as engineers create an inspiring robot. The path each team chooses is their decision. There's no need for anyone to pass judgement on what is more inspiring.
No. Not at all. Buying is a result of smart thinking. From a business perspective, why spend 80+ man hours, and $200+ on parts building a gear box, when you can buy a tested one for similar monetary cost. This is what we call smart business decision. The time saved on these gearboxes can used to teach lots of other engineering principles. Companies make decisions like these on a regular basis. Why do something yourself, when you can save money by having someone else do it.
If you think buying these gearboxes is going to hurt the inspiration level on your team, then don't buy them. I think they're a brilliant idea, and I plan on advertising them very heavily to the rookie teams I'll be mentoring in the upcoming season.
Winning at the Championship Event, is a very inspiring event for the teams involved. But, winning the Chairman's Award means you've inspired not only your team, but other teams and usually an entire community. The Chairman's Award is about the big picture, changing culture. It's clear to me, which award is the bigger honour.
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I've got to say, I like how FIRST leaves the interpretation of the I largely up to teams.
And either the championship or chairman's is a high honor, one that takes a LOT of work from a lot of people.
I will say, Chairman's trumps the championship any day of the week. However, if 1293 goes all the way through Einstein Field next year, I'll pop the sparkling grape juice all the same.
Pick your award(s), go for it with everything you've got, and don't sweat where yours falls within the spectrum of FIRSTdom. Whether your version of the I is all about the robots or has very little to do with the robot, you'll do fine.