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Unread 06-08-2004, 02:48
Katie Reynolds Katie Reynolds is offline
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Re: It is about the robots (OpEd)

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
Reading the spotlight, it seems the stance of most CDers is that FIRST "isn't about the robots." I must say I disagree ferverently. Sure, FIRST should inspire kids to look into engineering careers, but it shouldn't end at inspiration. ... I consider the highest honor in FIRST to be winning at nationals, certainly not the Chairman's Award.
... But you do realize that FIRST is "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" ... not "For Building Robots That Win and Nothing Else" (Hmm FBRTWNE just doesn't have the same ring to it ...)

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
The rationalization has been made that in "the real world" engineers spend a lot of time making purchasing descions and altering OEM products to meet a specifc need. This is not what FIRST should be about because its far less fun/educational.
Less educational? I hate to break it to you, but in "the real world" most companies don't build everything from scratch. They have people who contact companies and look through catalogs trying to decide which part will meet their need the best, based on size, weight, material, cost, efficiency, etc. And if a company can't find the exact part they need, THEN they'll either make the part on their own, or order something as close as they can and modify it to fit their needs. That's what most FIRST teams do. It doesn't get more "real world" than that. And a little "real world" experience, though boring it may be, never hurt anyone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
If you can't spend the time about thinking what your bot needs gearbox wise and opt to buy one instead, you shouldn't get that gearbox.
So say some FIRSTer is manufacturing gearboxes and selling them at a reasonable cost to raise money for their cause or, heck, even make a few bucks for themselves. I look at the part and realize it's EXACTLY the gearbox I need. In fact, this one will work even better for me than the one I planned on using. Are you saying I should make the gearbox myself when there's one already available to me? Why? To build it, it would take many, many manhours plus I would need to find people to do it. To buy it, I would receive my part, I wouldn't have to worry about correctly building it and I'd be helping out the other FIRSTer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
Buying is a shortcut around thinking!
It is most definitely not. If there's a part you need and someone is already manufacturing it, why waste your time reinventing the wheel? Buy the part, save some time, get done faster.


But then again, that's just my opinion.
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