Dilema...

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The way I see it, you already have an advantage over a lot of FIRST teams (old and new). You don’t have to worry about funding and half of your team already has some experience with pneumatics, and electronics. That is where my team is right now and we’re a veteran team.

What do you consider “finished”? If you consider it having a working robot crated up at the end of the build season, that’s not too hard, especially if you keep it simple. Of course, two years ago, my team had to ship their robot unfinished because they ran out of time, however they worked on it during their first Regional and eventually did get it running. Do you consider finished as having a robot that works flawlessly throughout the whole competition? There may be some teams that can build a robot that does that, but you will see most teams working on their robots in-between matches, some more frantically than others. Or do you equate finished with winning? Last year, my team made it into the semi-finals at the VCU Regional. It was very exciting, almost overwhelming in it’s intensity, however, winning would not have made me more proud of them than I already was.

The 6-week build season is hectic and often frustrating, but it’s amazing to watch the students work to overcome the challenges and come together as a team. I don’t know how good your other projects are, but I do know that FIRST is absolutely amazing. And I think if you give it a chance, you won’t regret it, even if it doesn’t go the way you imagine it should.

Heidi