Is FIRST a robot building CONTEST?

[KenWittlief]

Issues have arisen in other threads, and some people are very upset with the scoring system being used this year. Let me say right at the start that I think every effort should be made to insure the games and rankings are scored correctly.

I do believe that having our focus on the real purpose of FIRST helps us keep our perspective.

FIRST is obviously up to its ears in robots. No one would argue that designing and building the teams robot is not core to this program.

The topic of this thread, however, is "Is FIRST a robot building contest?"

Are we here to see which sponsor company or which highschool can build the best tetra stacking, goal defending radio controlled machine?

If FIRST is not a contest, then what is it?

A competition in a different sense?

An exploration of engineering?

A celebration of science?

A sneaky plan by Dean to flood the world with an army of engineers and scientists?

Rather than arguing back and forth, please state your position AND give examples of things that you have experienced during your involvement with FIRST to support your stance.