Thoughts about the future FIRST games

[Beth Sweet]

David, I have argued this for a while now (see my "FIRST solving world issues" post). I want to see something on a robot that can make a difference in daily life. Slowly, I think some aspects might be filtering in.

One of my mentors, for instance, is an alum of Team 33, the Killer Bees. One of the accomplishments that he brags is that something designed for their (2003? 2004?) robot is now being used on DaimlerChrysler cars.

Personally, I would prefer to have something that would be able to really make a difference. I would like to see something where a robot solves problems. Realistically, I'm not sure if that type of thing is a possibility in this program. That would take a lot of money, a lot of time and a lot more expertice than we can ask in this competition.

I do love the idea though. Please keep dreaming big, we need people in this world who aren't afraid to!

[Jeremiah Johnson]

You know. To address the solving problems using robots thought. You can put an infinite number of sensors on a robot and the programing could be as long as the Bible written four times over, but that can still never compare to the problem solving ability of the human brain. Great, we can build robots that do anything realistically. But what FIRST is about, is getting these kids to think about these problems at an early age. When taught at an earlier age, people have a longer time to develop a solution to a problem. FIRST is just 4 or 5 steps in the infinite staircase of science and technology.

You have to get students interested before they start to think about something. How do you do that? With an exciting game. I love to throw stuff at people, now I know how to build a robot to do it for me. I'm going to stop with the self-inspirational thoughts now...

Thanks for thinking...