Ideas to move in the direction of making FIRST competitions 'fair'

[Ryan Foley]

I agree with Art on this one. Instead of limiting teams, offer more resources and off the shelf parts to teams so that those who lack funding and engineering staff can still build a competition worthy robot. The really spectacular robots built by powerhouse teams serve to get the students more excited for the next year, as they will hopefully want to build an even better robot. Events could be made more fair; a better and more accurate way to rank teams; more random match pairings, perhaps go to 12 elimination alliances instead of 8 so more teams can play, etc. Then yes, you could add robot classes, like MATE or Trinity Fire Fighting does. The unlimited class would be a good one to keep, then do a class that has the same robot construction rules as OCCRA (student built, very limited on parts). However, more classes means more work for the GDC, as there would have to be two versions of certain rulebook sections.

So as an alternative option, we could always try to expand BEST out of the south as well as OOCRA. Those competitions are limited in parts and mentor involvement, and we could keep FIRST as is. For really brave teams, you could compete in all 3, as they do not overlap.

Perhaps slightly off-topic, but I felt it is relevant:
As Dean has said many times, FIRST isnt fair; it shouldn't be. In real life, engineering companies and firms don't all have the same size bank accounts, or the same research capabilities. In order for FIRST to show kids what engineering is really like, they must give a somewhat accurate representation. If a kid wants to go into engineering knowing that some companies just arent at the same level as others, then he/she is truly interested in this stuff. But if we give the impression that everything is equal, that student may be very disappointed after getting their college degree. Besides, learning to deal with failure is an important part of life. So a team didnt make the elims, it has happened to everyone at one point or another. There was a little league near my hometown last summer that proposed that T-ball and little league should no longer include "outs" or "strikes". Kids have to learn to accept, deal with, and move beyond failure. I've been in that back row, watching everyone else get picked and win awards. As cliche as it sounds, you just have to try harder next year. Keep improving, and you will get your shot at those lovely medals. So if we do try to make FIRST more fair, don't make it "too fair"