FRC Collaboration 2007: Respectful Remix

[Mr. Van]

Originally Posted by Doug Leppard

1369 built two bases, 1902 built two arms. Idea is that building two of something is easier than building one of something. 1369 is great at drive trains, 1902 is good at top end and programming.

To me, this brings up the question of awards. Many awards are given for specific design features (Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology", GM Industrial Design, Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control, Motorola Quality, etc.). How are Judges to evaluate teams that have designed and developed part of a robot (say a drive train) in 6 weeks (and field a complete 'bot via collaboration) with a team who have designed and fabricated a complete robot by themselves?

I know that FIRST is not fair, but it is "borrowing a page from sports" and is a "competition" with numerous rules to keep something of a level playing field for our "superbowl of smarts". I also understand that teams that collaborate are perhaps giving members a closer example of what "real-world" engineering is like with multiple companies working on a single project. Still, I believe there is a fundamental question to look at here: How does collaboration (as described by Doug) effect the competition aspect of FIRST?

-Mr. Van