Proposed shipping schedule

[archiver]

Posted by Fran .

Other on team #166, Team Merrimack, from Merrimack High School and Unitrode/R.S. Machines.

Posted on 12/25/99 1:12 PM MST


In Reply to: I can go either way posted by Joe Johnson on 12/23/99 9:31 PM MST:



:
My guess is that as soon as teams don't advance or get knocked out in the elimination rounds they will be in the pits furiously working on robots and the only spectators for the last rounds will be from teams whose robots didn't need repairs.........there isn't much choice, FIRST just needs to watch their dates better in the future and have at least 2 weeks between last regional and nationals.....it should be a major factor in the negotiations....beyond repairs, I'm as concerned about spending so much money to get the team to Florida and what if the whole truckload of robots doesn't make it?

Fran
team 166




Jim,

: You make many valid points in you message. I am glad to have another great voice join the chorus on the the forum.

: As to your specific points, I really can go either way on this issue.

: Actually, I think that it would have been better if FIRST just figured this out before any teams registered and then announced that IF you choose to go the the last two weeks, you will be at a disadvantage in terms of shipping your robot. Plan accordingly. But, that is not what FIRST did.

: To my mind, FIRST has somewhat of a fixation of the appearance of fairness. From trying to level the playing field for rookies to trying to make it possible for 6 kids in their basement to form a team, fairness gets a lot of consideration at FIRST.

: I can see some of their points, but in many cases fairness cannot be achieved in any case but the ideal of fairness allows FIRST to avoid making some hard choices.

: One example that I am keenly aware of is the area of motors. I know of a number of cases where 1000's of dollars of motors are never going to see the light of day because it is impossible to obtain the EXACT same motor in sufficient quantities to make a integer number motors per kit. Motors that are substantially identical are easily obtained but because FIRST would get so much flack from teams if they didn't give out 100% identical kits, donors are required to spend more money.

: This is just one example of the cost of FIRST's near obsession with fairness.

: Back to the matter at hand, I feel that teams can plan around this new limitation. Every rule in FIRST is somewhat arbitrary. This is just one more arbitrary limit to deal with.

: Our team has used the Tuesday shipping rule to great advantage for 4 years now. That advantage is now not available to us. We are currently making plans to try to make this new rule work toward our advantage as well. We will see how it works out.

: Time will tell.

: Joe J.