The Lack of Spares ... Good or Bad

[Natchez]

Hello everyone! With the understanding that this can be a very sensitive subject, please refrain from degrading other folks (FIRST, posters, vendors, me, etc.). This should be a philosophical discussion about engineering education rather than a discussion that focuses on specifics. Now, onto the question.

In regards to learning about engineering, is it good or bad not to have spares, such as motors, available for teams to procure?

As with every year, many teams are faced with the dilemma that they can not procure a part found in the KOPs. The winner in the last few years has been the Globe motors. The funniest thing that I've heard on this subject is from the Fisher-Price service center after endless explanations of how the FP motor was being used on a FIRST robot, "I don't care what toy you have! If you bring it to the shop, we'll replace the motor for you! We will not let you replace the motor yourself!" Everyone seems to have a comment on this subject; here are a few that I've heard this year.

• "Not being able to buy motors promotes gracious professionalism."
• "Just don't use motors that put you at that much risk. You wouldn't do it at work, would you?"
• "I guess beggars can't be choosy" ... "We paid $6,000, we're not begging!"
• "What do you mean? I can't buy a Fisher-Price motor?"
• "At work, we would never design equipment for which we could not get spares. What kind of lesson is this!"
• "If we can not get replacements, we should be able to engineer around the problem by using a suitable replacement."
• "There are millions of things, including motors, that have been discontinued in which you can't buy replacements. What's the big deal!"
• "STUDENTS, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THE FISHER-PRICE MOTORS! We can NOT get spares!"
• "MENTORS, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THE FISHER-PRICE MOTORS! We can NOT get spares!"
• "Please tell me again why we are not using the Fisher-Price motors?" ... "Because no one is allowed to touch them!"

Again, please keep this discussion about whether or not it is good for educating our next generation of engineers and not about the Fisher-Price that let out the magic smoke last night.

Hope you have a great 2008 & thanks for your input,
Lucien