[FTC]: Team Unlimited's Visit at FIRST HQ

[lynca]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

With that statement from FIRST, the mechanical "flexibility" of the new FTC kits just went down the toilet.

I agree, I think a lot of teams were waiting to see if FIRST would allow vex gears but now I see many teams switching over to the VEX competitions instead of FTC.

I'm not sure why FIRST has turned into Anti-IFI , it seems very unprofessional.

[gdo]

Originally Posted by lynca

I agree, I think a lot of teams were waiting to see if FIRST would allow vex gears but now I see many teams switching over to the VEX competitions instead of FTC.

I'm not sure why FIRST has turned into Anti-IFI , it seems very unprofessional.

Just to make this clear, nothing had been decided on that offically, we did voice our opinion on that while we were there. Things might change because we knew how much people wanted to still be able to use the Vex gears. I didn't want to lose the parts that we had waited for years to get, only to go back to the first kit, basic gears, metal, and parts. We will see where this goes, at game release we will find out what has changed from now.

[GaryVoshol]

The question will be, will the parts rules be announced before or after registration deadlines?

[wilsonmw04]

I think we'll know the rules when the kits are shipped.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

The question will be, will the parts rules be announced before or after registration deadlines?

I hope so, b/c apparently we're buying (what my mentor told me today) 13 new kits for the FTC competition. But what do we do with the 16+ VEX kits we've accumulated over the years?

EDIT: We fund and mentor all teams in district and many in the county. And we run a full robotics curriculum in the classes (That's the reason for so many).

[thefro526]

I'm no longer involved in FTC directly and haven't been for a year but it seems as if all FIRST has accomplished is a MASSIVE step backwards in terms of robot construction. There also seems to be a a step forward in computation in control but to me it can't justify the lack of mechanical parts. I know that when my team did FTC (it was FVC then) we didn't have much of a need for very complex programming as much as we had a need for complex mechanisms.

I think the best part about VEX that this system is lacking is the fact that it wasn't made for a robotics competition. It was made to be an educational tool so it was subject to competitors which gave IFI the drive and necessity to constantly improve the kit. With this new kit it's going to be a hodgepodge of commercially available (Sensors and NXT controller/legos) and one off components like gears and metal so some products may be improved over time but then others may not.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by lilstogi11

I hope so, b/c apparently we're buying (what my mentor told me today) 13 new kits for the FTC competition. But what do we do with the 16+ VEX kits we've accumulated over the years?

Stogi,

Scrounge up a few extra dollars and spend a little time to put together some quick and dirty (low-cost and low pressure = focus on the fun) robots for the VRC. Heck, maybe even hold a just-for-fun local tournament at the home of whomever has the biggest basement or garage.

Seriously, formal VRC is pretty inexpensive and local Vex tournaments can dirt cheap; plus you have the parts you need. Complement your formal plans to compete in FTC with a more relaxed side activity of quickly building some squarebots on steroids with a simple appendage or two, and just have a good time on a couple of low-pressure weekends.

I'll bet you a very nice dinner that if you step away from FTC (or VRC) to do a weekend of VRC (or FTC), that when you turn your focus back onto your FTC (or VRC) challenges you will have a fresh outlook and will have 2 or 3 new ideas pop into your head(s).

In much the same way that diversity is good in ecologies, it is good for sharpening problem-solving skills too.

Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gdo

Just to make this clear, nothing had been decided on that offically, we did voice our opinion on that while we were there. Things might change because we knew how much people wanted to still be able to use the Vex gears. I didn't want to lose the parts that we had waited for years to get, only to go back to the first kit, basic gears, metal, and parts. We will see where this goes, at game release we will find out what has changed from now.

GDO - it sounds like you were saying/recommending the right things.

Other folks - Communicate with the FTC honcho at FIRST HQ and with your APs - Give them your suggestions. Posting suggestions in a CD forum is interesting but it is not the same thing as directly communicating with the people who want to hear (directly) from you.

About reusing the Vex Gears. I agree that their current diversity is a good thing. However, off the top of my head, I'm not visualizing any simple way to connect them to the shafts and other mounting points of the new FTC kits.

Absent posessing a magical interface adapter; now that the drop-Vex die has been cast, I'm thinking that FTC would be better off just designing and creating a similarly diverse set of parts from scratch (no matter how much money teams have put into buying the Vex gears). An adapter is likely to be very dissatisfying.

So, I don't recommend betting on being able to integrate Vex gears or many other Vex parts into the new FTC kits.

Blake
PS: On the surface, spec'ing and producing crown/bevel gears, worm gears/wheels, etc. sounds pretty darn easy. By now, doesn't the world have a few centuries of experience at doing that??? As a naive customer I'm a little perplexed by the time it took IFI/Vex to offer them, and by FIRST not even announcing plans to supply them at some specific future date. Maybe someone can fill us in on what would stand in the way, other than business red tape and one-time start-up delays.