New FIRST competition structure in Michigan

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

I also think that some of the more interesting points are being overlooked in this thread...

1. The MI teams being able to keep their robots instead of shipping them (BIG cost savings here!!!).
2. The 8 hour fix-it day before the district events

1. Yay cost savings! Cost savings might be one of the other reasons that the program is going to be piloted in MI. Our economy is completely horrible, since many families have parents working in the car industry, and LOTS of job cuts are happening so that the companies can stay alive. And this isn't just in the car industry; it's getting really hard for anyone to find jobs because of the same reasons. This is affecting sponsorships, too. Sponsorships give us money. I can't speak for anyone else, but 1189 has to stretch our budget over the next few years, because we can't guarantee our sponsorship from GM in upcoming years due to this. We're going to be saving every penny we get, and without shipping costs, we'll be able to save a good amount of money on it. [/long explanation that goes slightly off topic]

2. That's instead of the Thursday practice day. Think about it, we'd only get about 8 hours if we were at the event venue. Though I suppose that the advantage here is that we have access to our own shops, and don't have to rely on what we can bring into the pits.