New FIRST competition structure in Michigan

[Clinton Bolinger]

I think that we all can agree that we need to try to increase the Return On Investment for teams.

In 2001 I was on a rookie team (688) as a senior in high school, the following year I was a mentor on the same team. But the team folded because we did not see the cost and time justification to go to only one event a year.

As for the the Kettering Rookie Regional, our team (2337) attend and thought that the event covered 90-95% of what a typical regional consist of. Granted there wasn't a big black curtain or large flashy lights, but it was still as exciting as any of the other regionals we attended (KRR, DET, WMI, and Championship). I think that you can still keep the excitement and flash in a High School Gym by having the correct "mood" lighting, by turning off certain lights (dim the stands and light the field).

Jason Monroe took a bunch of great pictures from the Kettering Rookie Regional last year and can be found on his website. (KRR-Pictures)

Also there are a lot of High Schools (Grand Blanc) in the state of Michigan that can handle more teams and have better layouts then the current regionals (DET). Grand Blanc's gym can seat twice as many people as the Detroit regional and also has an adjacent gym that can be used as the pits. But then again I might be bias.

I like the idea of bagging your robot and getting certification that it was bagged and sealed on the appropriate day, rather then spending the extra cost to ship the robot just <30 miles away.

Finally I can not agree more with Jim Z. during the practice day there are way to many people upgrading or changing their robot. I have seen people bring totally different manipulators and spend the whole day modifying their robot. If people are going to do this wouldn't you want to do it at your own facility? With the new pilot program teams will have an 8 hour period to do so, after each event.

I am looking forward to the 2009 season.

-Oris-