Ftc Kick off 2008

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by lilstogi11

If you actually really want to do this then seek help from machine shops or your local highschool that might have a machine shop. Just go out there and make it happen. Finding machining resources is actually easier than finding people willing to sponsor teams. You can even open your yellow pages and search for "Machining" and I guarantee you will find something.

This is what I love about the FRC program; it more or less doesn't limit what you can accomplish. If you want to have a professionally machined robot, go ahead and call up the local industry, you can make it happen.

However, I loved the FTC program for an entirely different reason. I loved it because with the exception of funding to buy parts, there really wasn't a huge resource gap between the have and have-nots. Team YYY had a full machine available and you didn't? No big deal, if anything the only advantage they gained was a few minutes time shearing/bandsawing rather than hacksawing. This fact made FTC the FIRST program that could be in every school in my opinion. The way our nation is, a FRC team simply can't happen in every high school, but a FTC team easily can.

By changing up FTC so much, I think a lot of teams will be alienated. Yes, the teams that were building in classrooms and living rooms still can compete and probably be competitive, but it simply won't be the same. I think it stems back to the FIRST Board of Directors being out of teach with what being on a team is really like.