[FTC]: OUT OF MOTOR CONTROLLERS?!?!?!?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Ricksta121

If FTC was easy, it wouldn't be fun. Parts supply issues are a part of the real world. I work for a company that is sometimes plagued by parts supply issues and must find workarounds.

Part one -- no problem. If any of these robotics competitions were easy, there wouldn't be any competitors.

Part two -- not so much. If you have discrete three functions to accomplish using 12-volt motors you need two controllers. It's not like you have choices. Competitors are required to buy one particular part from one particular supplier, and when some or all of your competitors were able to buy as many as they wanted but you are told you can't I believe it goes from a "challenge" to arbitrary punishment of random teams. In the real world, you would source an alternate part, but in this game, you compete at a disadvantage.

In three years of doing Vex, I have never had a part be out of stock, and they've never taken longer than 24 hours to ship something. That's a tough standard, and Pitsco isn't there yet. Feelings don't enter into it. It is something that Lego needs to fix if they are serious about supporting high school robotics.

By the way, in no way do I believe that anyone at FIRST meant for this to happen. It's like the Orbit balls in Lunacy or the Poof balls in Aim High, FIRST never expected supply of parts to be an issue. (Or even the wintertime scarcity of pool noodles the first year they became legal for bumpers in FRC. Who knew in the summer when the GDC was playing with ideas that in January pool noodles were hard to find?) FIRST wants to provide a great program for students, and I'm sure works to find commercial partners who can deliver the right goods on time. Over the years, sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it takes some time to get the bugs out, but I don't believe that FIRST predicted the field controller, Bluetooth, motor failure, and parts availability issues that have cropped up this year.