Lessons Learned - The Negative

[Nate Smith]

Originally Posted by BurtGummer

Once again, I will state that FIRST needs to look into something here. We are not the only school who has started out in FRC and not FTC or FLL. I did not set our team up, our sponsor rep did. We didn't even know what FRC was. All I am trying to say is that there are two different types of rookies in FRC. Rookies with prior robot experience in FTC and FLL, and complete newbies to the entire field of robotics. I think that is a fair statement, and not one which criticizes any teams that do have prior experience. It isn't their problem, it's something FIRST should look into.

I apologize that my post sounded like I am criticizing these teams. I found the facts about their history, and I applaud them for it. It is a deal with how FIRST is handling it, not them.

Unfortunately, once you decide to call an FTC team who transitions to FRC for the first time anything other than a rookie, you get into a whole mess of other "what ifs." Just a few that came to mind include:

• A team who has competed in VRC, but then jumps straight to FRC
• A team who has previously competed in Botball
• A team who has previously competed in BEST
• A team who has previously competed in NRC

This only includes other high school level competitions, and doesn't take into account other factors, such as an existing robotics curriculum at the school, or previous individual experience of any member of the team.

To look at it from a different angle, look at the sports world that FIRST is trying to some degree to emulate. I don't believe (and I may be wrong at this, as I don't really follow sports to this degree) that you would find any pro sports program who would say that a "rookie" player would only be considered one who had never touched the ball before in their life.