FIRST is missing out

[archiver]

Posted by Dan at 04/26/2001 9:05 PM EST


Other on team - from Carnegie Mellon sponsored by -.


In Reply to: I see it MUCH differently
Posted by Jason Morrella on 04/26/2001 12:53 PM EST:



BattleBots is not a show, it's a competition. It, and similar competitions, have existed well before the TV exposure. BattleBots does not have a mission statement per se, like FIRST, everyone does it for different reasons--also just like FIRST.
I love FIRST and I love BattleBots (not the show, the competition.) That being said I think they both have a lot to learn from each other. The biggest advantage to BattleBots overall has nothing to do with the media or popularity; BattleBots has more freedom. No more squabbling over absolutely ridiculous rules about kit parts, kit modifications, *when* you bought something, *where* you bought it from, etc. BattleBots lets you concentrate on making a robot to do whatever you want. And for those who say FIRST is "harder," I beg to differ. What the FIRST kit does is narrow your options which is implicitly easier to engineer.
And personally, I know that BattleBots has been a HUGE factor in my education. FIRST is not even about education though, right? It's about inspiration and it accomplished that. But BattleBots is the reason that I have 60 lbs. of engineering catalogs--all you need for FIRST and all you need to know for FIRST is what is in the kit.
If none of that convinces you, then I think we should look to super-former-FIRST-coach and Woodie Flowers Award Winner Micheal Bastoni. He has some of his kids working on BattleBots "instead" of FIRST and it's apparently going great (I hope he chimes in sometime.) By doing BattleBots he can build and teach his kids at his own pace. What I've seen is that it simply is *not* *possible* to teach students *and* build a robot in 6 weeks. This is why BattleBots' freedom is so valuable, you can really do what you want with it.
Jason...I respect you a lot, but I really disagree with you on this one. BattleBots is not FIRST's evil arch nemesis. They're really both great.
Dan