Championship 2010 - Atlanta - Your Thoughts Please?

[Ryan Gordon]

Originally Posted by ChristinaR

As a couple folks have already mentioned, some teams do seem to like using a team media badge to have an extra mentor or student on the floor. I personally spotted a few. I think it's unfortunate that teams choose to "cheat" like that, and don't even care to hide it (not carrying a camera of any variety). It's especially bad to see those with the badges with their hands inside the robot making adjustments. What does this say to the students on the team about playing fair?

Is that really the spirit of FIRST? Isn't it more about being able to have fun and play with a working robot?

I know I would not want to compete in FIRST and put in all that sweat, energy, time, and money if that's the kind of connotation being portrayed to the students.

Let me also point out that if that is the case being made, subjection based on ID, then are you saying that it okay that a captain or a human player or a driver goes out and makes adjustments after they place it on the field? Why is the politic here being limited to media badges?

Should FIRST just disallow anyone touching the robot at all, except placement on the field and to turn it on, if this is the point being made?

Now that being said, this was the first time our team went to the nationals and I was very pleased overall in terms of how well the logistics were prepared and executed. I know I had a blast in the grand scheme of things.