Should FIRST expand beyond robotics?

[Andrew Schreiber]

I honestly have to say no.

Right now FIRST needs to sit back and determine what their goals are. Do they want to grow the program in the United States/Canada or do they want to grow the program outside of the Americas? (This is mostly and FRC problem) Doing the latter will take considerable man power and time. IF FIRST does not commit to expanding outside of the Americas it would be possible that FIRST could expand into other markets but I think this would be among the gravest mistakes FIRST could make.

If they do they need to go after a completely different set of people, do not go after the obvious future engineers. They should target the more athletic crowd. Perhaps with competitions involving designing running aids, javelins that fly better, or the like. Show the students that instead of working harder they can work smarter.