Team Update #1

[Greg Needel]

I have been a quiet observer of this thread and feel the same emotions that many others do. When I first saw the minibot challenge at kickoff I was extremely excited, because it was a wide open challenge that was different from anything FIRST had done in the past. Like many we came up with numerous designs all of which are illegal at this point. A few things really strike me as wrong with this decision and it is not exactly the obvious ones that people are focusing on.


I have no problem with FIRST Limiting the motors required for the minibot, I have a problem with not giving those motors in the kit. Yes FIRSTchoice exists but many teams including mine logged on early in the AM on Monday to ensure we got the parts we wanted, like we were advised to do. Had this rule been defined in the manual to start with this would have been a lesser issue, but they still should have put at least 2 motors and a battery in the kit.

Cost of the components. My teams can afford these components so I am not complaining about that, but it is one thing to lock teams into a specific motor but you have to be fair with the value/price. WHY DOES THE TETRIX MOTOR COST MORE THAN THE CIM MOTOR? From a manufacturing perspective there is no way there is more (copper, casing, bearings, etc) in the textrix motor than any other motor in the kit. The cost of the motor is simple price gouging by lego/pitsco plain and simple.


The minibot competition will not be won by teams who use the Tetrix kit. Like many things in FRC the challenges are never level, but FIRST has been doing things the past decade to close the gaps between the haves and the have-nots (kitbots, allowances of COTS specifically designed for teams, etc) by forcing teams down a path the ones who have manufacturing abilities will use the aluminum, plastic, and other allowed components to build lighter and faster robots. I feel sorry for the FTC teams that FIRST is encouraging to build pole climbers and show up at competitions thinking they have a shot a winning. If FIRST's goals are to inspire students it doesn't seem right that they are setting kids up for failure.


To quickly address the argument going on in this thread about FTC and VEX..."It is what it is" Both programs have similar goals to get students interested in STEM. In my opinion there is one that does it better than the other but that is irrelevant for the conversation of the minibot.

I encourage everyone to vent your frustrations and then take the challenge they have given you and do your best at it, that's all anyone can do with anything in life.