pic: Team 358 Secret Weapon

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

As we all know, the point of first is to LEARN.. TOGETHER.


DOMINATING the competition is sooo non gp it makes me want to... Exspectorate!

Domination in FIRST is not necessarily a bad thing.

In order to dominate a FIRST competition, you must:
1) Have amazing drivers. This takes skill and dedication on their part.
2) Create a design that no one expects. Time to brew coffee for your Inventor group.
3) Know the rules to point of reciting them from memory. (And remember--they ask the students the questions.)
4) Possess great mentors (and usually sponsors, to a certain extent) to steer the students in the right way.
5) Publicize the robot within the competition to make sure potential alliance partners know of the existence of the robot. (I think 1293's robot in 2004 might have made a decent alliance partner, had folks known of the robot's ability to push (window motors don't backdrive, you know), and our driver's graciously professional enforcer skills.)
6) A support structure for all of the above. Students for some reason function better when fed and kept reasonably happy.

Therefore, I'd be willing to say that domination is a good goal in FIRST, as long as you keep the GP flowing.