[moderated] pic: The 2006 NiagaraFIRST Triplets!

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by CatchRothy22

....I guarantee that the students and kids on these teams didn't build those robots. And building is not simple assembling parts that NiagaraFIRST sent them. 3 teams having the exact same robot sponsored by NiagaraFIRST, I'm sure we can tell who actually built the robot here. I don't see how this is a good idea at all. It completely ruins the FIRST spirit ... This is probably one of the worst examples of gracious professionalism I've seen in my few years involved in FIRST. Stop selling out to your sponsors, and try creating your own robot for once.

Well PJ, since you're so sure of yourself, I'd like you to meet Peter Diakow, Grade 12, from Team 1114 and NiagaraFIRST. He's actually building the hopper of a 2006 NiagaraFIRST robot.

Oh, why does some rookie team mentor from PA give a crap about this? Well, it seems as though Team 1712 was having difficulty figuring out how to marry that big CIM with a roller system because of limited resources. So I'm discussing this online with Karthik and he says, "Dude, why don't we make you a shaft adapter." So NiagaraFIRST's and 1114's own Peter Diakow took time out from BUILDING their robot(s) about 8 pm one night, so he could help 1712 in PA. Then Karthik brought the STUDENT-done work to us in DE where we met up at a Vex event. The kids on 1712 were so elated, they wrote 1114 a long letter for the incredible act of gracious professionalism. See 1712's tribute here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=44048

Just because this isn't how you do business, don't make assumptions about others - EVER. Would my team collaborate like this? Probably not, but that's a team decision. In this case, when you talk about collaboration you are taking shots at 229, 217, 60, 254, the Niagara teams and some of the most storied names in FIRST that go along with these numbers. You know, these are the same names that brought us the kit gearbox and other incredible acts of gracious professionalism.

Take a step back and decide how gracious it is to accuse someone in a public forum without knowing all of the facts. You now have a chance to make things right. Take the opportunity. Namaste.