IFI Critique

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

Even so, they are a for profit company. It is their charter to make as much money from FIRST and FIRST related sales as they can. It is not IFI's job to make sure that FIRST teams have the best products and the lowest prices. That job falls to Manchester.

This is true, but I'd argue that in the market of FRC robot parts, you're all but required to provide the most bang for the buck in order to keep getting business. According to Brandon's statistics, there were just over 7,000 active users on CD. (For comparison, FIRST's 2005 annual report indicates that about 25,000 students participated in FRC in 2005. The two numbers are borderline apples-and-oranges, but you get the point.)

Now, let's suppose that Billfred Industries starts selling two-speed gearboxes, trying to go head-to-head with AndyMark*. A lot of those customers are either going to be on CD, be part of some local FIRST scene, or know someone who is. If these gearboxes are awesome, business will pick up next build season. But if the things just don't work, that same network will spread that news just as quickly. (How many AM Shifters did you see on robots in 2005? How many did you see in 2006?)

From what I've seen, there's been two ways to get a product out there in FIRST: team demand leading to it going in the KOP (think kitbot, CMUcam, the lighted target for the CMUcam), or word of mouth among teams about it (think roughtop, wedgetop, AM Shifters). A brand new control system can't really be done through the latter route, and convincing other teams that this new system you've developed is worth FIRST making the switch from IFI a bit of an uphill struggle. It'd take a heck of a salesman to get enough teams calling for the switch for it to really show up on the radar, but I believe it can be done if the product is quality. We are talking about the same folks who can scout a whole regional and collect enough data to make my head explode, after all.

*Now really, who would want to try and go against Andy Baker? That's like trying to single-handedly outscore 25, 254, and your choice of triplet with a shopping cart.