Ideas to move in the direction of making FIRST competitions 'fair'

[dhitchco]

Hey Ken,
a very interesting thread you started here, just a couple of thoughts from "an old man".

1) Repeat after me....."It's not about the robot......It's not about the robot"

2) from FIRST's web site ".....teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The program is a life-changing, career-molding experience—and a lot of fun." This is very true. Whether you be a rookie, underfunded team ar a corporate-backed mega-team, there's always LOTS to be learned.....

3) Developing new "classes" of super-competition would totally defeat the concepts of info-sharing, partnerships, alliances, etc and create an eletist society within FIRST.

FIRST must remain a homgenious society. Rules are rules in any society.....either live by them, or work to change the rules.