Battle-bots IQ

[Nathan Pell]

Hello:
I thought I would post this hear, and see what happens. I am the teacher and mentor of team 1083; we are a second year FIRST team, and located about 2 miles from the University of Central Florida. In case you do not know "Buzz" from "Robot Rivals" on the DIY network lives and works in this area. He is a VERY big proponent of Battle Bots IQ.

We met with official at UCF last year when the team was getting started to see how they could help us and forth, and we received a little help, but nothing spectacular.

Yesterday, I received an email from my department head about going to some training to be a teacher on a Battle Bots-IQ team. I was very surprised to see that UCF has devoted a lot of money to this. They have their own web page, and lots of really cool stuff. I guess what is bothering me the most is that this program has gotten more help than our team.

I don't really know much about Battle Bots-IQ, but UCF sent out an email showing how doing it will address many of the state benchmarks that students are tested on. (This is called the FCAT, and is VERY controversial in the state of Florida)

How many other FIRST teams participate in Battle Bots IQ, and what are your feelings about it? I just wanted to narrow down the discussion from the main Battle-bots to the one that is for high school teams.

Thank you!
Nathan Pell