My coach said that build season next year will only be five weeks instead of six weeks. Do you think that will have an impact on the quality of the robots in next years game? Personally, I do not think that one less week will make that much of a problem as people think it will be (this is coming from reactions I have personally seen). What does everyone else think?
“Word is” usually mean it’s an unsubstantiated rumor.
I don’t think teams will have time to perfect their bots with iterative designs, which may lead to more frustration in the veteran teams that are used to it. Once less week would, imo, also bring a huge time crunch on the logistics of acquiring parts, lead time for maching, welding, powder coating, etc.
they wont make it less than 6 weeks. if they do Ill eat a pig . . snout to hoof .
all off this speculation is comming from a posted day on the georga dome’s website, and the location of the first saturday of 2010. some how people add up all the regional weeks and the spaces between championship and build season Some one then came up as 5 for the magic number of the build. . . FIRST will skim from the in between regional/championship weeks before they shorten a build season ( if im wrong see the previous pig statement)
GDC, if you are out there, all I want for Christmas is to see Stuart eat a pig snout to hoof.
I would ask your coach where he got this information. FIRST has not made any official announcements on the subject.
Not Suzy Q!
GDC if for no other reason than this don’t make the build season 5 weeks!
Also, unsubstantiated rumor is unsubstantiated. 
Would it be cool to change things up? Sure, would it be practical? Not really, all it would mean would be I am getting sick in 5 weeks instead of 6, not MUCH of a difference.
With the withholding allowance this past year build season never ended for some anyway, so who knows if it would really even matter. Speculation is a funny thing and is rarely worth our time, but I must admit the snout to hoof challenge has me interested. OINK, OINK, BURP?
One thing to think about when listening to and contributing to rumors, is to consider those who are impacted by them in really awful ways. Teams in Brazil and England, just to name a couple of areas where FRC teams are located, have a difficult enough time as it is without talk of shortening the 6 weeks build. Teams who have the luxury of attending kickoffs and picking up their KoPs at the site location to begin planning and building immediately, may just take that capability for granted. Teams in remote locations do not always have that opportunity and have to work within the constraints that are created by their shortened build time. I would wager that if the build time of 6 weeks were shortened any further, these teams would be further pressed for time in ways many teams have not experienced and don’t even think about. Not fun.
Form what I heard, from my coach and other, is that build season will be five weeks instead of six. I heard it was because of the positioning of Kick-off, that kickoff may have to be pushed back a week, shortening build season. I’m not saying that this rumor is true, i am just curious about what the results could be if this rumor is true.
NOOOOOO! Not Wilbur T Pig!!:ahh:
Well, the results are already showing that some mentors will pig out, some will make really bad puns, and others will turn into Eeyores. Actually, that’s pretty normal for build season predictions.
Stay away from 1902 please =P We dont wanna be eaten hahaha
snout to hoof
Just a free piece of advice, start at the hoof first, the snout is the best part.
Second free advice is to wait until November to start the silly bets. I’d suggest the summer to hone your CAD skills, September for programming and then use October for working on welding and machining techniques. November for snouts.
Oh yea, baked vs. fried if you have a choice.
omg…
I can’t see any reason for this!!!
I think that if the FIRST reduces the season time to five weeks, teams of other countries won’t participate.
Every year, we always work with just 4 weeks, because in the first week we don’t have de KoP and the last week is reserved for export of the robot to USA. So I really can’t imagine how build a robot in just three weeks.
Whatever…
Deep Breath. Relax.
The effects of less than 6 weeks may not be cool for foreign teams.
But if it was just a fun way of limiting our time even more, I’d say bring it. (Only for the US though maybe? I’d like to see it happen).
By the way…I love the punny mentors on CD.
Personally, IF (and I emphasize if) the build time is reduced to 5 weeks I would like to know with enough lead time to decide weather or not I would pay the entry fee or have an option to opt out if it is later.
The six week build time puts a large strain on my students to build the robot and keep up grades (no pass - no play). I fear that a shorter build time might encourage them to put their attention on activities that would seriously jeopardize their studies.
At this point though, it is all conjecture and we will need to wait for official word if and when there will be a change.
Not happening. I wouldn’t even entertain the thought of it.
It’s been 6 weeks forever. Not gonna change now.
How long was the playing field carpet? Not saying it is going to happen but FIRST doesn’t seem to care if things have been like that FOREVER, it can change, very few things are sacred, Build season could be eliminated all together next year in favor of a build until you compete system. We don’t know. I would just appreciate that if something major like that changes FIRST give us a heads up so we can get some sort of plan in place.
Just because kick-off is being moved back a week doesn’t mean we’re losing a week. The whole season is being shift back. Kick-off is a week later, ship day is a week later. There is nothing to worry about.
Exactly! You have to remember, FIRST has been around for about twenty years. Since days shift every year, this has to have happened before. As a matter of fact, it has, most recently in 2004. So Kickoff has moved up a day every year since 2004, and this year it will be taking one giant leap back. Only to gradually advance for about the next seven years and leap back again. We definitely got a 6 week build period in 2004.
The best/worst part is, you could potentially get all of February break for robot building/testing and ship the following Tuesday! Of course, your technical mentors will be working for the most part (unless they get federal holidays off), but teachers/self employed mentors might be willing to lend a hand. The bad part is, you may find yourself locked out of your workshop for a week (if your school shuts down for the week), which would be a very bad thing indeed.