Crown Jewel of your Collection

[CalTran]

Was recently doing inventory on my own collection, and figured I'd inquire to other people - what's the crown jewel of your robotics collection?

For apparel, it's probably a toss up between my 2010 "custom" World Champs jacket or my 2056 t-shirt.
For non-apparel, it's my New Cool book with various signatures from high profile people.

[414cnewq]

Definitely my 2015 drive team button from my team's only trip to champs so far.

[cadandcookies]

Almost certainly my hat...

I've got pins on there from many of the years I've competed or mentored, buttons from teams I was on or was associated with, my volunteering pins, etc. I've worn it to just about every event I've been to since 2013. Once a man on the train into town from the St. Louis airport offered to buy it from me for $20... I had to turn him down.

[Munchskull]

I would have to say my newton field reset pin from this year.

[frcguy]

Shirt-wise? Toss up between my 254 shirts, black 971 shirt, 2122 shirt, or my Chezy Champs volunteer shirt.

Not-shirt wise? Definitely the Apex necklace they gave all the drive teams on our alliance in Curie.

[Trevor1523]

I haven't got any other team shirts besides 1523 (Half of my closet is full of them, if you want to trade at Orlando or SF send me a PM ;))

Other than that I really like my Buchanan Bird Brains button from 2015, even though it isn't anything major.

[Bryce Clegg]

Personally, mine would probably be my hard hat pin from my Freshman year. I was Junior Safety Captain that year, where I worked in the pit with the Senior Safety Captain. It brings back memories from the Palmetto and Smokey Mountain competitions, which were the first FRC regionals I experienced.

[ctt956]

Probably my 118 Arsenal button and my official 2016 FIRST Stronghold Volunteer shirt and badge.

I haven't got any other team shirts besides 1523 (Half of my closet is full of them, if you want to trade at Orlando or SF send me a PM ;))

Either your closet is too small, or you have way too many 1523 shirts...:D

[EmileH]

Tossup between my 2056 streak shirt, 610 sweatshirt, 254 sweatshirt, and 1538 tee.

#toomanyshirts?

[frcguy]

Tossup between my 2056 streak shirt, 610 sweatshirt, 254 sweatshirt, and 1538 tee.

#toomanyshirts?

I have 17 shirts from other teams. I think you're good :P.

[Fusion_Clint]

Most definitely our Einstein Drive Team pin/button from 2016 with Woodie Flowers autograph, that was donated to the team by last years Fusion 364 Captain.

I am in the process of making a Shadow Box; with this pin, our Hopper Division Medal, our 2016 CMP pit placard and a Team Photo.

[s_forbes]

I was able to buy the 2006 robot from my high school team when they were clearing space and raising funds. It was the robot from the team's (and my) rookie year, and I got to design and build lots of it's parts over a decade ago. Now it gets to sleep in my house.

Also, I have a set piece from the movie Spare Parts (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3233418/); it's graphics are based on a robot I helped build in 2010 (http://www.selectric.org/nurc10/index.html)

http://i.imgur.com/PUcbSTT.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/Zw2HjPN.jpg)

[P.J.]

Following the trend, I'll do one apparel item and one non apparel.

My favorite piece of apparel is my Einstein Crew hat from when I volunteered at Champs in 2013. While I didn't actually get to go onto the Einstein field (since I was a referee and they only use the head refs from each field) my head referee made sure the whole ref crew got hats.

But my prized possession is a two headed Martian plushy I got from Team 70 (More Martians) when we won the Kettering District with them my senior year.

I found out years later that while the one headed plushies are relatively common, the two headed ones were all completely hand made by one of student's mothers. So there are only a handful of them out there.

[bigbeezy]

23 drive team buttons (11 as a driver) with the crown jewel being our 2015 Einstein button.

[troy_dietz]

This year's championship alliance captain hat. Everybody on our team got a medal for both the division and Einstein win, but I like the utility of a hat much more.

[Ginger Power]

My inspectors hat signed by Dean and Woody is by far the crown jewel of my FRC collection. I would love to get it signed by Don Bossi as well.

[kriskv717]

I would have to say my team shirt signed at the 2015 Utah Regional by Dean Kamen. Or the picture that I had taken with him :)

[fargus111111111]

Mine would be my "medal" for breaking the robot in various ways, its slightly more than half of a broken plastic drive track pulley hanging on a string. Oh the memories...

[Doug G]

I was able to buy the 2006 robot from my high school team when they were clearing space and raising funds. It was the robot from the team's (and my) rookie year, and I got to design and build lots of it's parts over a decade ago. Now it gets to sleep in my house.

http://i.imgur.com/PUcbSTT.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/Zw2HjPN.jpg)

Ugh... That robot!! We're so close to winning a regional in Sacramento-Davis that year. Your team was a blast to play against and did so well as rookies, quite impressive. Here's the one Finals (https://youtu.be/ZCpUTE7ZN9g)match we won... for some reason I don't have the matches we lost :(

[Whippet]

4063 pink hard hat from winning Hub City with them… Also I have an original 2012 KOP tee shirt that I still actively wear.

[Dwight_2]

Probably my favorite would be my giant glowing sword which unfortunately is still a work in progress from last season (2016) but I love the reactions I get from everyday people and people at my school.https://drive.google.com/file/d/10TL7gQwxW1HSxWPexsAv2qpuIvkPaC9MCA/view?usp=sharing

[s_forbes]

Ugh... That robot!!

It wasn't good at many things, unless you needed a big box to sit in a certain spot on the field for an entire match. ;)

[prozack19]

mine would be the invited guest badge i got from my teams 2016 appearance at champs. it was my senior year and i was able to get right up next to the field to watch. i also go that to be signed by dean kamen. i also have a piece of the frame from the 2015 robot. we didn't get farther then the district championship that year however we competed at 3 districts and a district champs. the reason why it is something i will keep for as long as i can is because that year i was human player, lead scout and strategist, and a chairmans presenter. so that year i did a lot.

[Koko Ed]

My favorite classic robotics shirt is my Exploding Bacon hockey jersey (I had to buy it). My actual favorite is my custom Angry Eric hockey jersey (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152200155414444&set=a.281642129443.143426.512329443&type=3&theater) I had made.

[Wetzel]

I'm a fan of my 258 shirt.

[Michael Corsetto]

Definitely the hand written notes I've received from students on the teams I've mentored. Helps remind me why I do what I do.

[Jon K.]

I have a ton of awesome stuff in my collection, including MOE Sticks (get off my lawn and search the archives here.), tetras from champs my senior year, and a few other cool momentoes from 16 years in FIRST. One of the sweetest things in my collection is the table and chairs set from the IRI auction this year.

Not to get sappy /sentimental, but the best things in my collection are the friends I have made across the world, and some amazing memories I still have from my time on RAGE FRC 173. Also the fact that, because of my experiences in FIRST, I get to work for The Andy Baker at AndyMark doing what I love every day, and knowing that I get to help thousands of students who are just like I once was.

[JesseK]

Physically, the best thing I have is my collection of 28 driver coach buttons from 10 seasons of coaching.

Non-physically, it's the feedback from the kids after they graduate. Some letters evoked emotion, others (like Facebook posts) usually evoke a sense of "woohoo!". It's hard to describe beyond that.

[Ginger Bread]

I'd have to say the boulder that I got from GRITS 2016 is my crown jewel; they had a bunch of leftover shiny new boulders and were handing them out.

[Jay Trzaskos]

Definitely the hand written notes I've received from students on the teams I've mentored. Helps remind me why I do what I do.

This, a thousand times over. Medals are nice and shirts are cool, but I've given away enough of both without feeling any loss. But the notes my students have given me over the past years are some of my most prized possessions, FRC or other.

[Trevor1523]

I haven't got any other team shirts besides 1523 (Half of my closet is full of them, if you want to trade at Orlando or SF send me a PM ;))

Other than that I really like my Buchanan Bird Brains button from 2015, even though it isn't anything major.

Update: Just recieved 148's tote lifter. Now that definitely takes the cake for me.

[Jessica Boucher]

- 1993 FIRST Painters Cap I got at a HQ garage sale.
- 2003 Championship disposable camera, sealed in plastic, that I got off ebay.
- 2000 Volunteer Shirt. My first and my favorite (design-wise).

Runner up: Two Volunteer of the Year Awards? ;)

[Max Boord]

I have always liked the shirts that had some kind of backstory as to how I got them so my 1114 is my favorite followed by a black 2016 971 shirt. For non apparel my favorite is a boulder from the Einstein field 1065s alliance played on.

[BrendanB]

I've got shirts & robot parts from a few robots of ours and a few other teams.

The coolest FIRST item I have is an original copy of the 1996 Championship Elimination bracket (http://i.imgur.com/AStnPw0.jpg). It is a cool piece of history seeing all of the old teams back when FIRST was just beginning.

I got it when 3467 was beginning a friend of our lead mentor was a mentor on the Salem HS team back in the day and he loved sharing old "artifacts" like these from his day in FRC.

One day I dream of it getting filled in but that probably won't happen.

[lpickett]

My FRC1730 team shirt from our tenth year signed by Woody at Missouri regional. I put it away and will not wash it or wear it.

[carpedav000]

Apparel: The red construction hat with "PANIC MODE" written on the side of it I wore at Indiana FTC state champs 2014 (I was a driver, we were the finalist alliance captian, fun times)

Non-Apparel: An omni wheel I busted while building the robot that year

[Ryan_Todd]

Easy!

As part of my senior capstone design project at Kettering University, I was permitted to use a mecanum-wheeled drivetrain that 862 had lying around.
(It was originally the base of our 2008 FIRST Overdrive robot, "Thor", which had long since been harvested for parts; there's talk of restoring that one next, after we finish our current project of refurbishing our '09 bot.)

Anyways, here's what it looks like now:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/R3msMHUy7-0/hqdefault.jpg

(click for video) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3msMHUy7-0)

[Connor McBride]

For me it's not physical at all. To me, the crown jewel are the countless memories from being a student on 166. Physical items will be lost along the way eventually but memories will never be forgotten.

[GCarnes]

Crown Jewel is my hat from being an alliance captain at Championship this past year. One of 64 hats in the world, from the last ever single championship.

[Katie_UPS]

Mine is probably cheating a little bit, buts it's my tee-shirt quilt (https://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39105) that I made a few years back. Every shirt has a story/memory attached and it's lived in a few different places with me now.

[musicgurl1329]

Apparel:

A shirt a friend made for the team I previously mentored.

Non-Apparel:

My mentor's old leatherman his family gave me.

[ratdude747]

Shirt wise, My old 1747 shirts are up there, as are my 2015/2016 Champs and IRI shirts (all of which I was scorekeeping). The "most valuable" would be one of omy 1747 shirts and my old 2783 jersey, which both are woodie flowers autographed (but they sit in a closet, the other ones get worn now and then).

Otherwise, I think more of my personal stuff became property of teams than the other way around, so don't have much. Most of my handiwork and the like became final assembly parts, and thus are either on old bots in storage or scrapped. I guess that's a good thing?

[The Ginger]

either my 3D printed pin from our parent team 3840 (TNT robotics) or the broken rhino drive wheel that I posted on CD to call andymarks attention to its critical mechanical breakdown

[Chief Hedgehog]

I own t-shirts from 1816, 2175, and 2052. All three have played prominent roles in shaping how 4607 operates - and we have the utmost respect for these teams.

This tee-shirt collecting gets kind of addicting, doesn't it?

[Sperkowsky]

Favorite FRC item is definitely my IRI phone charger.

My dean's list backpack is also a close second.

In terms of apparel only I personally quite enjoy my 1477 shirt (its just so clean). My bomb squad shirt, IRI shirts, Champs volunteer shirts, and 254 sweatshirt are all up there as well.

Now if I can just convince someone to let me trade or buy a 1678 shirt ;).

[ratdude747]

Favorite FRC item is definitely my IRI phone charger.

I forgot about those... They're nifty, that's for sure. My IRI bags get a lot of use too (this year's holds my tablet and car chargers for phone and laptop on work trips). IRI has some of the best swag, that's for sure.

[Chris is me]

I have an FTC Winning Alliance trophy from the Vex era, when my barely 2 person team partnered with what would later become FRC 2451 PWNAGE as the last pick to win an event. That single tournament is the only reason I'm involved in FRC today, and quite likely the reason I'm a mechanical engineer.

[sparty52]

Probably our hand drill signed by Don Bossi (CEO of FIRST). Just a pretty neato memento from 2013 Worlds.

[Edxu]

2013 "Theory of Texan Coyotes" T-Shirt that I still wear to offseasons/events sometimes.

Also a frisbee from Einstein 2013.

[tjf]

Though technically it was earned and not given, my Mt. Olive medal. For me, it was the moment I fell in love with FIRST. For my team, the moment we won as an alliance captain for the first time ever.

I have to build a shadow-box at some point to hold it, but I value that above some of my oldest possessions, as it reinforced me knowing what I wanted to do with my life.

[Doiteain]

Favorite FRC item is definitely my IRI phone charger.
Now if I can just convince someone to let me trade or buy a 1678 shirt ;).

It took my two an a half years to eventually get mine...

[jajabinx124]

I own T-shirts from 3184, 4607, 2056 (regional win streak one) only at this point. (thanks CD users nickbrickmaster and Chief Hedgehog for trading)

Looking to expand on that.. I really need to order some 254 apparel in the future..

[Ollystorm]

My 'crown jewel' is my 2016 Championships NASA Machinist Volunteer shirt I was lucky enough to trade for.
Close second is my 1678 hoodie.

[thedude019]

Of course the one thing I cherish most is all the memories and life long friends ive made throughout my time on SHARP. When it comes to physical items, I own the cardboard sign that displayed the teams number in the pit. Its from the 2014 Pittsburgh Regional when we won our very first tournament enabling us to go worlds. That sign is a reminder of all the hard work we put in that year along with my most favorite trip I have ever taken in my life. I would do anything to relive my time at 2014 worlds.

[Bryce2471]

As far as apparel, I think the crown jewel of my collection is my team hat. It was hand made by an amazing french foreign exchange student while he was on the team. When he returned to France, he started the first french FRC team with one of our alumni.

As far as physical objects that are non apparel, I have to go with the deans list award from 2014:
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15032093_1290850524299878_4654209467534486224_n.jp g?oh=07c11e8e2398e050a617c585b76e2179&oe=58CE2A55

[Dylannn]

My 233 Pink team shirt! I traded for it at IRI this summer

[MamaSpoldi]

Definitely the hand written notes I've received from students on the teams I've mentored. Helps remind me why I do what I do.

The best items are those from our students, whether they are lessons learned or actual items received they are the reminders of why we do this.

My personal crown jewel is a model of our 2016 robot built using an erector set by a senior on our team that I had worked with since he was a freshman. I had heard him speak many times over the months of build and competition about this model he was working on and how he kept taking it apart to improve it, adding little details, to get it right. When he gave it to me I was speechless... he said it took a lot of taking it apart and trying it a different way, like programming. :D I was so proud of all he had accomplished over the last 4 years.

Over the years there had been times he thought of quitting or thought he was not capable enough to face the task at hand, but he always decided to keep trying. I will always remember that it was made by the boy who decided he wanted to try... and he succeeded.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fc/35/b7/fc35b773b4c983d67395b5314e57c757.jpg

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