FIRST Acronyms

[SSMike]

So the other day my friend was reading someone’s post, and he had to ask me what some of the acronyms meant, like KOP and GDC. So I proceeded to tell him and after I did, I realized how hard it must be for someone new to FIRST or even just a guest on Chief Delphi to understand some of the acronyms that veterans commonly use. Personally I was able to ask veterans on my team but I think that newcomers should be able to just see what a lot of the common “FIRST acronyms” actually mean. So as not to discourage people to want to join or stay connected with FIRST and Chief Delphi, I have compiled a list of common acronyms that will be seen in a fair amount of posts. Hopefully this will get more people involved with FIRST, maybe not but at least it should help the newcomers better understand some of the veteran’s “lingo.”

Let’s start with the most frequent ones:
FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
CD – Chief Delphi
FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition
FTC - FIRST Tech Challenge
FLL - FIRST Lego League
GP- Gracious Professionalism

The Others:
TBA -The Blue Alliance
KOP – Kit of Parts
GDC – Game Design Committee
CAD – Computer Aided Design
WAI – Who Am I
WFA – Woodie Flowers Award
UFH – Unsung FIRST Hero

Certain regionals have abbreviated acronyms such as Greater Toronto Regional, Finger Lakes Regional, and the Great Lakes Regional (GTR, FLR, and GLR respectively)

This isn’t a regional, but it is a big FIRST event: IRI - Indiana Robotics Invitational

All right that’s enough of me talking (sorry about the long post); anyone else who comes up with a suitable acronym that I forgot, please post.

[Elgin Clock]

Don't forget to correctly italicize FIRST. ;)

And you forgot a major one while designing your robot...

K.I.S.S.

And since Nats. is no longer accepted (by most) for shortening The Championship Event, and since The Championship Event takes so long to write :rolleyes: ... I just use ATL too abbreviate Atlanta when talking about The Championship Event.
(as do some others as well)

Year specific ones can include IR Sensor (Infrared Sensor) & CMU Cam (Carnegie-Mellon University [developed] Camera)

Some other random ones:

DK: Dean Kamen
WF: Woodie Flowers
DL: Dave Lavery
Manch-Vegas: Home of FIRST HQ; Manchester New Hampshire.
HQ: Headquarters


Robot specific (or product specific terms can be) ones can be:

RC: Robot Controller (goes on the robot)
OI: Operator Interface (goes in your driver's station)
PSI: pounds per square inch (Pneumatics)
80/20: A company name that makes extruded aluminum and the products that are used with it. (brand name)
AM: (AndyMark)
RPM: Revolutions Per Minute (of the shaft coming out of your gearboxes or motors)


There are a ton more.. but those are the more common ones I can think of.

[EricH]

IFI: Innovation FIRST Inc., who supplies the control system
GTS: Gear Tooth Sensor
Q&A: the official question and answer forums

One that doesn't come up here very often, but can be seen at any event:
FTA: FIRST Technical Advisor; or, the person responsible for the field running smoothly from arrival to departure. Wears a blue vest with FTA on the back.

[AndyB]

COTS - Commercial Off the Shelf
TIMS - Team Information Management System
VIMS - Volunteer Information & Matching System
TBA - The Blue Alliance (thebluealliance.net)

We had a nice discussion last night over what COTS meant. Figured it would fit here.

[Lil' Lavery]

MSC - MSC Industrial Supply Company (http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRHM)
FVC - FIRST Vex Challenge (former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
FRV - FIRST Robotics Vex? (nobody really knows what it stands for, former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
UTC - United Technologies, usually referring to the UTC Regional in Hartford, CT.
LVR - Las Vegas Regional
LSR - Lone Star Regional
GSR - Granite State Regional, held in New Hampshire
BAE- BAE Systems, usually referring to BAE Granite State Regional, in New Hampshire
BC#-Battlecry #, referring to the Battlecry off-season event. # corresponds to which year (Battlecry 8 took place in 2007)

[RoboMom]

Don't forget to correctly italicize FIRST. ;)



And since Nats. is no longer accepted (by most) for shortening The Championship Event, and since The Championship Event takes so long to write :rolleyes: ... I just use ATL too abbreviate Atlanta when talking about The Championship Event.
(as do some others as well)



AKA CHP
NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization :) )
JFLL Junior FIRST LEGO League (don't forget the caps on LEGO)

[AndyB]

IRI - Indiana Robotics Invitational

Can't forget that one.

[jacob07]

FTC-First Tech Challenge
FLL- First Lego League

[Koko Ed]

FLR- Finger Lakes Regional
GLR- Great Lakes Regional
GTR- Greater Toronto Regional

[KathieK]

UTC - former name. Now known as CTR - Connecticut Regional
NEM- pronounced "neem" - a member of NEMO, a non-engineering mentor
EM - pronounced "eem" - could also be a member of NEMO - an engineering mentor
BATB - Bash at the Beach off-season event in Connecticut
n.e.r.d. - New England Robotics Division - a group of FIRSTers in New England
GDC - game design committee

[jtdowney]

BMR - Boilermaker Regional

[LightWaves1636]

80/20 - Company that makes extruded aluminum, deriving their name from their motto, "80% of the results from 20% of the effort"

[artdutra04]

Nothing in the engineering world is ever complete without copious amounts of TLA's - three letter acronyms.

Bonus points if they are recursive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_initialism). :p

[jtdowney]

Bonus points if they are recursive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_initialism). :p

Extra bonus if they are recursive and a backronym (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym). Such as the PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.

[sishu7]

PNW - Pacific Northwest Regional (Now the Oregon Regional)
HOF - Hall of Fame

And... and anagram (which will forever be remembered):
Vets hurdling FIRST tetra...
Drive straight, turn left!!!!!!

[sishu7]

Extra bonus if they are recursive and a backronym (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym). Such as the PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.

I don't even want to think about that... it's far too confusing for poor me!

I'll just stick with recursives OR backronyms, not both... (Why would anyone even make up a recursive backronym? It's beyond me...)

[Guy Davidson]

SVR - Silicon Valley Regional
LVR - Las Vegas Regional
WRRF - Western Robotics Region Forum (NorCal FIRST organization)
SCRRF - Southern California Regional Robotics Furom (above for SoCal)

[efoote868]

RTFM :D read the FIRST manual

[fabalafae]

DAA
Dual-axis accelerometer

YRG
Yaw rate gyro

GTS
Gear tooth sensor

POT
Potentiometer

[matt91]

I cant believe we forgot this one: PWM- Pulse Width Modulation : These are used to control motors and such.

Another that not every one may know: BAR- Boston Area Regional

[jacob07]

Its name is getting a little bit bigger each year, founded by 397's head mentor and helped by many many other teams is M.M.R.A. Mid-Michigan Robotics Alliance (http://www.mmra.us/)

[Racer26]

Of course, for dead parts:

NFG. - No ******* Good

[A_Reed]

NEOFRA: North East Ohio FIRST Robotics Alliance

[Arefin Bari]

SOAP - SigmaC@T Opponent Analysis Program.

[Boydean]

GDC - Game Design Committee
FSU - FIRST Standard Unit

[Nate Laverdure]

RCA - Regional Chairman's Award or an electronics company.

[AndyB]

I use this quite a bit:

MVL - Milwaukee Vex League

[CraigHickman]

You'll here this one in the pits a decent amount:

X part got FUBAR'd! (Effed Up Boyond All Recognition).

[Rick TYler]

I can't believe you FRCheads missed these:

CIMs -- who knows what it stands for? All we know is that they are motors at the core of FRC.

BIGCIM -- the larger CIM.

FP -- Fisher-Price motor

<Gnn> - rule from the "Game" section, where nn is the number (likewise, <Rnn>, <Snn>, &c.)

[EricH]

FSU - FIRST Standard UnitI can never remember what one FSU is...

[Nate Laverdure]

CIM is <edit>NOT</edit> a recursive acronym. It stands for "CCL Industrial Motor," and it is produced by the CCL Industrial Motors company of Hong Kong. "CCL" stands for Chiaphua Components Limited (http://www.chiaphua.com.hk/), which is the conglomerate that owns CIM.

A FSU is both a unit of time or money: either the 6-week build season or the cost of the KoP.

[A_Reed]

I can never remember what one FSU is...

a FIRST Standard Unit is the determined by the summation of all of the qualities of a Championship Chairmans team added together over the years(n= year):D

[Gboehm]

I can never remember what one FSU is...

IS IT BIGGER OR SMALLER THAN A CUBIT...?:confused:

[Qbranch]

EUSART = Enhanced Universal Serial Reciever/Transmitter
EEPROM = Electrically Eraseable/Programmable Read-Only Memory
ECCP = Enhanced Capture/Compare/PWM
PWM = Pulse Width Modulation
ADC = Analog to Digital Converter
ALU = Arithmetic Logic Unit
SPI = Serial Peripheral Interface
LED = Light Emitting Diode

FUBAR = Fouled up Beyond all Repair
RALFF = Robot Autonomous Language for FIRST (TM FRC#1024, 2006) ;)

-q

p.s. Do I get a cookie for doing them all from memory? :]

[jimbot]

There should be a spot on chief delphi for all these acronyms, like a n00b link or something... hint hint guys

[whytheheckme]

DOA- Dead On Arrival
IFI Guy - The lifesaving technician on the field who has that spare copy of xxxx on his flash drive (I'm most familiar with the Ricky and Matt brands.)
QM - Queue Master
G22 - Breaking the Plane ;) (This is more commonly used in dialogue than you'd think i.e. NO G22's THIS MATCH, YOU HERE ME???)

Jacob

[bduddy]

CIM is a recursive acronym. It stands for "CCL Industrial Motor," and it is produced by the CCL Industrial Motors company of Hong Kong. "CCL" stands for Chiaphua Components Limited (http://www.chiaphua.com.hk/), which is the conglomerate that owns CIM.
*snip*
I think recursive means it refers to itself, not another acronym. Also, we (840) have an unrelated sponsor called CIM-during my freshman year, I thought they were the same thing >_>

[Stephi Rae]

MSR- Microsoft-Seattle Regional

[Nate Laverdure]

I think recursive means it refers to itself, not another acronym.
Yeah, you're right. What's the correct term then?

[XXShadowXX]

what does PWM stand for?

[Lil' Lavery]

what does PWM stand for?

Pulse-width modulation

[joshsmithers]

AM- AndyMark, a business started by Andy Baker and Mark Koors in 2004.
VCU- Shortened form of NASA/VCU regional. VCU stands for Virginia Commonwealth University.

[Alan Anderson]

I think recursive means it refers to itself, not another acronym.Yeah, you're right. What's the correct term then?
Nested.

[Stephi Rae]

FART- Foreign Ambassador to Robotics Teams

(a freshman designation)

[kmcclary]

a FIRST Standard Unit is the determined by the summation of all of the qualities of a Championship Chairmans team added together over the years(n= year):DActually NO. The FSU (FIRST Standard Unit) is unit of TIME. It is a definition and reference to Dave Lavery's speech (AFAICD first given at the 2008 St. Louis Regional in Week One).

According to Dave: 1 FSU = 6-1/2 (Six and a Half) Weeks. (AKA "one FIRST Build Cycle worth of time".)

This was a part of Dave's commentary on how FIRST has seriously invaded and impacted NASA's way of doing business.

In essence, enough FIRST Alumni have started work at NASA to redefine how projects are done. Entire workgroups have appeared composed totally of FIRST alumni, so they took the initiative. They converted the project management culture into FSU blocks of time.

Amazingly, instead of projects taking quarters or years (as in the past), things are now organized and are getting done in one or more FSUs, because that's how they were trained to work by participating in FIRST contests.

It was a fascinating commentary on how this "little program" has managed to "complete the loop". Instead of just the sponsors impacting our methods, we are now impacting the SPONSORS' work culture.

(Dave, I hope I've summarized this correctly! Please feel free to fix my explanation.)

- Keith
Proud Sponsor of FRC 1502, "Technical Difficulties"

[A_Reed]

Thanks for the info and it looks like a very interesting speech, I had not heard that speech I was just making something up.:D

[web_master_dpep]

one that i heard alot was IR-Infered

[Renee Becker-Blau]

In Milwaukee:

MVL (Milwaukee Vex League)
MMVC (Milwaukee Mentor Vex Competition)
MFSO (Milwaukee FIRST Support Organization)

[aksimhal]

Actually NO. The FSU (FIRST Standard Unit) is unit of TIME. It is a definition and reference to Dave Lavery's speech (AFAICD first given at the 2008 St. Louis Regional in Week One).

According to Dave: 1 FSU = 6-1/2 (Six and a Half) Weeks. (AKA "one FIRST Build Cycle worth of time".)

This was a part of Dave's commentary on how FIRST has seriously invaded and impacted NASA's way of doing business.

In essence, enough FIRST Alumni have started work at NASA to redefine how projects are done. Entire workgroups have appeared composed totally of FIRST alumni, so they took the initiative. They converted the project management culture into FSU blocks of time.

Amazingly, instead of projects taking quarters or years (as in the past), things are now organized and are getting done in one or more FSUs, because that's how they were trained to work by participating in FIRST contests.

It was a fascinating commentary on how this "little program" has managed to "complete the loop". Instead of just the sponsors impacting our methods, we are now impacting the SPONSORS' work culture.

(Dave, I hope I've summarized this correctly! Please feel free to fix my explanation.)

- Keith
Proud Sponsor of FRC 1502, "Technical Difficulties"
Yup, and he mentioned this at the VCU regional (week 2).

Here's a couple defs,

EI: Engineering Inspiration
WWT: "What was that?" generally said after____occurs on the field.

[kmcclary]

one that i heard alot was IR-InferedUh... Actually, it is not "inferred"...

It should be the two syllable "Infra" "Red" (or nowadays, often simply spelled "infrared").

It's an adjective meaning: "Designating or of those invisible rays just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum: their waves are longer than those of the spectrum colors but shorter than radio waves, and have a penetrating heating effect: used in cooking, photography, etc." (Attribute: definition courtesy of yourdictionary.com)

In our case, it is often referring to the invisible light typically given off by things like TV remote controls (for data communications purposes), or Sharp IR distance sensors.

I hope this helps!

- Keith McClary
Proud Sponsor of Team 1502, "Technical Difficulties"

[Weis]

PFP-Purdue FIRST Programs

[Elgin Clock]

Time to bring this thread back for the upcoming season.

NI = National Instruments

cRIO = Compact Reconfigurable Input Output (YAY Robot Brain!!!)

[pacoliketaco]

BE# = Brunswick Eruption number.

11/01/08 = BE7

[Racer26]

by the same token: KK = Kettering Kickoff

[Elgin Clock]

by the same token: KK = Kettering Kickoff

Also, KK = Krispy Kreme... :D

[Roger]

From the programming world...

LV = LabView
C = C

Going back to recursive acronyms and the like, what would FRC/FTC/FLL (FIRST whatever whatever) be? An acronymed acronym?

FLL reminds me of the kids too young for FJLL: PKFLL! (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=642509&postcount=6) :]

[JudyVandy]

What about the PARC (PA Robot Challenge)? In Tunkhannock, PA...

[R2D2DOC]

Okay, had to chime in:

P^7 = Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance

No substitutes please ! !

[BandChick]

WFFA - Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
GA - Game Announcer
MC - Emcee (yes, that is the actual word)
RD - Regional Director
FSM - FIRST Senior Mentor

[Bill_B]

WFFA - Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
GA - Game Announcer
MC - Emcee (yes, that is the actual word)
RD - Regional Director
FSM - FIRST Senior Mentor

MC = Master of Ceremonies (shortened by our syllable-hating writing public to emcee)

[Akash Rastogi]

BB= Bill's Blog or BaneBots

[delsaner]

This is not acronym, but it something that I was curious about, because I have seen it use a lot. I thought this is the best place to post.

Its something like ... ? What exactly is it?

[EricH]

Not Part of Entry, used as a psuedo-tag in the Caption Contests and other places.

Also see NAE (Not An Entry).

[Bill_B]

OK, accuse me of having too much time to kill if you must. While not watching commercials during the Olympics, I have distilled this thread into a 113-line list of acronyms. Question now is how to post? Anyone want to see it in-line here? or is there a CD-sanctioned storage spot this can be tucked to avoid being accused of flooding?

[baruffir]

BOM - Bill Of Materials

Always useful.

[O'Sancheski]

UTC- United Technologies, Sponsor many of the Connecticut teams including mine

[PAR_WIG1350]

BOM - Bill Of Materials

Always useful.

:( I was just about to post that

C = C
recursive acronym!

[Bill_B]

Olympics are on again and no advice to the contrary so - -

80/20 - Company that makes extruded aluminum, deriving their name from their motto,
<Gnn> - rule from the "Game" section, where nn is the number (likewise, <Rnn>, <Snn>, &c.)
ADC - Analog to Digital Converter
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
AM - AndyMark, a business started by Andy Baker and Mark Koors in 2004.
ATL - Atlanta when talking about The Championship Event.
BAE - BAE Systems, usually referring to BAE Granite State Regional, in New Hampshire
BAR - Boston Area Regional
BATB - Bash at the Beach off-season event in Connecticut
BB - Bill's Blog or BaneBots
BIGCIM -- the larger CIM.
BMR - Boilermaker Regional
BOM - Bill Of Materials
CAD - Computer Aided Design
CAN - Controller Area Network (communication mode for Jaguar controller)
CCL - Chiaphua Components Limited, which is the conglomerate that owns CIM.
CD - Chief Delphi
CIM - CCL Industrial Motor,"
CMU Cam - Carnegie-Mellon University [developed] Camera)
COTS - Commercial Off the Shelf
cRIO - Compact Reconfigurable Input Output (YAY Robot Brain!!!)
DAA - Dual-axis accelerometer
DK - Dean Kamen
DL - Dave Lavery
DOA - Dead On Arrival
ECCP - Enhanced Capture/Compare/PWM
EEPROM - Electrically Eraseable/Programmable Read-Only Memory
EI - Engineering Inspiration
EM - pronounced "eem" - could also be a member of NEMO - an engineering mentor
EUSART - Enhanced Universal Serial Reciever/Transmitter
FART- Foreign Ambassador to Robotics Teams
FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
FLL - FIRST Lego League
FLR- Finger Lakes Regional
FP -- Fisher-Price motor
FRC - FIRST Robotics Competition
FRV - FIRST Robotics Vex? (nobody really knows what it stands for, former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
FSM - FIRST Senior Mentor
FSU (FIRST Standard Unit) is unit of TIME.
FTA - FIRST Technical Advisor; Wears a blue vest with FTA on the back.
FTC - FIRST Tech Challenge
FUBAR - Fouled up Beyond all Repair
FUBAR'd (Effed Up Boyond All Recognition).
FVC - FIRST Vex Challenge (former name for FIRST Tech Challenge)
G22 - Breaking the Plane
GA - Game Announcer
GDC - game design committee
GLR - Great Lakes Regional
GP - Gracious Professionalism
GSR - Granite State Regional, held in New Hampshire
GTR - Greater Toronto Regional
GTS - Gear Tooth Sensor
HOF - Hall of Fame
HQ - Headquarters
IFI - Innovation FIRST Inc., who supplies the control system
IFI Guy - The lifesaving technician on the field who has that spare copy of xxxx on his flash drive
IR Sensor (Infrared Sensor) &
IRI - Indiana Robotics Invitational
JFLL Junior FIRST LEGO League (don't forget the caps on LEGO)
KISS - keep it simple, stupid
KK - Kettering Kickoff
KK - Krispy Kreme...
KOP - Kit of Parts
LED - Light Emitting Diode
LSR - Lone Star Regional
LVR - Las Vegas Regional
M.M.R.A. Mid-Michigan Robotics Alliance
Manch-Vegas - Home of FIRST HQ; Manchester New Hampshire.
MC - Master of Ceremonies
MDL-BDC - Module Brushed DC motor controller AKA Jaguar
MFSO (Milwaukee FIRST Support Organization)
MMVC (Milwaukee Mentor Vex Competition)
MSC - MSC Industrial Supply Company
MSR - Microsoft-Seattle Regional
MVL - Milwaukee Vex League
n.e.r.d. - New England Robotics Division - a group of FIRSTers in New England
NEM - pronounced "neem" - a member of NEMO, a non-engineering mentor
NEMO - (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization )
NEOFRA - North East Ohio FIRST Robotics Alliance
NFG - No $@#$@#$@#$@# Good
NI - National Instruments
OI - Operator Interface (goes in your driver's station)
P^7 - Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance
PFP-Purdue FIRST Programs
PNW - Pacific Northwest Regional (Now the Oregon Regional)
POT - Potentiometer
PSI - pounds per square inch (Pneumatics)
PWM - Pulse Width Modulation
Q&A - the official question and answer forums
QM - Queue Master
RC - Robot Controller (goes on the robot)
RCA - Regional Chairman's Award or an electronics company.
RD - Regional Director
RPM - Revolutions Per Minute (of the shaft coming out of your gearboxes or motors)
RTFM - read the FIRST manual
SCRRF - Southern California Regional Robotics Furom (above for SoCal)
SOAP - SigmaC@T Opponent Analysis Program.
SPI - Serial Peripheral Interface
SVR - Silicon Valley Regional
TBA - The Blue Alliance (thebluealliance.net)
TIMS - Team Information Management System
TLAs - three letter acronyms. (shouldn't this be 3LAs?)
UFH - Unsung FIRST Hero
UTC - former name. Now known as CTR - Connecticut Regional
UTC - United Technologies, usually referring to the UTC Regional in Hartford, CT.
VCU - Shortened form of NASA/VCU regional. VCU stands for Virginia Commonwealth University.
VIMS - Volunteer Information & Matching System
WAI - Who Am I (a regional?)
WF - Woodie Flowers
WFA - Woodie Flowers Award
WFFA - Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
WRRF - Western Robotics Region Forum (NorCal FIRST organization)
WWT - "What was that?" generally said after____occurs on the field.
YRG - Yaw rate gyro

[indieFan]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but can some tell me what OPR stands for?

[NicusTM]

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but can some tell me what OPR stands for?

Offensive Power Rating

[slickvic2252]

#MFD

[MARS_James]

TSIMFD -Link (NSFW) (https://www.twitch.tv/frcgamesense/v/63756808?t=04h18m59s)