What does the Chairman’s Award have to do with a robot contest?

[Ed Sparks]

What does the Chairman’s Award have to do with a robot contest?

Don’t get me wrong, I think winning this award is a noble accomplishment. It deserves great celebration and recognition. It definitely demonstrates a teams commitment to spreading the word of FIRST and we all know that FIRST needs to nurture that, but should a team get a lifetime entitlement to the robot competition for this (or any other criteria for that matter)?

I think not.

I want to base my opinion on 2 points :

For all of the years that I’ve been involved with this program, there have been 3 separate competition areas involved (robot, chairman’s award, and animation). Never before has the outcome of one area been a factor in the other. Why now? Should the winners of the animation award be entitled?

The idea that only one team per year is worthy of such an entitlement given the vast amount of effort that teams put in to this is inconceivable to me. Each year, when the finalists are read, I know that any one of them (and probably many more) are equally worthy. Even the judges state each year how incredibly hard it is to pick a winner.

So why interject so much controversy into solving the problem of overcrowding?

I suspect most of us could live with the rules, even the even/odd thing, if the entitlements were dropped. To me, they just hint of favoritism, which stretches the ability of at least some of us to look at one another as equal partners in a worthy cause.

I just simply think that the robotics contest should be based on the robotics and the skills of the players. Simple as that …..

[Ken Leung]

"Teams automatically qualify to register for the current year in the following ways:
a. All former Chairman’s Award winners (1992-2001)
b. Prior two years Chairman’s Award finalists (2000 & 2001) "

Teams who were Award winners and finalists:
2001
Chairman's Award 22 Boeing-Rocketdyne/ Computer Associates/ Decker Machine/ Fadal Engineering & Chatsworth HS North Hills CA
Chairman's Award Finalist 1 3-Dimensional Services & Oakland Technical Center, Northeast Campus (OTC-NE) Pontiac MI
Chairman's Award Finalist 47 Delphi Automotive Systems & Pontiac Central HS Troy MI
Chairman's Award Finalist 65 GM Powertrain & Pontiac Northern HS Pontiac MI
Chairman's Award Finalist 175 UTC/ Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International/ Techni Products & Enrico Fermi HS

2000
Chairman's Award Winner:
Team 16 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)
Chairman's Award Finalists:
Team 47 - Delphi Automotive Systems & Pontiac Central High School (Troy, MI)
Team 22 - NASA Ames Research Center/AVG Inc./Decker Machine/Boeing/Rocketdyne/Amgen/California State University -Northridge & Chatsworth High School (Chatsworth, CA)
Team 175 - UTC/Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International/Techni Products & Enrico Fermi High School (Windsor Locks, CT)
Team 1 - 3-Dimensional Services & Oakland Technical Center, Northeast Campus (OTC-NE) (Pontiac, MI)

1999
Chairman's Award Winner:
Team 120 - NASA Lewis Research Center / TRW, Inc./ Battelle Memorial Institute & East Technical High School (Cleveland, OH)
Chairman's Award Finalists:
Team 16 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)
Team 123 - New Venture Gear, Inc. & Hamtramck High School (Troy, MI)
Team 175 - UTC/ Hamilton Standard Space Systems International / Techni Products & Enrico Fermi High School (Windsor Locks, CT)
Team 67 - General Motors Milford Proving Ground & Huron Valley Schools (Milford, MI)

1998
Chairman's Award Winner
Team 23 - Boston Edison Company & Plymouth North High School (Plymouth, MA)
Chairman's Award Finalist #1
Team 16 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)
Chairman's Award Finalist #2
Team 67 - General Motors Proving Ground & Milford High School/Lakeland High School/Harbor High School (Milford/Highland/White Lake, MI)
Chairman's Award Finalist #3
Team 108 - Motorola, Inc. & Dillard High School (Plantation/Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Chairman's Award Finalist #4
Team 120 - NASA Lewis Research Center/TRW, Inc./Battelle Memorial Institute/The Illuminating Co. & East Technical High School (Cleveland, OH)

1997
CHAIRMAN'S AWARD
Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems & Pontiac Central High School (Troy, MI)
CHAIRMAN'S AWARD FINALISTS
Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)
&
Boston Edison Company / University of Massachusetts Dartmouth & Plymouth North High School (Plymouth, MA)
&
Raytheon E-Systems, Inc. & Greenville High School (Greenville, TX)
&
University of Wisconsin-Platteville & Platteville High School (Platteville, WI)

1996
Chairman's Award
Procter & Gamble Company & Walnut Hills High School (Cincinnati, OH)
Chairman's Award Finalists
Baxter Healthcare Corporation/Mountain Home High School (Mountain Home, AR)
Boston Edison Company & Plymouth North High School (Plymouth, MA)
E-Systems, Inc. & Greenville High School (Greenville, TX)
Texas Instruments & Gunter High School (Dallas, TX)
Xerox Corporation & Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School (Webster/Rochester, NY)

[amanda]

I think we sometimes forget that FIRST is not just about building robots. Its purpose is to educate and inspire young people in the field of science and technology. The Chairmans award recognizes those teams that take that to heart--Teams that go out of their way to get others interested in engineering.

[WakeZero]

I don't see the problem here, FIRST encourages cooperation more than competition. Although the competition is great, and I love it, when you step back and look at the big picture you can see a WHOLE lot more than just a "robotics competition" :D

[Christine G.]

Looks to me that it is the same 6 or 7 teams each year that are either the winner or the finalists of the Chairman's Award.:confused:

Guess that means it is only a handful of spots being taken up at the Championship.

Hopefully, this year with the expanded version of the chairman's award (at each Regional) we will see some new names added to this list.

[tenthirtythree]

Hi all!

This year, I was the editor for our team's Chairman's Award. I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out.

Win or lose, it was fun putting the award together. It gave me an opportunity to really meet my team members. I learned more about them, their interests in FIRST, and it gave us an opportunity to become friends.

I'm all smiles...and we're having a lot of fun.

So, what does it have to do with a robot contest? Well, teamwork, dedication and friendship have a lot of play in all factors of life, including a robot contest.

Maybe we'll win, maybe we won't. But we've all made friends, and had a good time. In the end, that's more important than an award, don't you think?

Good luck everyone!

Damian "Chip" Eveland
#171 - Platteville, Wisconsin

[AdamT]

You know, I think one of the reasons FIRST extended it into regionals is to try and get rid of this idea that only certain teams can win it. I mean, I totally agree that in years past it's only been certain teams, but I hope for that to change. Maybe I'm just hopeful because I pretty much did ours this year.

[DanL]

sorry to get a bit off-topic, but speaking about the winners, do any of these teams have their winning submissions online? I'd like to see what exactly is considered demonstrating the spirit of FIRST. It's one thing to talk about it, it's another to actually see it

[CaptainPlaid]

If you look at the list of chairman's award winners and finalists and winners you will see the most of them also usually have spectacular robots (1,47,65). I think that is a demonstration of a well-rounded team that deserves recognition.
I believe the chairman's award and the animation to a lesser extent allows the FIRST program to be very broad. We have people on our chariman's team that probably couldnt pick a hammer out of a line-up and we have people on our animation crew that probably couldn't spell anmation. (Yeah, I know I spelled that wrong and I'm just kidding about it anyway.) What I am trying to get at is that the chairman's award is about more than showing FIRST how we have spread the message and about more than the build crew throwing together a presentation in two days just to have a submisison. It is about getting more people involved that aren't necessarily interested in the down and dirty robot building.

[CaptainPlaid]

Originally posted by SuperDanman
sorry to get a bit off-topic, but speaking about the winners, do any of these teams have their winning submissions online? I'd like to see what exactly is considered demonstrating the spirit of FIRST. It's one thing to talk about it, it's another to actually see it

I believe the team that won the award two years ago or last year did it by converting their previous robot into a motorized wheelchair for a team member in need. I thought that was pretty awesome and while maybe not really "spreading the message" of FIRST it is possibly one of the best demonstrations of the the "sprit of FIRST."

[Heather 45]

It always seems to amaze me that few people actually know what FIRST is about. FIRST is not just a robotics competition and if that is what people think then I feel sorry for those people. FIRST stresses community involvement and volunterism. Chairman's Award spotlights a team's accomplishments outside of competition because FIRST is not all about COMPETITION. My team (Technkats 45) has taken a very important part of our community. We have a Bona Vista Project for our community. Bona Vista is a local community resource center. It also helps those with mental and physical handicaps. The Technokats developed equipment for those small children who are physically handicapped, that equipment helps them to develop their muscles. We also do a Ball Drop at New Years', we perform during half time at local basketball games, and we also do many other things that make our community aware of who we are and what we do. Our town realizes that we are not just a robotics team and FIRST is not just a robotics organization. FIRST wants each team to do community services and Chairman's Award explemifies each teams' community works. That is why it is such a prestigious award.

[DUCKIE]

FIRST-

F or
I nspiration
and
R ecognition
in
S cience
and
T echnology

I believe that that expains it right there. This competition was not created with the goal of making robots that defeat their opponents... it was created to get teenagers interested in Science and Technology. Which it has done quite well, considering that there are 999 teams this year. That sheer number has made them limit the attendees at the National Competition in Orlando.

Now I am NOT saying that I agree with all of the rules about who goes to nationals... I believe that any team who wants to, and can raise the funds, should be abile to go.

-DUCKY-

PS- I know it is a kind of goofy idea, but couldn't they set-up a second 'National' at Disney in California? That would allow more teams to compete - and lower travel costs for any west-coast teams-.

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by DUCKY
PS- I know it is a kind of goofy idea, but couldn't they set-up a second 'National' at Disney in California? That would allow more teams to compete - and lower travel costs for any west-coast teams-.

This idea was mentioned in another thread, and it was brought up that due to the much smaller side of Disneyland in CA, that there would be no real place to set up the event...

[Bill Enslen]

Perhaps Disneyland itself has no facilities to host the event, but surely there are arenas in the area which could host the event. The team party could still be at Disneyland.
If there were two National events, then FIRST could have a Super-National in New Hampshire where the two champions battle it out. Only the two competition teams and their pit crews would need to attend, with their travel costs paid by FIRST.

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by Bill Enslen
Only the two competition teams and their pit crews would need to attend, with their travel costs paid by FIRST.

This statement I disagree with entirely. There is no precedent that I know of anywhere in any sporting-style event where the organizers of the event pay for the teams to travel to the event. If FIRST was to do this, the costs would have to be covered somewhere, which would mean that there would be some fee implemented across the board to cover these expenses. Keep in mind that we are talking complete travel expenses for 6(perhaps more in the future) teams...FIRST was trying to prevent some teams subsidizing the expenses of others when implementing the $75 per person event fee for nationals participants booking outside of a provided package...taking funds from all teams to cover the expenses of a select few would be a step backward in my opinion.

[Bill Enslen]

OK, Nate, how would you propose to settle the eventual discussion about which robot was the National Champion, if there were two National Events?
My reasoning for FIRST to pick up the travel costs of the National Champion competition teams and their pit crews was that by the time a team finishes competing in Nationals, their budget is totally spent. The cost of 72 team members (12 from each of the six National Champion teams) would be less than $75,000, assuming a sufficient amount of time elapsed between Nationals and the Super-National. With FIRST having a surplus of $800,000 last year, that amount could easily be absorbed.
An alternative could be to stage the Super-National from the previous year at one of the two Nationals the following year. Any takers on that one?

[AdamT]

I'm not sure about that one either....

As much work that is put into these robots, most of them won't last any longer then 75 rounds. I know that by the time our competitions are over, and we finish doing all of our PR work with taking the robot around and doing demonstrations, the robot only works at about 25-50% efficiency in comparison to the robot at it's best.

I know that our team isn't a national winning team...yet...but I'm not sure that even all of the national winning teams could have their robot last that long if they go through what teams like ours do.

Maybe we just are rough on our robot....

But this isn't the point. I think that part of the fun of a national competition is getting to see all the teams, east coast AND west. I would be sad to see this opportunity be lost because of a successful program...

[Bill Enslen]

Adam, You make a very good point regarding the robots' ability to function at peak form past the Nationals.
In another thread, someone from the Detroit / Pontiac Michigan area suggested using the Silverdome for the National Competition. Perhaps we should be looking for a site that can accomodate all the teams that want to attend, and keep it to a single event.
Nate, what do you think about moving the event away from Disney?

[Amy Beth]

Originally posted by Bill Enslen
Adam, You make a very good point regarding the robots' ability to function at peak form past the Nationals.
In another thread, someone from the Detroit / Pontiac Michigan area suggested using the Silverdome for the National Competition. Perhaps we should be looking for a site that can accomodate all the teams that want to attend, and keep it to a single event.
Nate, what do you think about moving the event away from Disney?

I would have no problem with moving the event to a larger locale, but the fact remains that FIRST wil always continue to grow. When FIRST has come to every highschool in the ocuntry, do you still propose that we attempt to find an arena big enough? It will never work, Bill. There is no way that every team can continue to compete agains every other team in the country, so we may as well try to find a solution now, IMNSHO

[Bill Enslen]

Amy,
What we are seeing this year is FIRST's first attempt at keeping the National competition a single event while limiting the size of the event. What I believe FIRST was trying to do is to allow every team the opportunity to experience the National Competition and also have the best robots from the Regional Events be there. That isn't working out so well this year, as at least one Regional Champion team (157) doesn't have the money to go to National.
I know it would increase the cost of participation for every team, but perhaps the "prize" for winning a Regional would be for FIRST to pick up the costs for sending a 12-member competition team and pit crew to National. This would ensure that all of the Regional winners were able to compete at Nationals. For some teams (not ours) this would be a the only way they could ever hope to go to National, because they simply don't have the funds to travel. There are some very good teams out there with very limited funding.
Those are my ideas. Others are free to (and will) disagree.
Bill

[Shawn60]

In my opinion it is not about the robot contest at all. It is about building people, creating relationships, and helping others. Of the many different areas that a team can get involved in, the actual competion is not even in the top 5 of importance on my team. Don't get me wrong. We love the building and the competition but it is not the primary reason we come back year after year. It IS about the Chairman's Award.

Shawn Hardina
Teacher
Team 60

[Eric Bareiss]

I think you guys are interpreting the question wrong first off. I think that we all know that this isn't just about robots, that should be a given, no one even has to say it.

That having been said, Ed brings up a good point, that most of you missed. The robotics portion of FIRST is simply a means to an end. Unfortunately the means has little to do with the ends. Robots being the means and learning how to be team players being the ends.

What Ed is asking is why do we reward teams who do outstanding non-robotics things, with a robotics related reward? If you got straight A's in high school they give you a scholarship, they don't put you on the football team.

[Koko Ed]

Many people who question the vadality of the Chairman's award, probably have never had anything to do with the award and probably mostly dealt with the construction of the robot mostly. So obviously they see the reward as absolutely an overrated aspect to the game or even perhaps as unecessary btu it is a real part of FIRST even if they have done a poor job of incorporating it into the fabric of the competitions til the reward ceremonies (how exciting is reading a four page essay in the middle of a competition?).
The best example of the Chairman's award in practice is what the Technocats did last season in CHicago gave team 909 one of their extra robots, which had a robot with a non-working drive base and they as a team decided to assist this other team. Not only did they give them the robot but thier choice actually cost them a match as they lost to their own robot. Such self-sacrafice is the true spirit of FIRST.
Now not every team will do it and not every team is expected to do it and there are some teams in FIRST who may look upon this action from confusion to contempt to disgust and wonder why help others when they are down. It is competition after all and the point is to win. But to simply look at FIRST in the aspect of wins and losses is just to make FIRSt a sport. Nothing more and nothing less. If that's all Dean aims for then why bother having the kids involved. Just put the task to the engineers and let 'em rip.
Every team that has won the Chairman's award is a model FIRST team that is a great influence on the landscape of the FIRSt community regaurdless of whether or not they build good robots year in and year out should be respected for who they are not questioned for why they are at the championship, taking up a free spot from a" more deserving" team that's good at building robots.

[Redhead Jokes]

Many people who question the vadality of the Chairman's award, probably have never had anything to do with the award and probably mostly dealt with the construction of the robot mostly. Technocats did last season in CHicago gave team 909 one of their extra robots, which had a robot with a non-working drive base and they as a team decided to assist this other team. Not only did they give them the robot but thier choice actually cost them a match as they lost to their own robot. Such self-sacrafice is the true spirit of FIRST.


True words.

Last year our mentor LeRoy found himself to his surprise free from needing to help with our robot. So on his own he looked up the bottom 5 teams, and checked if they needed help. He ended up asking 10 bottom teams, and 1/2 wanted help. He wasn't even letting anyone on our team know. I found out. I followed up learning what LeRoy was doing, the results, and I'm the one always bragging about what he did - he keeps it low key.

One of the teams he helped with a problem that we'd been having had won no matches at So Cal Regional then he solved a problem for them.

Their next match was against us and they won.

D'oh! I went and gave that rookie mentor a hard (j/k) time about that. We had a great time and LeRoy's task has become a tradition for us now - check the bottom teams.


I've been asked yet again by newer mentors/students, why spend time on the crate, why spend time on the mythology of our team... I rediscovered a paper yesterday at the shop that I'd found online when we began the journey to the Chairman's Award. This is the paper that helped guide me. My copy of this paper had paint on it, I had some trouble making out some words, and I had to retype it to post on our web.

fyi, the #'s he mentions in the article are team numbers.


Why go for the Chairman's Award? (http://www.bcrobotics.org/2004/whitepapers/whychairmans.pdf)

[Rich Wong]

True words.

fyi, the #'s he mentions in the article are team numbers.


Why go for the Chairman's Award? (http://www.bcrobotics.org/2004/whitepapers/whychairmans.pdf)

This is great!
Thanks for sharing the document, I'm forwarding to all the team I'm associated with at NYC. It will help my effort in getting more teams
to add Chairman's submission to their FIRST work.

:)

[Denman]

I see a problem with them making the chairmans award regional, it makes it not as nearly as much prestigious as it was. We used to believe that winning the chairmans award would be much better than the actual competition, but if its now spread out accross however many regionals there are, it just doesn't make it as wanted as before.
We have spent a lot of time this year trying to make a decent "portfolio" for it and have held days with things like robot wars people in and various other bits.

[Aignam]

The Chairman's Award is given out regionally, then the regional winners are again judged at nationals to determine a National Chairman's Award winner, making it just as prestigious, if not more prestigious, as ever.

[Sally]

I most sincerely apologise for the behaviour of Denman. 759 regard the chairman's award as really prestigious as it's the one which really embodies the spirit of FIRST. I'd also like to point out that we most certainly have NOT been building up a "portfolio" for this. We've been doing work in the community because we want to and we want to spread the word of FIRST and FLL throughout the UK. That, and we've really really enjoyed all the activities we've participated in this year
I'm quite hurt that a not very active member of the team (who isn't an operator btw either..) has come on here and posted that sort of thing, I hope everybody hasn't been given a bad impression of our team, we're all very nice really :)

[Redhead Jokes]

I see a problem with them making the chairmans award regional, it makes it not as nearly as much prestigious as it was. We used to believe that winning the chairmans award would be much better than the actual competition, but if its now spread out accross however many regionals there are, it just doesn't make it as wanted as before.


*rhetorical* Not as wanted? IMO the point is wanting chairman like behavior spread out across many regionals, and that there are so many teams out there, winning regionally helps narrow the field at nationals.

[Redhead Jokes]

I most sincerely apologise for the behaviour of Denman. I'd also like to point out that we most certainly have NOT been building up a "portfolio" for this. We've been doing work in the community because we want to and we want to spread the word of FIRST and FLL throughout the UK. That, and we've really really enjoyed all the activities we've participated in this year
I'm quite hurt that a not very active member of the team (who isn't an operator btw either..) has come on here and posted that sort of thing, I hope everybody hasn't been given a bad impression of our team, we're all very nice really :)

I hope you have been building a portfolio. I don't see anything wrong with that. The process of building documentation of all your team's doing with the intention of a chairman's award application helps focus on chairman like behavior.

All teams have less than active members who aren't operators, and who don't quite get the concept of the chairman's award. They are in process too.

I can't imagine a team with only less than active members who aren't operators, so I don't assume the whole team has the same opinion as one member.

Hope to see you at nationals. Intrigued and tickled to hear you guys are working hard at spreading the FIRST program in UK. We are always rooting for our international members, and dreaming of some day attending a regional overseas.

[Rich Wong]

I most sincerely apologise for the behaviour of Denman. 759 regard the chairman's award as really prestigious as it's the one which really embodies the spirit of FIRST. I'd also like to point out that we most certainly have NOT been building up a "portfolio" for this. We've been doing work in the community because we want to and we want to spread the word of FIRST and FLL throughout the UK. That, and we've really really enjoyed all the activities we've participated in this year
I'm quite hurt that a not very active member of the team (who isn't an operator btw either..) has come on here and posted that sort of thing, I hope everybody hasn't been given a bad impression of our team, we're all very nice really :)

Sally, Please DO build the portfolio of your team.
Repeat: Please DO built the portfolio....... ( I agree with Redhead)
This is PERFECTLY correct and expected for all FIRST teams. It helps record all the activities your FIRST team have participated in and allow you to compiled the Chairman’s Award submission for this year and future years. With a portfolio and good records future team member will not understand the journey and progress your team have made.
Every year senior members leave and freshman join your team. Within three years a team will turnover, because of this reason, I emphasize good record keeping of ALL events team have participated in. I have met many teams that have no idea of their team history. One particular team I’m mentoring is planning to submit their first Chairman’s Award but have no idea what their team has achieved in the past. But they will do it because it is a first step.

You don’t have to apology for Denman, it’s his opinion and this is what's great about CD. I have spoken with your team for three years at NYC. I think you guys are one of the best when it comes to Gracious Professionalism and a good candidate for winning a Regional Chairman's Award.

See you all at the NYC Regional and good luck with the Chairman’s Award.
:)

[Beth Sweet]

In one word? Me. I am not an engineer. I have never been good at science and I never will be. But being involved with FIRST has totally changed my outlook on life. I am a member of our team's Chairman's Award group. I love being a member of the HOT Team. I am around all of the science and technology and FIRST has given me the opportunity to realize how appreciative I really should be of it all. I understand that there are a lot of things that I can't do, and I have gained a whole new level of respect for those who can.

When I started on the team, GM engineers were just people who made cars. Now I realize that all engineers are people who have what it takes to make an incredible difference in this world. I watch at competitions as high school students create things that only a few years ago couldn't even be dreamed of. I watch in astonishment. The way I see it, that is what FIRST is about. Even though I can't do engineering, I can express my pride and how I've been inspired by all of this in the way that I know how to do best, by writing, by documenting my pride in an incredible thing called FIRST.

But anyways, that's my personal opinion on why the Chairman's Award is a part of FIRST.
~Bethy

[Sally]

Richard and Redhead, you misunderstand me, I just wanted to make it clear that we aren't doing things with the community just to win an award, we're doing it because we want to :)

Thanks for the kind words Richard, see you at NYC!