In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

South Carolina is not a powerhouse for FRC.

We have our moments of brilliance, yes, but when Palmetto wrapped up nine days ago, only one of the eight sets of medals stayed within the state*. 2056 has matched South Carolina's combined Einstein appearance count**, and done it in three seasons. While other states have experienced explosive growth, team count in the state hasn't doubled in ten years***.

*2187 won; Chairman's, Engineering Inspiration, and the five other teams in the finals were from out of state.
**343 in 2003, 1319 in 2007.
***19 in 2004, 36 in 2013. Of those 19, only 10 remain active today.

It is against this backdrop that I have to brag on a rookie team from the town Fountain Inn, South Carolina. (Never been to Fountain Inn? It's more or less the sign that you're close to Greenville.) Laurens County has a 14.3% poverty rate*, a 62% free/reduced lunch rate in their district*, not much of an industrial base...and you know what came from here?

• Palmetto #7 Seed (7-1)
• Orlando #4 Seed (8-1)
• Orlando Finalist (in three matches)
• Palmetto Semifinalist--including reaching Level 3 one timeout after falling from that high off the ground
• Palmetto Rookie All-Star
• Orlando Rookie All-Star
• Palmetto Highest Rookie Seed
• Orlando Highest Rookie Seed
• Palmetto UL Industrial Safety Award
• Orlando UL Industrial Safety Award
• The best image in the south this side of Exploding Bacon.
• And everyone, from the decade-plus mentors to the students, are just plain nice! Not gassed up, not tense, just having a lot of fun with robots and already helping other teams.

Ladies and gentlemen, FRC 4451, ROBOTZ Garage.

Watch these guys in St. Louis.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Looks like we have the latest and greatest rookie powerhouse. Every time I watched them do an amazing climb and dump at Orlando I was impressed. They successfully managed to complete one of the most difficult tasks FIRST has thrown out. From what we've seen of their robot so far, I think they'll find a place on an alliance in St. Louis and I can't wait to see what they think of next year.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Its a scary thought, but you put them on an alliance with 1114/2056/254/987/610/1986 and they could win Einstein.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Billfred, do you know what their story is? On the Roboshow it sounded like they have a couple of mentors with FIRST experience.

Great, great robot and as part of the Field Reset team by far the most annoying robot to get off of the field (in a good way).

Good Luck to them in St. Louis and the future!

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

More than a couple; their mentors have been on 342, 1319, and 2751 in the past.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Members of 11 could not stop talking about 4451 during week 1 and we were incredibly happy to see them pair up with our friends on 125 in Orlando. Such a great "rookie" machine. They executed their climb and dump strategy perfectly and consistently.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Our mentors said that they recognized almost all of their robot mentors from some FRC teams in the past. I recognized Mike Bryan from 2751...I swear he mentored 342 at some point but maybe that's my imagination.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

You're off by one; he was with 342 through 2008 (including their lone regional title) before transferring to the Upstate.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

That explains a lot. Especially considering, when I talked to a few people about 4451, there would always be a couple of air quotes around the word 'rookie'.

Hopefully 4451 can keep up their technical success in years to come.

- Sunny G.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

I can not say enough nice things about this team! They are such a class act and the nicest group of people you would ever want to meet! They deserve only the best in the future!

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

4451 was the team I and a few others really wanted to win Rookie All-Star so we could see em in St. Louis.
They were great to compete with down in Palmetto, so glad to see them do well in Orlando as well, and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for the future.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Yes they could Mike. BillFred, they were a superb addition to the Orlando lineup. Those finals were a thrill to see live. ...just a thrill.

Eric

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Looking forward to meeting 4451 at champs. I was blown away by the pictures of the pit and robot cart. Of course the robot success speaks for itself. Definitely a team I'd rather work with than against.

The buzz around this team reminds me a lot of the Rookie-All-Star we met at the Minnesota regional in 2009.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

They also have the coolest robot cart in all of FIRST.

Re: In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage
 

Rookie All-Star for champs, maybe?

It's interesting when a rookie team turns out to be one of the teams giving out a wild card; the majority of other teams will wind up struggling and hoping to get a wild card themselves (2 rookie all-stars at regionals).