Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting: Getting picked by 2056 at championship is pretty much the best thing that has happened this year, nearly as much as winning North Star. It was unfortunate we only made it to the semifinals but is still really amazing getting to work with one of the best, if not the best team this year.

The most annoying: having to wait 7 months for the 2014 season to start (at least we have off season projects, camps, & fundraisers to pass the time)

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting:
Student:
Winning the 2006 Philadelphia Regional with our sister team 291, and going to Atlanta for championships!
Also the look on our mentor, Mr. Ken Morrison's face, when we won him the Pittsburgh Regional Woodie Flowers Award.

Mentor:
Having all of the build and drive team graduate last year, and teaching the kids everything I could before the season started. Most didn't even know what a screw driver was, now almost every single one can explain how every function of the robot works. It is an amazing feeling, seeing how much they have grown and learned in such a small amount of time, I was very proud of the machine, they call JARVIS, that they built.


Most Annoying:
Student:
That we were such a small team, and couldn't do as much as other teams. Most everyone put all effort into the robot and known of the other parts of FIRST. (which I was proven wrong by the team now)

Also that my Senior year we did not train the younger kids very well, we wanted to have the best machine we had ever built, we did it but the team payed for it for years to come, they followed the ways we were and year after year not much was taught and pasted down.

Mentor:
poor communication and efforts between mentors, we need to work together as one team of mentors. (working on it)
Also losing the schools interest in FIRST, after our lead mentor retired, the school started focusing on Robobots, battle bots, and slowly pushed us aside. ( also working on)

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting:
Winning MN 10K Lakes in 2012. That was also the first year we were ever picked during alliance selections. It was a pretty big season for us. CMP was absolutely insane and was an experience I'll never forget.

Most annoying:
As a leader, dealing with the situation that happens when half your team wants to work on the robot but is distracted by the other half that wants to use computers for video games and Robotics as an excuse to not do homework. And the policy that says we have to include everyone, even if they aren't willing to participate.

Most saddening
When someone leaves - not because they don't enjoy the program, but because of team dynamics such as cliques. I've almost done this before due to the annoying situation above. It really is sad when certain circumstances seem to block what the program is really trying to get across.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

The best feeling in the world is hearing your name called for the Chairman's Award. In that moment all the late nights after school, all the endless script sessions in the car with your brother, all the sleepless nights don't matter. I stopped listening after I knew it was us--I couldn't believe it.

The worst feeling is the 'what do we do?' feeling once you get back from champs. You've been living in the lab for the past four months, and now there's nothing to do. :( but there's always the offseason events.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most Exciting:
The Most Exciting thing I have ever done was to actually pick 67 (I highly respect and consider them a 'Legendary' Team). First of all I couldn't believe we preformed so well after hoping just to be a third pick. In the actual selection I was calm and relaxed as I called them but I was frikin ecstatic on the inside; and the 67 representative was a chills guy.

Most Annoying
Team members that are uncooperative, don't listen to anything you say even though your captain and don't even listen to mentors.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting: As a rookie, everything was very exciting. I found the last days of build season, the first day of competition, and the elimination matches to be the most so. I loved the excitement at kickoff and the enthusiasm and dancing in the stands at competition as well.

Annoying: The last moments of alliance selection when you have not been picked and you know that the season is over for your team. So sad, especially when you have been living in the build room for the past 8 weeks.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting: My overall experience so far. I feel like it has opened doors and developed aspects of myself that I would not ordinarily be able to explore. This season has been interesting in particular. I was voted by my team into a leadership position, which has been very interesting and fun.
One last thing: elimination rounds in Spokane, this match in particular.


Most annoying: People who have no regard of their safety and the people around them and who make no effort to improve their attitude.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

As an alumni not currently working directly with a team, but being involved in some capacity since middle school, I'll try to give a more general perspective than just specific "wins" as the exciting moment.

Most exciting moment: Making lifelong friends. As cliche as it sounds, I have friends I've met through robotics over 13+ years ago and it's a mini-reunion every year at the various regionals, off-season events, etc., as so many of us have stayed involved through volunteering, mentoring, creating new teams, and so on. In the age of Facebook, it's easy to lose track of your "friends" amongst the constant influx of updates, but FIRST allows us to have a constant connection to those we met through it. Another HUGE bonus I've recently been able to appreciate much more than when I was a student is the epic networking opportunity FIRST offers. The judges at any given FIRST competition are established professionals in their fields, often time with the ability to offer internships, or possibly even jobs - if you just take the time to ask them, "so what do you do?" One of the best kept secrets about FIRST.

Most annoying moment: No alumni FIRST league!! :)

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Hello Again,

To the purpose of me originally posting this thread, it was to get ideas for a video game i wanted to develop. The good things would help me get ideas for good scenarios, characters, moves, and so on. The bad being enemies, bad scenarios, bad effects, and so on form there. the base of the game would be you waking up in classroom(based on the class that i have) that a robotics class is held in. You notice that nobodies there and you go to the shop room to investigate and find broken robots that you have to fight and then go on to have a normal rpg-esque feel to go on. This was inspired by the challenge to make it loud.

However I am in no way a man how can even try to make a game on his own. I still love to see your responses. This thread can help you vent about the bad and celebrate the good. It may even be possible to actually get this game off the ground through support but which ever way this goes I am still glad i was able to allow you to get things across, even if it is in a small way, about how you feel.

To a possible future,
Team 701 member,
Ian Workman

"A spark is all it takes to light a fire, however the fire that is made is out of the full control of its source and will burn and spread in ways unimaginable."

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting: There's too many to say for this. It could be our team making it to the finals at Pine Tree, hearing our team qualified for the district championship on the bus home at spot #54, the entire district championship, seeing the screen light up with our team number for those who qualified for the world championship, the bus ride to St. Louis, or operating the shooter mechanism at the CT state championship. I can't pick just one.

Most annoying: Having to wait 7 months for the next season.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most Exciting: Our team making it to Semi's at South Florida

Most Annoying: Being told by a member of another team that our robot "couldn't be any worse"

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most exciting: elims at Lake Superior in 2013

Most frustrating: taking 2 weeks last year to decide on a design, then changed designs 11 days from the end of the build season

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most Exciting: winning your 1st event with a rotating all rookie field team.

Most Frustrating: Having your lead mentor tell other students to lie to you and setup a scheme to try to cover his back.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

One of the most exciting things: Being able to do so much these past two years. In 2013 we were ranked 54th in the world, and won our first district in awhile. In 2014 we won both district competitions we attended. It was some of the most exciting moments I've had beating seemingly impossible odds and coming out on top when we weren't even sure if we would get picked for elims.

One of the most annoying/ saddening things: Lack of resources. Don't get me wrong we've been trying very hard and doing fairly well with what we have, but it sometimes feels like we don't have much. Our only facility is a small workshop based out of a (very gracious) community college. We have a couple drill presses a band saw a small lathe and some power tools. We're very fortunate and grateful to have this equipment but it can be very frustrating when teams are talking about having a state of the art nasa laboratory with cnc mills and a dozens of engineering experts on everything. ( I know I'm exaggerating somewhat but this is how it feels.) Another not so much annoying but more depressing thing is that we lost five seniors this year which made up most of our drive team, and most of our experience in general. Our team this year is made up of seven students and often it feels overwhelming being thrust into positions that were before out of the question for us to occupy. It is very frustrating hearing teams complaining about "only" have twenty incoming students for the new year. As of right now, we have zero new students.

The only thing we can do is keep trying our best for excellence. FRC has still been fairly kind to our team in recent years. No matter what happens it is still extremely fun, and without a doubt one of the best things that has happened to me.

Re: Life of a FIRST Robotics Member
 

Most Exciting: Being an alliance captain at both regionals that we went to. We haven't been alliance captains a ton, so twice in a row was amazing.

Most Annoying: Well, more sad, but it was that moment at the Windsor regional when 1114 and 2056 ended up in an alliance together. I saw it coming, but was hoping that alliance wouldn't happen. Well played by them though, they deserved it.