Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

I was thinking, what if there was a college level robotics compeition ran by first?

It could be called like FCL (First College Level). It would be more advanced the FRC, and it will also help college students in engineering classes. It would have a different game then FRC, where you would have to do a harder task. Any suggestions or comments?

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

This kinda sits outside of the purpose of FIRST. FRC, FTC, and the FLL's exist to get kids excited about pursuing STEM careers. Once you're in college, you either are or you aren't. FIRST has either done its job or it can't do much more for you.

Besides, there are MANY nonFIRST things to get involved with in college to satisfy your robotics needs, like real-life research. No reason to make up more arbitrary work.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

Maybe if it were fairly different. As mentioned, once you're in college you're either STEM or not, but what you do need in college is experience before you go into the workforce. So if there were a way to increase the difficulty, size, maybe even nature of the game, maybe it would be worth while. But there are however plenty of opportunities such as BAJA racing, research projects, and internships to get the experience you need to go into the work force. I personally would love one, but that's because I love FRC, and I'm completely biased.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

What about fun though?

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

I believe DARPA beat you to it. http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/

Or RoboCup http://www.robocup2014.org/

Or Microtransat http://www.microtransat.org/

Or even good old MATE.

Personally, I think FIRST has been wise to avoid diluting their brand with a college variant.

Consider, for instance... at Championships. Who would have the honour of playing the final match?

Jason

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

I've researched a lot of the competitions that are robotics specific. None have anywhere near the competition experience or iterative design opportunities that FIRST provides unless you can show me I'm wrong. I understand that FIRST's goal is to get us interested in/into STEM education, but once you get here it's a bit disappointing to say the least.

There isn't an opportunity for me to join a DRC team in South Carolina. RoboCup doesn't look interesting to me really. I like NASA's Centennial Challenge Return Rover competition a lot, but I haven't been able to find nearly as much funding for it as say I could with my FRC team. Never seen microtransat before. I seem to think there might be a College Level Vex competition but I don't know much about it and there aren't any College Level events anywhere near South Carolina.

I remember them also piloting some Aeriel drone college level FIRST competition. Wasn't too popular though from what I saw at champs one year.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

For me, it's hard leaving the FIRST community as a student, especially since I have been doing this since I was in 7th grade (2009). You get a feeling that you kinda lost something that was big in your life, and you start becoming less involved because, obviously, it's for the kids. But it is hard watching it knowing you really can't be involved like you use to be.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

I edited the above post after I thought a little more.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

On a more serious note there is VEX U, which while no where near as large ad FRC is right now, is still a good choice for those looking to continue with a program similar to FRC. It is relatively easy to start up a team and the fact that you don't have to figure out how to haul around a huge robot or find storage space for it is rather nice.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

One of the things that I don't like about college-level engineering competitions is that many of them have the same task each year.

Take Formula SAE Racing-
The challenge every year is to build a fast vehicle that wins races.

It doesn't have the variety of games that FIRST offers. It doesn't have the in-depth game strategy or defense that FIRST offers. (Or at least it doesn't seem to. I've never been a big fan of sports or competitions that don't allow for weaker athletes/competitors to win by playing intelligently- but that's a different discussion.)

Many of these competitions are about making incremental improvements on previous designs- many of which are important engineering challenges, and I'm not trying to knock those who do these competitions whatsoever- I just don't find much enjoyment in them personally.

I would love a collegiate version of FIRST personally. I would love a collegiate robotics competition with an open ended game to study and design new solutions for- not a robotics skills challenge.

However, I also think the lack of a collegiate FIRST competition can be good for FRC teams- college student mentors can be a huge help.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

You're right that none are quite like FRC, but if you're looking for a design challenge that at least similar, the closest I've found is the NASA Robotic Mining Competition.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

Personally, I enjoy mentoring too much to go work individually on a challenge. A large part of FRCs appeal is getting to teach and seeing those you taught succeed. It would be a bit of a conflict of interest for people wanting to mentor FRC teams but do a college-level challenge.

Re: Should there be a new division in FIRST?
 

Why stop at college? A corporate level would be amazing to watch as well. No money cap, no bagging...We could get to see how well Honda's robotics division could face off against Google's acquired Boston Dynamics...Companies have big egos and like to show how much better they are than their competition.