pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who remembers?
 

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

EVERY team got to play on Einstien....and got heatstroke.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Just out of curiosity, when did they stop doing Einstein outdoors? Before I was born possibly (June 1999)?

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

2002 was the last time

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Nope, that's 2002's game in the picture. I was at the 2000 National competition in the same location.

That's the last time Einstein was outdoors, BTW. (The other fields were in tents off to the left-back of frame, they can't be seen. Pits were in tents back there as well.)

Einstein (once they started calling it that) moved indoors when Nationals stopped being Nationals--the infamous 2003 Championship in Houston.* (Infamous because of the nice steep Astrodome ramps that every. single. robot. had to go up for every. single. match., and the security checks on everybody entering the Reliant, robot and all. It was a LONG walk.)


*Real old-timers will quibble on it moving indoors, because the first few Nationals events were actually indoors--in Manchester, NH, in a gym. That was before the move to Disney World in the mid-1990s--but they didn't start having multiple fields before the move, I don't think.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

After 2002 FIRST hastily patched together a one and done championship in Houston. Reliant Stadium was beautiful. The Astrodome (where the pits were next door and the constant reference to walking a mile uphill BOTH WAYS is brought up) should be burned to the ground along Astroworld.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Nationals stopped being Nationals in 1998, when the first Canadian team, 188, showed up. Unfortunately it took FIRST a few years to recognize the international nature of their own event and change the official name.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Pavilion_at_Epcot

The irony of a contest at Epcot with an International Pavilion and a Canadian Pavilion...not realizing they have actual people from there in their game ;)

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Ah yes! When Einstein was out in the HOT Florida sun!

I doubt anyone actually remembers this.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Also note that FIRST became international in 1994 when a team from Kingston, Jamaica competed.

1994 team list (pdf link)

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Now that's an image I wish I could unsee....

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Relative to....:D

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Is it bad that the first thing I did when I saw this picture was to check the game, and the second thing I did was to see if I could find myself in it? That was my freshman year in high school, and I was fortunate enough to be a member of FRC 173, we were number 1 seed, and won our division, and then the event. 2002 is the first year I can find that "Nationals" became The Championship officially.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Same. :) It was a lot of fun to play "I Spy". Also surprising how well the branding of many teams has lasted all these years.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

I would love for someone (or group) to make a book of FRC history to celebrate FRC's 25th anniversary this year by having some of the "more experienced" FRC folks submit their own stories and pictures from the past.

(I would totally be up for helping make this happen)

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

A "Back in My Day" book? That could be amazing, or terrible. I just keep having flashbacks to the get off my lawn threads of late...

That being said, back in my day, we didn't have bumpers, and loved it.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

I was hoping when they announced no bumpers this year that we would have that again. Those days were great. You had to make chassis that could take good hits.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Never underestimate the pain that two drill motors can bring... :D Remember how by '05, an awful lot of offense robots had angled sides just to keep the D off?

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

I actually wasn't around, but I've heard stories from fellow mentors, watched videos, and seen the carnage to our old robots that I want it back.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Wouldn't it also be good for some of the newer members to share some of their experiences? It's great to see some of the first impressions that FIRST makes on people. Great idea, btw.

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Ah yes, the wonderful flipping wedge. Yet another banned design that makes one wonder "gee what inspired that rule". Oddly enough, pretty much every "design ban" in the rules year after year like that has a historical precedent. You know a team has found something when it gets banned the next year (studded wheels/file cards, cheesy vision, etc.).

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Actually, I'm 90% certain that that particular design ban was from one very particular match. (The other 10% thinks it was from 2/3 of the world champions having wedges for defense purposes only.)

That particular match, up until MAYBE a year or two ago, was the only time in FRC history that an elimination match tied at zero points due to both alliances being disqualified. Both alliances tipped one robot from the other alliance, intentionally enough to draw the wrath of the referees. At least one robot involved had almost no vertical surface between about 2" and about 18" from the floor...

Re: pic: Ahh the good ole days when Einstein was outside in the HOT Florida sun. Who
 

Epcot 2002 was my first championship event. It was a spectacle I won't forget.

I went there to surprise my oldest son Matt, the human player for Bomb Squad (Team 16). While I was there, I met the Rookie All-Star team from SoCal (Team 980). I recognized their lead mentor, Rob as a co-worker from JPL. He invited to work with the team and I've been with the team ever since. Yep, that's how I got sucked into FRC!

I've been to every Championship since 2002. Although the outdoor venue and Epcot was fun, I appreciate FIRST Championship simply cannot revert to that sort of venue. I agree with Koko Ed about 2003: that trek between the pits and fields in Houston was a bear. Since then, Atlanta and St Louis have been great facilities to host Championships. I will be interesting to see the future venues in Houston, Detroit,... and beyond?