FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST Robotics Community-

Starting tonight 4 episodes of "The Fosters" that target STEAM education will begin to air. The FIRST Robotics community had a great role in these shows and it’s very exciting to see our beloved cause displayed in the media, as we take on Dean’s challenge to change our culture!

You can watch The Fosters on FreeForm at 8pm EST / 5pm PST on Mondays!

Here is a sneak peak of tonights episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sjG...ature=youtu.be

#TSIMFD #makeitLOUD

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

This was really fun to work on! Make sure to check it out!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

It's pretty awesome seeing STEM represented on mainstream television. Happy to see our reach widening.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Im just hoping that FIRST is represented as is and does not get butchered by them.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

To my knowledge, there are a lot of FIRSTers involved in this project with the Fosters. I have faith that it will execute well.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST Robotics Community-

Tonight is the second episode, we hope everyone enjoyed the first.
We promise there will be a lot more awesome FIRST things to see in the next 3!


You can watch The Fosters on FreeForm at 8pm EST / 5pm PST on Mondays!

#TSIMFD #makeitLOUD

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

"swerve drive won't go over anything on this field, have you seen those defenses"- The Fosters Robotics Team

lol this is great

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST Community-

Here is the official press release for Episode 8 where FRC is heavily featured.

Including a photo where the main characters are competing at a FIRST Robotics Southern California Regional, you might even see some familiar banners in the back!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

As well, we can officially release 2 photos of the main characters working on their robot.

http://imgur.com/a/aZ4zK
http://imgur.com/a/2ggAZ

FRC Team 207 played the Anchor Beach Robot!

Be sure to tune into episode 8 on August 15! You will even see some familiar faces and robots from around our community!

Thanks.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Sadly, no safety glasses.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST Robotics Community-

Tonight is the third episode, we hope everyone enjoyed the first two.
Stay tuned for next week's episode, featuring tons of familiar fun FRC content!!


You can watch The Fosters on FreeForm at 8pm EST / 5pm PST on Mondays!

#TSIMFD #makeitLOUD

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST Robotics Community-

Here is a sneak peak of the next and last episode. Most of the extras were actual team members and volunteers of FRC in Southern California! See who you can spot! You might even recognize the MC's voice as a familiar sound at competitions and championship!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dc4fJO5tA

Make sure to watch, this episode will feature a lot of familiar story lines that your teams might have faced during competition!

The big show where FRC is HEAVILY featured will air this Monday on FreeForm at 8pm EST / 5pm PST!

Spread the news!

#TSIMFD #makeitLOUD

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Wow. Just wow. Never did I think the mentor built robot debate would make it on to a tv show.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Were FIRST teams involved at all in the writing and storyline? The storyline pushed in this teaser is pretty embarrassing for FIRST.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

What makes it so embarrassing, Adam?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

The episode is based on mentor built robots...

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Disparaging teams for having engineering mentors... which is one of the core concepts of the program.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

So I take it that you've seen this episode in it's entirety and have identified this plot point as "The storyline"?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

>mentor built robots
>southern california
>NASA

I really hope this is a coincidence

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'm commenting on the storyline from the trailer/teaser... All I can go on. And that trailer pretty clearly criticizes teams for engineering mentors.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

There is also an episode where a student takes drugs because she's tired from build...not totally the right message in my opinion....

I'm honestly surprised FIRST signed off on this.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I happen to think that having FIRST featured, not as "engineering programming" but as a casual plot point in a modern teen drama is, by definition, culture changing and not "embarrassing to FIRST" in any regard.

Teasers are meant to be controversial plot points to grab the attention of audiences, condemning the programming on three lines of script seems harsh and counter-productive - calling the programming and all of the effort that went into it "an embarrassment to FIRST" is perhaps more of just an embarrassment to yourself.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'm not condemning the entire episode, I'm saying the storyline pushed in the teaser is embarrassing to FIRST. This is obviously just my opinion.

Embarrassing myself is nothing new, business as usual if that's how it turns out here.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

To clarify your claim, the character who you're talking about, Mariana, had episodes involving drug use prior to the robotics story line itself. It grew under the real life stress of build season.

While I don't agree with drug use, that was who the character was and how she was pre established on the show.

Teenagers in that show's world deal with that stuff, it wasn't soley because she was doing robots, other characters had similar story lines in other regards.
If you watched the episode you would know the issue was resolved with her robotics peers SUPPORTING her and telling her she was too smart for substance abuse.

Again, I don't agree with drug use nor do I support it, BUT all the facts should be layed out and not taken out of context.

Remember this show IS NOT a FIRST documentary.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I completely agree with Adam. I was actually kind of angry when I saw the trailer the first time. It's highly embarrassing to the program we all have worked so hard on, and to make the general public think mentors are an issue is DEFINITELY not something FIRST should condone.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

This thread is getting as dramatic as the show.

I would like everyone to keep in mind that this is a television show. To be more specific, it's a teenage drama. Dramatic licenses were taken and the producers end up having the final say, no matter if FIRST signs off or not.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Are the episodes available to watch online somewhere? I haven't been around to watch them live and I don't think I'll be able to catch the next one.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST has made it clear in their messaging that the show is TV-14 (shoot, even WWE is PG...) and not everything in the program reflects their values. I have no inside baseball here, but knowing the requirements FIRST lays down to get one of their fields in a high school gymnasium for a weekend (let alone using their IP on a for-profit TV production), surely they got a chance to review the storyline and were okay with the direction.

I didn't hear anything factually wrong in the teaser, and I did hear things I hear at events (and usually muttered in the same tones). It does create a storyline digested easily by people outside the tent, so I'll spot them some leeway here. And watch closely on Monday.

Freeform has an app, though you'll have to sign in with your TV provider login to watch.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

That's not true at all. They would not have been allowed to say "FIRST Robotics" or use their logo, or the field, or anything else that is intellectual property of FIRST without FIRST giving them approval.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

You're right. I worded that wrong. I should've been a little more clear. The producers do have final say and if FIRST didn't give their approval they could have come up with a fake robotics competition instead.

FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

These were my first thoughts as well. When people see this they're going to think this might actually be how FIRST and FRC is. This just further perpetuates incorrect stereotypes about our community and program to a wide audience.

Additionally, their description of the "mentor led" team seemed to reference some real life teams, which in my opinion is inappropriate and unacceptable.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Easy everyone, there's no way this storyline is based in reality, those polo's aren't even blue!

:p

Yeah, their win streak was 4, not 9! :p

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Seems pretty real to me. When was the last time you were at an event and did not seen a team do exactly what they did.

I am just laughing at the irony of them talking about Gracious Professionalism and then judging a team for having an engineer mentor.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

No matter how you feel about how the show reflects FIRST, you gotta admit, it's exciting to have a TV reference people can ask about that isn't flippin' Battle Bots!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Just catching up on it but already love a quick steam stem note.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

While this is certainly true and no doubt what they're doing, it's important to remember that TV-aired teasers reach a far, far large audience than episodes themselves. Assuming ABC Family (EDIT) Freeform is airing this or similar ads during any number of other shows, a teaser 'storyline' can easily get an order of magnitude more viewer eyeballs than the actual storyline. (Albeit with markedly less internalization.) I don't at all blame/condemn the producers for their choice there, but from a FIRST perspective it's absolutely legitimate to examine the picture that a teaser alone paints of us. Recruitment efforts could well benefit from the knowledge that there are many, many potential high school roboteers out there who're encountering just teaser perspective without whatever elaboration comes in the episode.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Though I don't find FIRST to be represented as purely as some of know it here, the saying "no press is bad press" comes to mind. As pointed out earlier, the character in question had previously existing habitual problems and her friends and classmates were helping with them.

Onto the representation of Mentor vs Student built, I think it's an important point, as petty as it may seem, to mention it in the show. The accusations of "Mentor Built" have been flying since before I was born, and it's as much a insult as it is an in-joke of the community.

Finally, the idea that FIRST has finally hit the mainstream media is very important. Honda also had FRC bots in one of their recent commercials (linked below) exhibiting their car. The Fosters characters, though begrudgingly, talk about Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition, treating them like buzzwords. Hopefully, in time, viewers of the TV show, as well as members of our own community, realize that GP & coopertition aren't buzzwords as much as they are a philosophy.

Besides, how else can we compete with VEX in the prime-time television slot? :p (I kid, but still. Messages must be spread.)
[1] - https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/s...hreadid=149956

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Maybe the team the show focuses on will end up being on the same alliance as the team with a lot of engineers and realize they had the wrong idea of them?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Oh look, CD is mildly outraged again.:p

Now the question is: what, if anything, can CD do about this?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Literally nothing,whether we could agree or not. Episodes are filmed and sent :p All CD can do is as it always does, be that what you interpret.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Be prepared to proactively address it with interested students and other potential stakeholders. I don't think anyone envisions changing the content of a television show; it's just that understanding the view some potential recruits will get from the trailer/episode can be important in making any press actually good press. This is certainly a reasonable standard of action.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...on-The-Fosters

FIRST did have substantial knowledge of the story for this episode as confirmed in this Frank's Blog. I honestly think it will be more of a non-issue than most here are trying to make it out to be, and is still representative of our community as a whole (as very well proven by the arguments made in this thread.) Frank even admits that this will cause discussion in the community, but clearly it could not have been damaging to FIRST in the end as people such as Blair will make an appearance in the episode.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I was going to reserve judgement of this until the actual episode, but you bring up a good point.

Very disappointed in the way FIRST is being portrayed.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Why do people think a fictional representation of FIRST has to be perfect? People are not perfect and are prone to mistakes. Theyact on their instincts and not always on the golden rule. To assume that they are obligated to have people be complete saints in order to represent a group is arrogant to be honest.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Although I was a little personally offended that they regarded having an aerospace engineer as a coach was a "bad" thing, I will hold my judgement until I see the full episode.

I was a bit more frustrated at the earlier episodes in which the students and teacher threw around the terms "Omni Wheels" and "Swerve Drive" when clearly referring to and demonstrating Mecanum Drive. Yes, I know the general public won't know the difference but there's an attention to detail in scriptwriting that's obviously missing here. If you're going to technobabble, at least be somewhat accurate!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'm guessing that over the course of the episode the team will come to realize that "teams who have mentors that are engineers" still have students that are very knowledgeable and receive a great experience. They could even cheesily realize that 'gracious professionalism' requires that they respect another team's way of doing things. Nice and sappy.

I don't think that they will acknowledge that it is core to the program to have engineering mentors though (because they need a rival / enemy for the plot), and that kind of sucks. If they end the storyline by planning to increase their mentor base and recruit engineers, then I will be really impressed.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Good point. It's probably not supposed to be that realistic, and it has to fit with the rest of the show. After all, this is not a show about FIRST; it's a show about other things that happened to feature FIRST.

QFT!

The reason they put the mentor-built debate in was because they attended a regional and possibly read CD. And what did they hear/read? Student-built vs. mentor-built robot controversy. And they thought, "That could be entertaining on a TV show!" The reason it's on the show is because it happens in FIRST in real life. Though I won't judge too much until I see the whole thing.

They did WHAT? :yikes: Come on, people, do your homework! Is it really that hard to find out what the differences are between omni wheels, mecanum wheels, swerve drive, and mecanum drive?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

But no one on the show would be able to pronounce mecanum right.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

It's neat to see FIRST on TV, and actually be called FIRST! Hopefully it will get some kids interested, and they might join a robotics team that they wouldn't have otherwise.

Keep in mind that it's a TV show, and it's made to entertain general audiences and not nerdy robot people like us. After building robots and working on the set of Spare Parts, I give lots of movies/shows a pass when they miss details or have exaggerated plot points. It's art and needs to be engaging, so it's not going to reflect reality 100% accurately.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Actually I don't see them having the time to spend to make that point. Where I see the story line ending is with the "mentor built" team getting defeated by a rag-tag alliance that includes our hero or at least our hero coming very close to winning. It is a teen drama and that usually includes a good triumphing over evil just when you think all hope is lost.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'll admit, I haven't seen the show before but it strikes me as the standard family-oriented teen show that always includes a heart warming moment of understanding or growth. A "maybe our enemies aren't so different for us" moment would do the job well. They certainly might end up beating the mentor team. If they really go the direction of having that team legitimately entirely mentor-built then that is going to be really embarrassing.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Based on what I've seen of the show I feel like it would be perfectly normal if the robot set on fire and someone lost an arm with a Sawzall.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I don't think everyone here is understanding the difference between a documentary and a TV Drama. The stereotypical movie or TV drama about sports involve the hero/heroine's underdog team beating out the "unfairly advantaged" team that has won the whatever level championship for the past whatever amount of years (the general exceptions are plots that follow some misunderstood hero/heroine trying to get onto the sports team, but this is about one of the rarest issues a student could have in FRC considering how desperate many teams are to get students:D). I guess the producers decided that the easiest way to create the other team's "unfair advantage" (as well as using something that, like it or not, is a real controversy in FRC) was to use the Mentor built controversy. No matter how inaccurate it may be it is a easy way to imply the "unfair advantage" to the audience.

If it was a documentary on the other hand, such a portrayal would be unacceptable. While the movie or drama is just a source of entertainment the documentary's responsibility to portray truth shouldn't allow a serious portrayal of the controversy.

I do agree that it would be best if the episode does end up showing that the team's original understanding of the "mentor built" team ends up being inaccurate.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

If the storyline is what the trailer conveys, and was written in by the show that's one thing. I understand TV shows will add drama, etc... Nature of the beast.

However if someone that's on a team or works for FIRST pushed that storyline to the producers that would be pretty disappointing.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Another sneak peak was just released!
Here is the link the Emma Dumont article as well there is a sneak peak clip at the end!

http://cartermatt.com/217037/fosters...s-competition/

Quick link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63v_X0Kq24

All students you see in this show are actually robotics students along with some mentors and volunteers playing key roles!

Friendly reminder this show is NOT a FIRST Documentary but rather a celebration of STEM and showing people who would not otherwise be exposed that they can build cool robots like these in a real competition!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Is this where I get to say "Mama I made it on TV?"
Repping that Code Orange uniform in the promo picture!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

But I think I saw black coveralls?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I don't think that's likely to be the case... the producers and directors usually have a clear cut direction that they plan to take. The 'experts' and 'robot consultants' help add some realism to the story and make it believable, but they won't have much of an affect on the storyline. They pay writers for that.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Absolutely correct. The FIRST robotics adviser on this series was there to add suggestions, create more realism, bring in teams, and create an environment similar to that of a competition.

Ultimately, the shows writers were writing the script based off of where they wanted the show to go and everything was handed to FIRST when their brand was being used for sign off.

I'd love to go into more detail about the shows inception and creation post Monday's episode, if there is interest.

But for now, I want to thank all the students, mentors, and volunteers for working 3 LONG days of filming. So much went into this small episode from just the several FRC teams point of view!

I also want to thank the amazing cast, crew, and extras of The Fosters for being very supportive and patient with us! They truly did a lot to make the the FIRST-ers feel right in place and many of the extras wanted to learn more about the program!

Hope you all enjoy Monday's episode!

Remember to keep your comments respectful :)

Thanks!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Aside from all the drama going on, I would love to know what went into building their team's robot. It's pretty gorgeous. Looks like it would even perform well.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Hint:

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Shout out to myself for forgetting to take off the gopro mount

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I think I spotted these teams and people in the last preview that was posted. Who did I miss?

4 Team Element
980 Thunderbots
3476 Code Orange
Eileen Kahn
George Chen
702 Bagel Bytes
Blair
4201

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

In this album, you can see Hall of Fame team 597 as well as team 1836!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Cooler Master is proud that so many of its sponsored teams are involved with this. It is great to see FIRST and robotics on television.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Interesting team number, 3702. Would have been a rookie year of 2011. There is a team 3701 and 3703, but no 3702 according to McLeod's AllTeamEver spreadsheet. Wonder why the one team gap in the team numbers.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Possibly a would-be rookie 2011XXXX that never finished registration (never paid?) and never competed because of that. Pesky placeholder numbers. I've seen that sort of thing in several places.

Smart move to use a team number that was never used in reality for the show--I'd guess that FIRST suggested that one, but I'm probably wrong.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Yep, Team 1836 is there repping those classic red team shirts. Unfortunately, I could not be there because of age rules and work, but I heard that it was an amazing experience for everyone involved and am really happy that FIRST was represented on mainstream TV!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Another clip!!

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/fosters-sne...000000745.html

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Pretty sure those bumper numbers are not to spec

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

No one is wearing safety glasses...

::ouch::

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Sadly, though, they're more legible than half the bumper numbers I've seen over the years... If the spec was "visible from a distance", they'd pass!


@FIRSTonTV, that little discussion about the robot weight is FAR too typical! Can't say I've been in those myself, but as an inspector I've had to tell someone they were overweight. Though I will say that for half a pound most teams would reach for a drill instead of removing parts.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Jokes aside, the attention to detail is quite impressive

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Just a random observation: 207's (or 3702 as it is portrayed in the show) bot already has pretty aggressive lightening/pocketing on the superstructure (and I assume the rest of the robot), so removing a non-functional component may have been necessary. Just a thought.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I know. (And trust me, the hanger was functional during the actual season. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure when it became functional.)

But there are a few places that don't have holes yet, just a matter of whether they can be reached easily with a drill bit. That's the "experienced cheese-holer" talking.:rolleyes:

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I just wanted to say thank you to all the teams who volunteered their time and their robots on the Fosters! You guys went out of your way to make robotics and engineering a known high-school program by showing it to millions of Americans on prime-time TV.

Okay, so a few details here and there might be out of place, but the message and truth of the story being told is still very accurate: High-schoolers can build a robot as a team, learn a lot of cool concepts, compete with their machine, and play to win a competition.

As far as I'm concerned, many more people would be interested in joining FIRST by watching what the Fosters produced than by watching some footage from a regional or a documentary. We aren't all engineering or analytical types, and that's definitely not the type of which this TV show's audience is composed.

If NASCAR was only 'How It's Made: Stock Cars' combined with a breakdown of 'official' NASCAR jargon, few people would watch, too.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Hey all,
The big show is tomorrow on Freeform at 5pm PST/ 8pm EST!

I got an official OK to release some pictures from the 3 days of filming.
Here they are!

http://imgur.com/gallery/F2sDG

Thanks!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Watched the 8/8 episode. Pretty cool!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

OK CD,

Tonight is the final episode, where we get to see the Anchor Beach Anchor Bytes compete at the "Southern California Regional"!

If you haven't seen the sneak peaks, you can check them out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dc4fJO5tA
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/fosters-sne...000000745.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63v_X0Kq24

Tune in at 8pm/5pmPST!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

So... fears confirmed right? That episode absolutely painted engineering mentors in the worst light possible. Specifically a Boeing engineer / Boeing sponsored team. As a Boeing mentor, that was fun to see, I guess (not really.)

Things I thought the episode did well -

- Showed what an FRC competition is and what a typical match looks like.

- Showed the difficulty teams go through to pass inspection and even had the team dead for an entire match - pretty realistic.

- Showcasing an all girl drive team and the empowerment that can hold. I thought that was pretty cool.

Things that didn't go so well -

- The antagonist mentor guy. If I were thinking of starting an FRC team and watched that episode, I might not now because of how that character was portrayed. What a jerk! I really hope that's not how FIRST or anyone involved with this show sees mentors who help teams - specifically some of the most competitive teams.

- The drive team stopping and hugging every time they scored a boulder. The match is still going! Why did you stop?!

- While the all-girl piece was cool, I didn't think "$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#es Get Things Done" was the most inspiring motto. But maybe that's just me?

All in all, a lot of potential but I think more could have been done to show what gracious professionalism is really like in FIRST. Time and time again we see teams call their own time outs during the finals to let teams fix their robots - and it would have been so cool to see something of that nature occur on the show. But it didn't. Big opportunity missed there.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I will also agree that the mentor who was portrayed as the main antagonist did not act in a way that was any different than he should have. From a students perspective being behind that glass that is really how high intensity matches are. Yes i do believe he did over step his boundary when talking to the mom about taking their team home but that was merely an over exaggeration in order to make him the villain.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

it looked like FIRST made some adjustments to fms and the audience display fms is suppose to show qual 1 of x number of qual matches but i guess for the purposes of the show they adjusted it

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Now that the episode has finally aired, I would like to give my thanks for all that were involved. So many people made a big effort to get this done and I am very grateful to them. We had a blast filming. I always love just chatting with fellow FIRSTers and this provided a pretty great opportunity to do that.

Even better was being able to explain FIRST to the crew and extras. They were very interested and asked questions about the robots and what we do and why we do it. They had us run some "matches" for B-roll and it was pretty funny seeing how into it they got. They would cheer any time a robot made a high goal. Or wince when a robot took a Defense particularly hard. They were also extremely patient with us in setting up and trying to get the robots to do the same thing take after take.

All-in-all, it was a great time and I was glad to be a part of it.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Just got done watching the episode.

I'm pretty disappointed about the way the lead mentor is portrayed. I've never come across someone who behaves that way, and all of the mentors I know from "powerhouse" teams are excellent mentors, teachers, and just all around good people. I'm additionally a bit upset about the lead mentor being from Boeing, because that kind of falsely represents their employees. I also did a double take when the alliance used profanity in their name and cheers, and I presume (as I've never seen that happen at a competition) that it wouldn't be tolerated in real life.

All in all, minus the things above and the conflicts between the students I thought they did an OK job of showing FRC and FIRST. They certainly captured the wide range of emotions present an an event.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FUN will be having a special post show tomorrow (Tuesday) with Pauline Tasci to talk about the episodes and her experience with them. Bring your Q&A for Pauline to address.

Show starts at 8:30PM EST and I would expect the post show to start around 9:30PMish EST

Live: www.twitch.tv/firstupdatesnow
Archived (we will split this into it's own posting) www.youtube.com/firstupdatesnow

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Basically how I felt. I was really annoyed about the gracious professionalism comments. How bout you just be gracious and professional instead of throwing the buzz word around.

Off topic but assuming Boeing didn't allow those comments to be said couldn't those sorta comments be ground for a lawsuit?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Though the idea that Anchor Beach would *ever* take their hands off the controller during a match is hilarious, it was overall a decent episode.

They touch on the importance of listening to mentors, though the interaction with the "299" mentor left a bad taste in my mouth. The fact they called out a specific organization is truly a shame, as they could have done without it and still gotten the point across... To have the "powerhouse mentors", those who often sink in just as much time as any other mentor as somehow "lower" than another mentor is appalling.

In my own opinion, the powerhouse teams aren't "mentor lead" as this episode tends to imply, but rather a group of students crazy enough to listen to their mentors and go above and beyond. It takes a small (and growing) army to run a FRC team. Skilled mentors are important for the 4 year turnover.

Overall, they covered part of the program as a whole, though obviously not to my (or a significant part of Chief's) satisfaction. Their treatment of GP and Coopertition like nothing more than buzzwords are... (though I can't lay claim to this) mildly offensive to those who actively practice it. However, the idea that FIRST made it into mainstream media at all is a miracle. Hopefully FIRST HQ can keep up their PR work and spread the word in ways we wouldn't otherwise see. It's sometimes easy to forget that as big as a community as we are, our voices don't travel far outside the echo chamber.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Funny story: those are actually not our classic red shirts. Our red shirts had a different logo and lettering (as sort of seen here).

Freeform actually asked for our shirt design so that they could reprint it on another color for aesthetic reasons. That way they also avoid sponsors which helps them.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I agree- unfortunately, though, looks like some people didn't take it the way I would have hoped " I've never been to a robotics competition, but according to this show, it's two parts BattleBots, one part Medieval Times."

- http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/foste...episode-8.html

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

That's unfortunate, though to be fair, the show didn't exactly capture the idea of "the game changes every year". Imagine how tedious and highly optimized FRC would get if we had the same game every year!

At least 1/3rd wasn't the other thing...

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Boeing allowed use for their name in this scene.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Am I the only one who feels like I just watched a Lifetime movie?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Perhaps more like teenage drama TV?
If there isn't enough bad behavior coupled with super-charged emotional outbursts in the show, their target audience quickly loses interest.
I never expect this to be a glowing documentary about FRC, so I wasn't at all disappointed in the show.
On the very positive side, the show did portray the challenge and excitement in FRC, maybe that will intrigue some HS viewers enough to join a team!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

It's a similar feeling to watching any show on Freeform, but you nailed it.

https://vimeo.com/179005395 Still laughing at this Boeing mentor jab.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I didn't watch the entire episode (yet - I've got work to get done today), but that clip alone feels disgusting.

The worst part is this "awful mentor" was right. Consistency is key and wasting your time on something too complex and over their ability level will lose teams that consistency. Seems like the show writers (and whoever the 'FIRST advisor' was) took their own bias into the show.

I'm disappointed FIRST used this opportunity to essentially color any newcomers this might bring to the organization, against teams with involved mentors, or even just against teams who have a winning streak. What does that say about our community?

FIRST's own mission statement mentions 'mentor-based programs'. Demonizing mentors, or teams who utilize them to the best of their ability, probably wasn't the way to go here.

Editing to add: I just watched the 'master cut' of all the FRC storyline content. It was a nice cover of FIRST - and it did well, as Ryan mentioned, for showcasing what events look and feel like. I understand where the underdog story works, but I still stand by that demonizing the other team (the 'powerhouse') went a little too far. The use of language/tension/ungracious attitudes seems like a facet of their show, so it felt a little weird to see that with FIRST logos all around. I'm not the biggest fan of the all-girls' motto (b*tches get stuff done), but that's a very separate rant for another time. Ryan's pros-and-cons a few lines up are spot on, in my book! Not much more to add.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

- Maggie Fremont of Vulture

There was so much to dislike about the portrayal of FRC in this show but I think this quote demonstrates the worst of it. If people new to FRC are coming away with the idea that adult mentors shouldn't be passionate about FRC, clearly this has failed to do its job. Passionate mentors are reason the vast majority of teams of survive. We have students stand and clap at every event for the efforts of dedicated mentors and to have them discarded so easily by a TV show that has gotten so much support from HQ is extremely upsetting.

Countless times in this show I was hoping a mentor, key volunteer, or anyone would actually mentor these students and provide for some kind of character growth but you're left just feeling worse at each and every interaction. The people that are supposed to be teaching these students right from wrong are instead cheering profitably from the stands (I'm not above using harsh language but clearly there is a time and place and this isn't it). This show is not the behavior we should be promoting from team members or from our society. I understand it's just a TV show but that doesn't mean we should sacrifice our core values just for the publicity.

If this is the culture change that HQ thinks we need I dont want any part of it. This doesn't represent the FRC I know and love, and I regret promoting the program before watching how they would depict FRC.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Yep, that's my take on it. It's a family drama that's using FRC as a premise for the episode, it's not a TV spot about FIRST. Drama first, robots second. Maybe squeeze in some FIRST ideals if there's time.

Even so, I'm kind of amazed at how accurately the competition was portrayed. The teams that helped work the robotics atmosphere into the show did a good job. It's also a pretty good testament to how entertaining the games FIRST releases are, seeing that they didn't have a need to dress up the competition much.

Also, keep in mind that people googling "Fosters FIRST robotics" will see this thread as one of the top hits, so maybe don't stomp all over the show they like with your tall horses. :)

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Maybe don't stomp all over our mentors, our mission, a platinum sponsor, and display the opposite of gracious professionalism next to FIRST's name like they did on the Hollywood high horse?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

according to this recap: http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/foste...episode-8.html , FRC isn't done with the Fosters just yet. I hope we will see more growth and depth from the characters as time goes by.

On a slightly different note: I don't think the Cobra Kai damaged martial arts in 1984. In fact, the Karate Kid sparked interest the martial arts for a generation. Relax a bit.

They weren't insulting anyone or any team in their dramatized TV portrayal of a FRC event. Gotta read the disclaimers :D

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

But isn't that what outsiders think about ANYTHING they aren't personally interested and excited about? For example, when I was at GENCON last week, I had my first run in with cosplay. Why would anyone get so passionate about a costume? I don't get it, but I don't have to! It's what they enjoy. So, more power to them.
It's the same with FIRST. There are many rookie parents and students who don't get my passion and interest in robotics. Heck, my principal doesn't even get it. Most of them begin to understand after they attend their first event. You have to admit, from the outside looking in, we are an odd group of people.