First University?
 

At the 11AM seminar for the 2009 control system, there was a chart that showed NI's involvement in the different levels of first.
At the top was a horizontal bar with the different competitions and their age ranges. Below "FIRST Lego League" was an icon for NXT-G with a bar fading out to the right, and to the right of that was a bar fading in and an icon for Labview.
After "FIRST Robotics Competition", above the Labview icon, was "FIRST University" for ages 18+.

If there was an announcement, I missed it.
Does anyone know anything about FIRST University?

Re: First University?
 

I was really wondering about this too...I think it would be really cool, although, that would take away some college mentors that teams have...

Re: First University?
 

Could college kids be the ones who are supposed to design/build/compete with the robots? I sure hope so!

Re: First University?
 

man..that'd be SO awesome!!

I was talking to one of my uni friends about starting a team and just ordering a KOP and building whatever the challenge was...and compete amongst ourselves..

but this would be SO much better

Re: First University?
 

You can see the chart at 1:00 on the video here.

Re: First University?
 

The chart just says "University" not, "FIRST University". I think they were just referring to the fact that some colleges use the same technologies developed by NI.

Re: First University?
 

I stand corrected. That chart does just say university.

It does appear to be the same chart that was shown at the seminar, but I was pretty sure it said FIRST University when it was shown there.

Either the chart shown at the seminar was different than the one in the video, or more likely, I wasn't fully awake (or rather, wasn't fully asleep) when I read that.

Re: First University?
 

You were probably were imagining "University" saying "FIRST University" because you including everyone's minds racing with FIRST :rolleyes: .:] But yeah, very more than likely they're referring how universities and colleges uses Labview's technology already because like fore example, here at the Colorado School of Mines, they have everyone use Solidworks and NI Labview Programs at some point in their college education.

Re: First University?
 

Probably.
The chart is somewhat misleading with all the first competitions, then "University". Add the fact that I was in a cold induced trance for the better part of Thursday, and there's the potential for things to be read which don't exist.

Re: First University?
 

But still, a FIRST-run program for college students would be awesome. I think that's an established fact.

Re: First University?
 

The closest thing I have found is the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (http://www.igvc.org/) Obviously there is the Darpa challenges but thats not really like FRC...

I second that FIRST at a college level would be amazing...

Re: First University?
 

FIRST in universities would be amazing, the robots would be what we dream of doing, the games would be so hard. Just think of the challenge...

Re: First University?
 

There are many robotics competitions, most of them are very regional because of the busy lives us college kids live. A new one that my school is participating in is the University Rover Challenge: http://www.universityroverchallenge.org/portal/c/urc

Others that former FIRST students have enjoyed are of course the DARPA challenge, individual competitions like robogames (robot Olympics) and mini BAJA . I know there are a lot more and there are some university teams competing in team 842's NURC.

Re: First University?
 

It'd be neat if it were a year-long challenge instead of six weeks. That'd be pretty sweet, though. :D

I would participate when I get to college.

Re: First University?
 

Just in case you all haven't heard, Battlebots is coming back and there's going to be a college level competition.

Re: First University?
 

I'd wait till ESPNU makes an announcement about Battlebots before getting any sort of commitment towards it. This kind of stuff has been circulating for years.

Re: First University?
 

Yes, it definitely looks as though they were trying to express how the utilities you use from JrFLL through FRC are tools you may use in a University (basically saying that FIRST is good exposure to things that will potentially be useful in college - which is always a great thing!)

As for a FIRST College program, I think it would be pretty cool, but it would probably be difficult to get colleges on board. Being a mentor on a college team is a lot of work, and it can definitely take away from your studies which is what you are going to school for (I would love to go to school for FIRST all year round, but we all just have to come to terms that life isn't that awesome :( lol)

But who knows what the future will bring. All I know is I love being a Mentor and I look forward to continuing that! :)

Re: First University?
 

But maybe one day it will happen. I would participate if it existed.

Re: First University?
 

I actually think it would be a lot easier to get colleges on board than high schools. First, colleges usually have a lot more money so that wouldn't be as much as a problem. Secondly, colleges that have engineering majors would certainly be interested because it is a place to apply the things learned in class than in high school where engineering classes are a lot less abundant. With the time commitment, I don't think the school wouldn't be on board because it is too much work. I know at my school they let the students pretty much do whatever they want.

I think the question of having a College FIRST is would it inspire and spread science more than what it right now? I'm not sure. On of the goals of FIRST is to get more people interested in pursuing a career in science and technology. In college, most people already know what they will be doing and teams will be from schools. I would invision the teams would come from colleges that are centered around science and technology, so the people on the team will already be pursuing a career in science in technology.

While I think a College FIRST would be a ton of fun (I'm sure I would take part), I don't think there is a lot pay off compared to the work and funding needed. I think those colleges and college students should focus on mentoring other teams and getting high school students interested in science and technology instead of giving more resources to those already interested.

Re: First University?
 

One other thing to remember is that, when one thing happens there is always a counter reaction to it. If a College competition starts, what will happen to all those college based FRC teams? What would it look like if they moved away from FRC to this new competition, how would that change FRC, and how many teams would they lose?

Re: First University?
 

You might think that. And in some cases that may be true, but not in others. Most colleges put a LOT of their money into research that the profs do. Being on a college team I see this - and some of our sponsors are willing to fund us only because we work with young students (FLL, FTC and FRC). Clarkson is not our only sponsor.

You make a good point - FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. I know when I was on an FRC team in high school, it inspired me to become more interested in engineering and now look at me - I am an engineering major at Clarkson!! But at a college level, like you said, the students should already have a pretty good idea of what they want to do. So would FIRST at a college level really be accomplishing much? Maybe, maybe not.

Good point again! (And it probably would be a ton of fun!) But I know for me personally once I started mentoring I was introduced to a whole new side of FIRST. And what is cooler than being able to share what you know with others? I would say being involved in FIRST in college as a mentor can be a lot of fun and is totally worth it -- AS LONG AS YOU MAKE SURE SCHOOL COMES FIRST! (Even I took freshman year off to adjust to college, and I would recommend that others take some time off or step down a little when the first get to college!)

Re: First University?
 

There is a college level FIRST-type organization. It's called the SAE Collegiate Design Series. This is the Mini Baja, Mini Indy, Aero Design, and other competitions. There are other competitions too.

If you want college robotics or college FIRST, start there. It's close enough. And it's just as much fun.

Re: First University?
 

Yahoo!!! Even mentors can get into battlebots...Its cheaper and a lot more open as to what you can use for your bot too...But based on a book I read about the history of competitive robots ("Gearheads") its a lot different from the FIRST world.

BC