Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I was just wondering if there are teams on the East that do collaborations such as the famous Poof and RAWC twins. I think I remember seeing an 1114 triplet somewhere.

I personally would love to work with some other east coast team but I doubt my team would.

Post up pics of the triplets or twins if there are any.:)

oh, btw, change what the thread should be under if you feel like it...didn't know what to put this as.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Down in South Florida, 1251 (The Tech-Tigers) and 408 (The RoboTicks) did a twin collaboration, there were some minor differences (number placement and paint schemes) but the designs and fabrication of the 2 were identical. Regrettably i don't believe the two were ever photographed side by side while they were in full working order

also, last year 1902 and 1369 did a twin design as well

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

1114 did triplets from 2005-2006, with 1503 and 1680. Can't think of any others at the moment.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

So I'm not the only who thinks of this. There are quite a few teams in a close vicinity of us. It would be easy for us to collaborate. And I, like you, doubt my team would do it.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

You are coming to Upstate New York correct?
The only upstate team that has done a previous collaboration was229's legendary collaboration with 217 in 2005.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

In the Toronto area, in 2006 Teams 1112 & 1815 had a full robot collaboration. This past year, Team 843 & 2386 had twin robots.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

One year I would love to see 103 and 25 twins. Imagine how sick that would be.

But yea, maybe I'll ask the mentors if they would want to work with a nearby team like 1302, 1403, or something

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

384, 540 and 1086 in Virginia have been collaborating recently. Seems like one of the three dropped out of the full collaboration this last season.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...18&postcount=1

Blake
PS: The East Coast is a pretty big place, you might want to name a region that is a bit smaller. :) I would think that it is nearly just as easy to collaborate with a team anywhere on the planet as it is to collaborate with more than 2-3 hours away.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Elaborate.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I think he means me? If so, yes, I will be around Auburn and Syracuse *Only for the summer* trying to start up some more FRC teams.
I would be willing to bring it up with our mentors if anyone offers to want to do a collaboration. I doubt it would happen but its worth a try. =)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Hmmmmm- interesting idea. Or how about sextuplets spanning the nation....

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

lol, formation of an epic championship alliance? You're just crazy Mr. C. haha

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

384 and 1086 resumed this collaboration in 2008, although 540 made their own unique bot in '08.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

with one being way west in Hawaii..............waialua, HI that is. ;)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Stogi, We'll collaborate with you guys!!! We just need a cool name.

Also aren't there a lot of teams who have designs that were inspired/helped by 968 and 254. I can't remember exactly but there was a black robot this year that looked like 968/254's last years robot.

Edit: I found it, it's the Holy Cows Team 1538

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

lol, I would love to but our team has usually sided be against that...but let's not bring that thread back up please. I was just interested in seeing other twins or triplets and what similarities and differences they have. By far, the coolest ones are the 2006 NiagraFIRST triplets regardless of what your opinion on the matter of collaboration is.

btw.I think the black robot you may be referring to was a 968 practice chassis. I'll find the pic

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Nah it definitely was it's own team... I'll try to find it somewhere I know I saw it in atl. I wanna say it was a 1900 something.

NVM it was 1538 the Holy Cows

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

A lot of teams on the West Coast have been inspired by 60/254/968 over the years. Others look to 330 for inspiration. Lots of teams this year either had the same idea as 121 or followed their example.

I guess they're following Dave Lavery's advice about "Steal from the best, and invent the rest!"

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I was sort of disappointed by that a little. Although it was one of the best designs.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Engineering isn't always coming up with something new. It can just as easily be taking existing technology and putting it together in a new way (e.g. the Segway). Or adapting something to fit your needs. Or tweaking others' ideas to fit into your plan.

I'd say that's what many of those teams did. It also helped level the playing field by bringing the bottom up. (And, they had to reverse engineer it. Now that's a learning experience.)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Not really east coast... but don't forget 70 and 494

06 - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24184
07 - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27952
08 - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/30517

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

True, I agree with you on that. However, there were some teams that really looked like total copies. But whatever, as long as they were built as well as the original or executed a different way I suppose it doesn't matter.

Oh Eric, btw, do you know if 121 worked with any other teams this year?

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I think the large number of robots very similar to 121 was due to their robot video coming out in week 3(correct me if i'm wrong) which leaves a good deal of time for some teams to be inspired by the idea and incorporate some of the advantages into their own team's design.

I'm not saying I think it is bad that teams were inspired by them, as a matter of fact, I think it is great. If 121 didn't want to share their ideas they wouldn't have put their video out until week 6.

It is very helpful to some teams with less experience when a they get to see other robots before the build season is done so the can get inspirired by the ideas and use some of them if they were stuck otherwise.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I don't know. There are some members on the forum you could ask, though.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

didn't exploding bacon team up with another team at some point? (do they count as east coast?)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Yes, 1902 and 1369 collaborated in 2007, as mentioned earlier in this thread.


Also, some teams came to a roller-claw design before 121 posted their video too... :rolleyes:

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

A vertical roller claw is fairly obvious. Turning around to roll the ball over the overpass in order to keep your arm at a single stage isn't so obvious, and I think that's what sets apart the 121 design.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

There have been several teams who designed a single jointed arm that was able to hurdle. My own two teams 1345 and 108 had a single jointed arm who were able to hurdle without turning around and I am sure there were many other teams who were able to do the same.

Also, there are several teams who was inspired by team 254/968's previous robots. Team 1251 went west coast style this year and they were very successful.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Am I the only one who see's this as compleatly against the spirit of FIRST.

Isn't the point of the program to see different designs that do different things? For every team to let there KIDS engineer there own custom design.

Sure, making a similar design off of another team's claw or arm device makes sence. But to make exact copys, seams completly against the principals of FIRST to me!

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

There are those who are opposed to collaboration, yes.

Aaaaaactually, the point of the program is to inspire high school students to consider careers in science, math, and engineering. FIRST has historically not really worried about how teams go about this.

It didn't quite hit me until Cal Games 2006 that 254 and 968 are several hours apart. (The South Carolinian in me said "Oh, they're both in California, they can't be that far away from each other...") If any two teams can coordinate their robot design across 357 miles and produce Einstein-quality robots year after year, I'm willing to bet that they're doing pretty well at the whole inspiring thing. (I'll even better the odds, since half of that collaboration is in the Hall of Fame at least partially for their approach to collaboration.)

Besides, FIRST explicitly authorized collaboration at the start of the season.

Edit: And another thing--1369 received the Judges' Award at Palmetto in 2007 for their collaboration and its effect on the team: having two weeks to practice and fine-tune. (I've been in FRC for five years now, four as a mentor, and no team I've ever worked with has had two days to practice.) That sounds like an endorsement from the judges to me.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I talked with one of their team members, and it SOUNDED like they didn't. But I don't know because I never asked him that question. The way he was talking, I don't think they did.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I know what you are saying but I asked kindly to please keep the thread about the robots..not the ideals of FIRST..we've had those threads before. Just please keep this thread about the topic. If you wish to talk about the pro's and con's of collaboration please seek a different existing thread (there are plenty that argue the topic of collaboration). Thanks:)

Emphasis mine:
Thank you..

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

It's one in the same guy.
I am talking about robots and the reason that i don't agree with that specific strategy.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

If you want to discuss the merits of collaboration, please add your thoughts to one of the many threads that currently exist on the topic, and stick to just discussing the thread topics-known collaborations between east coast teams.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

how bout just a coast collaboration?
mike d

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Elaborate please..I don't seem to understand what you mean.

EDIT: ooo, I think I get what you mean.

New question: If you guys could have any two or three teams work together on the East coast who would it be? Same for West. and then combination on East and West coasts (I think that's what Mike means). Also, specify what you think each team could bring to the table and remember that not all 3 have to be one of the famed "elite" teams. Think outside the box =)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

348 was very fortunate to have 25 as a collaborating partner this year on the east coast. We did not build mechanical twins (we did build a 25 inspired drive train), but rather shared ideas, expertise, technology, and strategies. This allowed each team to retain authorship of their machines, but we benefited and learned from each other from the exchange of information.

We cannot thank 25, the BMS guys, and Shaun McNulty enough for all their help, rapidly taking us up the learning curve, and assistance in making us a solid Championship alliance partner. 25 was an integral component of 348s success and the teams/MY education this year.

The West Coast, Niagra, Midwest, VA, FL collaborations are partnerships to be admired and learned from. I'm in awe of the success that those teams have had and how much their students have learned. There are a lot of less "high profile" collaborations going on as well. Through my travels around the country as an MC this year, I was lucky to hear many stories of collaborations on a multitude of levels whether it be pertaining to robot design, mentoring rookies, or supporting FLL and FTC programs. A component of FIRST is fostering relationships and building community. On this aspect, I walked away from the '08 season particularly inspired.

-wayne

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

25's an awesome team to learn from. Their lift from 07 was just amazingly engineered and was overall a beautiful machine. I would love to learn from them some more. Perhaps at the next NJ regional I'll have a chance.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Yup, two posts above :rolleyes: ....

348

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

We helped one struggling rookie team with CAD files of our machine. They benefited greatly from them and we were given a Judges award for our efforts. I do not consider it collaboration.

If collaboration meant a machine that mimics a proven concept from a video in week 3, then we had the biggest collaboration in FIRST, ever. I realize that a bunch of our twins had the idea, but our pics and videos confirmed that the idea works.

Same thing happened with American robot in 2005 and 2007. 1305 said they heavily borrowed from our design. Great team that we won a qualification match with in Atlanta that year. In 2007, team 2079 had build season pics with team members watching American Robot. Their claw was a direct (and larger) copy of one of our prototypes.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Not to be rude, but this statement simply is not true.

Team 2079 was a rookie last year. We had no ties to any other teams, and we had very little knowledge of FIRST. We didn't even know 121 existed. We have very well documented brainstorming and prototyping of designs from the build season.

I think you should check your sources before you post. I'm also curious to know where you saw these pictures, because they aren't of my team or from my team.

P.S. What is American Robot anyway?

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

There was a nice 8x10 picture of 3-4 of 2079 teammates eating pizza and gathering around a laptop. On that laptop was a youtube video. That video title was American Robot Episode 2. I remember it very well since I invited every member of 121 that had anything to do with American Robot over to the 2079 pit to view the photo. I wanted them to see proof that another team was watching our videos.

I thought it was great that a rookie team watched the project my team spent hundreds of hours on and was able to find inspiration in one of our designs. To sit there and deny that *some 2079ers* (not necessarily you) watched it is not so admirable.

Teams find inspiration from other teams all the time. I am not accusing 2079 or any other team of any wrong doing. I was merely stating what I saw at the Boston Regional last year.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

I have been watchin this develop with interest, and I think it is time that I intervened. I am well aware that this conversation should take place in personal messages, but I cannot permit this libel regarding team 2079's 2007 robot to persist.

I was the captain of team 2079 in 2007 and 2008. I oversaw everything that our team did. The picture of which you speak is of some team members (myself included) watching American Robot. That day (the Saturday before the end of the build season), our team decided to see what other teams had done during the build season. Our robot was entirely complete (except for the placement of the beacon). As much as you would like to believe that our gripper was a copy of yours, our design is entirely original.

I find it insulting that you assume that we copied you because we had similar (though not so similar if you viewed our well documented design process). We had completed our gripper by the end of the second week, and by no means did we obtain any ideas from American Robot. We did not even see your video until week 6. This even an official meeting; a few team members just stuck around the lab to eat lunch. I do not even specifically remember watching American robot, but now that you mention the picture, I see that it is 121.

You should not jump to conclusions about the generation of our design before actually knowing what your are talking about. I'm sorry to be harsh, but our team is very proud of our 2007 design, and to have you falsely claim that we copied you is both damaging and very frustrating.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

All I know is I <3 collaboration and am more than willing to do it again. It is hard work, much harder than building your own bot. Everything has to be accounted for, everything must be perfect, but I have never been a part of a more rewarding experience.

I truely believe many people benefit and are inspired by well built collaborations and would suggest to anyone to at least try it once. If not an entire robot builds, component collaborations are rewarding as well. In my experience it seems to instill some real world practices that can occasionally be missed in single team builds.

In my collaboration experience the teams learned more, were more inspired, and we came out with a much better result than if we had done it on our own. I look forward to being part of a collaboration again someday :-)

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Relax please. You are the first 2079er to tell me you did watch the video and more importantly when. I whole-heatedly believe you and commend your team for a great rookie entry. You seeded second if I remember correctly.

I think we can drop it now.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

He never meant to insult your team in any way. Just leave it be.

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

No harm done. I just didn't want people to think our design wasn't original.

Anyway, I think this thread can go back on topic now:D

Re: Any East Coast Collaborations?
 

Yeah it did seem like a lot of robots had that 343 style gripper. When I saw metal in motion go I was very impressed. Roller grippers were great this year, unfortunately like us it wasn't the way to go, simply couldn't keep up with the best shooters or the flipper style arms like 330/217.

Roller grippers have always been the best way to go with balls, we relied heavily on pictures of old robots, that itself was a collaboration. Heck when Arefin showed our team the 1345 roller gripper design that is what influenced our team to go with it. In fact he suggested the best way to do it. When we saw 121's design at the time, we were VERY impressed and were happy with the direction we were going.... until we saw 1114 :-( hehe

Either way 121 sure had a great design, becareful with your tone tho, you might offend people when you insult their creativity. If anything for us, when we were looking for comparison we looked at your 04 bot, which was also beast master.