Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

As you can see by the title, I'm doing some big picture thinking beyond the team, the area, the town or city, and into the region. If you are interested in thinking about/discussing/brainstorming, please contribute to the thread.

I've gotten my knickers in a twist, thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of our region and Texas, in general. I thought it might be an opportunity for folks to do some thinking and see if we have common strengths and weaknesses to identify and to learn about the differences/dynamics in other regions.

These are some examples to get us started:

In your region, how many World Championship banners do you have? Robot competition and Chairman's Award.
In your region, how many World Championship Divisional banners do you have?
In your region, how many WFA (Woodie Flowers Award winners) do you have? - (World Championship level)
In your region, how many WFFA (Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winners) do you have? - (Regional/State level)


In your region, how many veteran teams 5+ years are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

In your region, how many 2nd - 4th year teams are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

In your region, how many 1st year teams are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

In your region, what are some ways other areas' RDs (Regional Directors) are involved with teams and events?
In your region, how many FIRST Senior Mentors do you have? Any other FIRST affiliated folks that work with teams? If so, how many?

What were the interactions? Suggestions:

Outreach
Team development
Team sustainability
Area alliance of teams
Workshop training
Area fundraiser
Area scrimmage/off season

What are some of the reasons for not having interactions? Suggestions:

Disinterest
Distance
Lack of time
Lack of availability

There is potential for a lot of food for thought in this thread. As you can guess, I've gone fishing and am in need of people to help me learn to fish better; they are stealing all my worms.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

By region do you mean state or midwest, west, etc. Because you referenced texas, as opposed to what i normally consider a region (even though texas is huge)

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Good question.

Texas is huge, you are right. I would break us into 3 regions: north, south, and central - following the way FIRST has us broken down as I understand it.

It could be done by state or take it further if you want to really give yourself a headache. Indiana, then Midwest. I'm also thinking of the other countries involved in FRC/FIRST and what they think their strengths/weaknesses are. That is why I like the term, region. If you think Texas is big, look north to Canada's provinces. :)

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Indiana-
4 World Championships (thanks bill! :) )
1646 (7th year) and 1747 (6th year) and us (461) collaborate with each other every year. We are all part of Purdue FIRST. Every year we have a design review (week 2 or week 3), and then an open house (some day close to ship date). I believe originally people from the other two schools were part of 461 before they got their own teams.
We also have done demonstrations with other teams (1501, 71, etc. all 5+) at the state house and whatnot. (all in indiana)
In addition to that, the years that our robot is ready to go, we head down to Muncie IN where the digital goats (829) host a scrimmage.
I believe we also have some association with 234 Cyber Blue; one of their alumni is a college mentor and drive coach this year for us
^^^Area scrimmage/off season
^^^Outreach
^^^Team development
^^^Team sustainability
^^^Area alliance of teams
^^^Workshop training
2nd - 4th year: none that come to mind right now.
1st year: One of the original members of our team is now the head coach for team 3487 in plainfield, IN. We went over there to give them some pneumatics, wheels, old robot mechanisms, along with other parts, and helped them with the programming and wiring of the robot, plus a "mock inspection" done by a 1646 mentor that is also an inspector at BMR.
^^^Outreach
^^^Team development
^^^Team sustainability
So yeah, we're pretty involved :cool:
P.S. If i included the Midwest, it'd be over 9000 championship banners :)

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I'm not going to fully fill out the questionaire simply because, well, I'm lazy.

But the fact is that there are three Hall of Fame teams within a 90 minute drive of Philadelphia. Two of them host-offseasons, and there are several other off-season events nearby as well. The Philadelphia regional has as many teams with two-digit numbers as it does rookies. 47% of the event has a team number under 1000. That should pretty much answer your question.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Somehow I doubt the lazy part of this, Sean. Thank you for the info.

Maybe I should clarify what I am looking for with the banners so I don't cause confusion.

What I was initially looking for was the World Championship level banners but thanks to Duke's post, I can see how interesting it would be to have regional/district information on the banners. For example, the rookie regionals this year would have much less than an established competition such as the Midwest Regional. Thank you for any and all information on the regional/district levels and the World Championship levels.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Isn't all of this information available on FIRST's website?

For example: www.frclinks.com/t/254

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Is it?

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Thanks for a good thread-starter Jane.

Oregon hasn't seen nearly as much growth as Washington has in recent years. There are only a couple of 'powerhouse' teams that come to mind in Oregon. Washington teams have a tendency to come down here to our regional and beat us....heh...of course, I also remember the year some Oregon teams won a California regional...but I digress.

The Portland metro area [2 hours north of my team] has a lot of teams and at least one of them regularly hosts off-season events, pre-season training events, and the rookie-training event BunnyBots [Team 1540, the Flaming Chickens].
Team 1432, Mahr's Metal Beavers, was in the news several months ago, regarding the high-press dispute with their school district. I understand that teams working within the Portland SD have difficulties with fundraising [the SD takes a cut out of any funds they manage to raise] and so on.

On a much more micro level, we have a great support network here in the Mid Willamette Valley. There are 6 teams located within a 20-mile, mostly-rural radius out of Corvallis. The three high schools [public and private] in Corvallis all have FRC teams, mostly 8-10 years old. Unlike Portland, I do not believe the schools take a cut out of a team's own fundraising, but they do not provide much funding to teams. The regional-winning team last year had to do all their own fundraising for their trip to Championships, and I understand the SD does not provide them any funding at all.

We hold a Week 0 scrimmage, organized by one of the local high schools, that attracts 8-12 teams. I think Oregon State U and the accompanying engineering firms have a lot to do with the plethora of teams in the area. Oregon State's robotics club started an off-season event last year, which was very successful [even more successful for my team, as we were top seed on a winning alliance, for the first time in our ten-year history :) ] and they plan to continue that this year.

There have been a lot of rookie teams starting in rural areas of the state [Eastern and Southern Oregon, where it is a four+ hour trip to the Autodesk Oregon Regional, Week 0 scrimmages are out of the question, and mentoring is done by veteran teams via email]. This year my team is mentoring one of those rookie teams, but because they are at the extreme far edge of the state we had to mentor them only by email.

I am personally very interested in a 4-year-old team that started in my first year of robotics. They're based in Eugene, which is also a college town, but without any engineering focus. My theory about Oregon State indirectly providing a lot of our support is supported by this: Eugene, a much larger city than Corvallis, only recently started an FRC team, while three out of the three high schools in Corvallis have teams. The Eugene team almost couldn't afford to compete this year: finding corporate sponsorship is terribly difficult in a city with little technology industry. [Of course, we have our own financial troubles on Corvallis teams, and my team almost tanked this year...] As a friend of their team captain, it was heartbreaking to see them on the verge of financial collapse this year.

I don't think there are any Championship banners in Oregon, although Washington may well have some ;) But we do have the opportunity to travel easily to several West Coast regionals, unlike teams in the more central West.
There are never any certain winners of the Autodesk Oregon Regional, although one can be pretty certain of half a dozen teams that will place in the finals. Makes it rather exciting for us mid-level teams, I like to think.

I think we have a great network of teams here in Oregon: there just aren't enough of us. I know the old saw 'Success breeds success': perhaps our teams need to win more regionals and Championships in order to attract the hordes of new students that well-established powerhouse teams in the Midwest and East Coast seem to be readily supplied with. I think we need to do a better job at educating our schools about the importance of FIRST. People at one of the schools I attend [I am homeschooled, and take classes at two high schools, and have participated on two FRC teams] too often just don't know about the robotics teams.

Starting FLL teams is another way to feed new students into the program. I personally started seven FLL and Junior FLL teams this year, at our school and in the homeschool community, and hopefully in a few years we will see that pay off in the form of FIRST-minded incoming freshmen.
There is a sentiment I've heard mentors express, that Oregon focuses too much on FLL and FTC programs at the expense of FRC. I do know of at least one non-profit organization which supports and promotes FTC and FLL but doesn't even mention FRC....rather disappointing. But they do have great resources for the FRC team interested in starting FLL 'feeder' programs :)

I suspect I have rambled somewhat! and this is more focused on my very local region, but hopefully there is some bit of useful info here. Thanks again Jane.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Bethany
That is a great write-up about the growing program in Oregon...
Don't forget that the Oregon teams come up here to Washington and put on a great show too!! 1425 won the Seattle Regional last year!!

Oregon has a great robot family and we always enjoy coming down and playing robots with you guys!!

We will see you at the Autodesk Oregon Regional
Just 3 weeks away!!

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Due to the sheer amount of teams in Michigan, I will just be doing this for Oakland County, which has 34 teams in it. If I accidentally mention a team from another county, please forgive me.

If I forget anything in my statement, please correct me!


In your region, how many Championship banners do you have?

In a county such as ours with teams such as 67, 33, 469, 51, 201, 245, and 1, we have a large collection of divisional banners from most of the veteran teams in the county.

Speaking in terms of world champions, we have 67 (3 times I believe), 469, 503, and 65 (off the top of my head). The CMP finalist list goes on much further.

We also have at least two Hall of Fame teams (Team 51 and 67), and possibly more to come as the years pass due to the strong chairmans programs in the area.


In your region, how many veteran teams 5+ years are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

Within the Rochester area, we have interacted with teams 245, 33, 51, and 1 for demonstrations and parades. Outside of Rochester, we have done demonstrations with a variety of the other teams you would expect (910, 1189, etc) and competed at the TARDEC off season (in Rochester Hills) with most of the veteran OC teams.

In your region, how many 2nd - 4th year teams are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

Due to the nature of Team 201, we have only done demonstrations with team 2612. We are very aware of many of the up-and-coming teams though.

In your region, how many 1st year teams are you aware of and have interacted with outside of the competition field?

Due to the saturation of FIRST teams in our area, rookie teams around Rochester is not too common, and thus affects our knowledge of rookie teams from our immediate area.

What were the interactions? Suggestions:

We have interacted with the other teams by holding robot demonstrations at local elementary schools and the Oakland County International Airport, attending robotics demonstrations at Oakland University, and participating in local parades.

Outreach

Our outreach efforts are outlined in our 2011 Business and Continuity Plan, which goes into specific detail on all of the outreach and the fundraising efforts practiced by the FEDS.

I would like to note that we have a very good relation with Team 245 from a public relations standpoint, as we often do demonstrations and events together. Although they may be our cross town rival, our relations could not be stronger.

What are some of the reasons for not having interactions?

I will be blunt, the reason for our lack of other interactions has been because of the disinterest of our team members. Living in OC, there are ample opportunities to get our team name out at demonstrations or to compete in OCCRA, but due to our members, we have found that not many are interested in doing other things beside building a robot.

Other Notes

We have been fortunate in the OC to have the TARDEC invitational for an off season event in our back yard and MARC and Kettering Kickoff within a "reasonable distance". The off season competition possibilities in Oakland are very large, which allows for teams to participate in many different competitions outside of the season.

The county is also so saturated in teams that we have two district events within the county border. These competitions are known for being some of the hardest events in FIRST (Troy), drawing many "powerhouse" teams from all over Michigan. Also not too far from Oakland are 4 other districts in the surrounding counties.

Another note about team saturation in Oakland County is the spread of Rochester Hills students on FIRST teams. In a given year, students from the city of Rochester Hills can be on 7 different teams (201, 245, 1, 33, 469, 573, 910). This showing how many team opportunities are open to not only students who go to public schools, but also the private schools in the area. (Rochester High School students feed into two different teams, Team 201 (RHS) and Team 1 (Oakland Technical Campus)).

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I think it's pretty safe to say the midwest is the best region (e.g., northwest, southeast, midwest, southwest, northeast, etc.)
This would be a fun thread to start!

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Not that I want to start a discussion in a thread like this, but it definitely is.

I also wasn't including all of the other amazing Michigan teams who have held that title.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Alex, you forgot that HOT is also in Oakland County.

Beside the great teams, we have great mentors and volunteers in Michigan. This is why FIRST in Michigan was able to start - because we have such a depth. Among those mentors are 4 WFA winners: Dave Verbrugge, Kyle Hughes, Paul Copioli, Ken Patton

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Guys, thanks for your consideration of the topic of this thread and containing your enthusiasm.

Michigan is rich in teams which means there are a lot of numbers to consider but - what I'm looking for are the strengths and weaknesses.

Example: of the sheer numbers, how many have garnered World Championship level banners? Of the sheer numbers, how many consistently compete well, putting themselves in a position of being a team to be reckoned with and how many are inconsistent in their performance or weakened by lack of resources, etc. And then there is the - how many teams do you interact with outside of the competition experience - side of things that you've answered. Thank you.

I have method in my madness.

Thanks, Gary. I'll add the WFA info request to my original post.
Nathan, I've added the WFFA info request. Thank you.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I can't believe I forgot them! I probably should have relied on something other than the FiM team map to know where all the teams were from. ;)

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Don't forget 67... they're from Oakland County. Also, 217, from Utica/Sterling Heights, seems to be from Macomb County, although it's possible that some of their students come from schools in Oakland County.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

What about the younger teams? Divisional banners in the under 5+ group?

Don't hold back now. :)

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Great statistics here Sean. The Delaware Valley area lucky to have those teams Hall of Fame teams within such close proximity to each other. They have really helped with the shaping of the region.

When I first saw this thread pop up, I immediately thought of the number of WFA winners in our region. All WFFA winners are exceptional and it would be great to see one come out of our region for the first time soon.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Gary,
Can you expand on this?

What does it mean:
'great mentors and volunteers'?

Suggestion:
mentors in the region working together? What types of events/projects leading up to FiM?
volunteers from many teams in the region?

Statewide?

Can you give some numbers.

Example: 15 teams, 20 mentors, 35 volunteers?

Rough numbers but something to give me an idea. For this thread, I'm not interested in 'FiM' formation other than the number of teams/volunteers/mentors involved in making that happen, I'm interested in 'depth'. See what I mean?

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Nathan,
WFFA and WFA numbers = awesome.

How many?

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I know they aren't from Oakland, but 3357 holds a divisional banner from last year for Archimedes. As far as the Divisional data goes they are the only non 5+ veteran to do that (in MI).

As for state championships, 2834 currently holds the title as a 3rd year team. 2612 is a state finalist as a 4th year team.

When you get down to the district level, there are many more teams who are under five years that win banners, but cannot tally all of that up right now, as I have homework that must be done. :p

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Jane - I'm sorry I don't have exact numbers, I'll edit if I find them. But between the NJ and Philadelphia Regionals we have 0 WFAs.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

This info could be good stuff to know. But - not at the expense of homework. Maybe a weekend project sometime... :) this thread isn't going anywhere.

Thank you, Alex.

Thanks Nathan. Here's an example: the Alamo Regional now has 1 WFFA. Very telling of this region on the level of growth, development, depth of mentorship experience recognition, etc. An older regional will have a lot more and it will show that plus more depth in resources, experience, etc. So any numbers = good. Nothing is bad in this thread, everything is good.
Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Well I can at least do 2010. I will list the event and the banners/finalists for the non-veterans.

Traverse
Winner - 2645
Finalist - 2246, 2959

Kettering
Finalist - 2619

Cass Tech
Winner - 2960
Finalist - 2612, 2673

Ann Arbor
Winner - 2337
Finalist - 2619, 2611

West MI
Winner - 3357, 2054

Events not listed had 5+ years as the winners and finalists.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Ok, so someone from Michigan clarify this for me.

The younger teams that Alex just provided won at district level so the winners qualify for State? Do I have that right? If yes, do the finalists qualify?

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Thanks :) My team hasn't been able to afford a second regional for a few years now, but eventually we will attend the famed super-regional in Seattle!! In the meantime...see you in Portland!

Eee, can't believe I forgot 1425...they surely do have a great program and I am so excited that they have such great support from their hometown of Wilsonville [my dad, who mentors our team, remembers the days before the economic downturn when Wilsonville offered free hotel rooms to any teams attending the nearby AOR, that's how excited they were about robots...]


That reminds me...if I remember right, Oregon's amazing Regional Director Deb Mumm-Hill was/is affiliated with 1425. What are some ways other areas' RDs are involved with teams and events? We really love our RD... Deb tirelessly sends emails with info about upcoming events, reminders during build season about things like robot inspection, team updates, and classes offered in CAD etc, attends off-season and regional events, and works on legislation to support STEM, just to name a few things. As far as I've interacted with Deb, she's shown great concern about individual teams and students just as much as the larger Oregon FIRST population, including finding grants for teams in financial difficulty.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I've added this to the original post.

I've also added a request for information about FIRST Senior Mentors. How many are in your area?

Thanks,
Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

For Michigan, the way to automatically qualify for states is either winning a district, chairmans, EI, or rookie all star.

Otherwise you have to have enough points to qualify for states. correct me if I'm wrong, but every team who has ever been a finalist has qualified for states based on points.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

It takes at least 80 volunteers to put on a district event. Every team is expected to have 2 volunteers for each event they attend. The districts are put on entirely with Michigan people. Some of what might be called the "skilled positions" - those that involve training before the event starts, for example FTA - are staffed by the same people at multiple events. Some people work every weekend.

Beside the volunteers that run the events themselves, there is a dedicated group that does planning all year round. This involves at least 15-20 people in various aspects.


Examples of mentor cooperation include the Ford FIRST program; experienced mentors work with all the teams that are sponsored by Ford. Another example is the MEZ facility which is sponsored by Michigan State University. It provides a build location for multiple Detroit school teams that do not have any facilities in their own school buildings.


Teams that win a district do not qualify for State directly. However, they earn enough points that if they do just reasonably well at their other district event, they probably will have enough points to qualify. A team that is on a winning alliance in one district will probably at least be picked for elims in their other district. That plus a positive win-loss record in qualification matches should comfortably earn them enough points. Teams near the bottom of the state qualification points list might have a qual record of 10-14 and were picked for an alliance in one of their districts, but didn't have to win. It's hard to say exactly what the cutoff line will be for points, as they are earned for qualifications, eliminations (the sooner you are picked and the farther you go, the more points) and for awards.

Edit: And as we were reminded several times this weekend, Michigan has more Championship winners than any other state. (I don't know the exact numbers)

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

So I am going to ask the tough question-what defines a "region."

It's not necessarily by state.

What drives the inclination to group "Philly" with NJ?

Is this based on the assignment of the RD's who are often assigned based on where there are current Regionals?

Sorry, don't mean to derail your thread Jane. But until FIRST designates regions, it can be a complicated conversation.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I guess my "region" would have to be Upstate New York which isn't all that big and is a little disappointing considering that Syracuse has only one team Buffalo only has a few and the Albany teams outside of 250 are more like misplaced New England teams who play over there than participate in this community all that much. There are more teams spread out here and there in the state like 229 and 639 as well.
So it's mostly Rochester up here and you have some solid representatives with team 191 and their two Chairman's Awards, 340 and their repeated Chairmans wins, 1511 and their multi award winning powerhouse and team 1126 the Sparx and their two Einstein ventures and are almost always in contention at any regional they attend. Once you get past those teams it's hit or miss. 578 has the potential to grow to the level of the upper crust and their Engineering Inspiration award proves that. Team 1551 is an amazing success story that is growing rapidly year after year as a FIRST program to be recond with.
But outside of that there are concerns. The city teams outside of 191 are small and very isolated. They don't participate in the community as much and struggle to make it from year to year as shown by the one and done existence of the Monroe and Jefferson teams and the struggles of my alma matta East High have shown ion the past having to go with middle school students and having to start anew with kids because the previous ones would not come back. We have to come up with a way to make these kids have an investment int his program because nobody needs this more than they do.
There are a few rural teams that have some moderate success with the Victor and HFL teams in the forefront of that but I would have thought there would be more teams by now.
The suburban teams are probably in the best shape with new young teams like 3157 Eastridge but there is room for improvement there as well.
The new Rochester Engineering Centre will hopefully help with the growth of teams in the local community and the four mainstays will no doubt do their part but it's going to take these younger newer teams to step up and do their part to grow the robotics community as well.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

If the U.S. wants to go by regionals, that's fine. Outside the U.S., if region helps define the area, that's fine. Bigger than just the community that the team is a part of. When people combine areas, they are defining that. I have no problem so far with how people are making decisions regarding region as long as they are clear. If they are unclear, ask them to clarify rather than justify.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Some things I'd add/change to the Indiana list:
-The FIRST teams get together at least once a year for workshops/training.
-Indiana is the home to a Founding FIRST Team - FRC45.
-Indiana is the home of many people both directly and indirectly involved with high levels of FIRST, including but not limited to Collin Fultz, Andy Baker, Mark Koors, and Amanda Morrison.
-Indiana has at least four Woodie Flowers recipients.
-In addition to the Muncie Pre-Ship Scrimmage and CAGE Match, Indiana hosts the premiere event in all of FIRST (said by some to be more prestigious than even the Championships).

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

One more factoid: the Indiana FIRST organization is very strong in its communication and connections between teams. We might even rival Michigan in that respect. Put the two states together...hey, look at that, someone already did!

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Michigan Weaknesses:
Dave Verbrugge did a really nice Speech at the opening ceremony at Kettering. It is the Good and the Bad of having a lot of Einstein level teams in the area. The bad is it is really hard to compete against them. There are a few teams that take the top prizes at most events. These tend to be well oiled veterans that have built their teams up over the years.
Other weaknesses include difficult to see outside teams. (Still waiting for the day when open slots can go to outside teams).
Lots of distance to travel for the few teams up in the U.P.
****************************
Some double edged swords (good and bad).
More key volunteer positions (tough to fill, but you get better exposure having better volunteer positions available). Net overall there is a wider base of experts that keeps getting bigger each year.
More steps to make it to the Championship. It is more difficult to "luck" your way into the championship.
*****************************
We have a pretty strong group around the lower 2000s here in Michigan that are stepping up and turning into top teams. They have a few years under their belts and are turning heads. 2137 won at Kettering. 1918 won at Traverse City. 2604 won the Chairman’s at Kettering. 2834 won the Engineering Inspiration (2nd time!). The teams up in the 3000s are still cutting teeth. Last year 3357 made it to einsteing with 254 and 233. There are a few others that worked in the off-season to improve their machines and compete in off season events. These are symptoms of future tough teams.
*******************************
A couple things to improve your region. Host an off season. Intentionally try to run this with a mix of experienced and in-experienced persons. This will help you get FTAs, Inspectors, and Refs ready for future events yet to be formed. Make sure you invite young teams that may have only played 1 time this year. Ideally help them improve a couple things about their team so that they are stronger next year.
Document these efforts and throw it into next years chairmans submission.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

The MEZ is actually sponsored by the University of Michigan. http://www.engin.umich.edu/newscenter/feature/mez/ Gary, for that error I sentence you to visit the MEZ wearing MSU attire and see what happens.

The first two seasons of FiM the district winners did receive an auto entry to the Michigan State Championship. This year they do not, and must accumulate points. With that being said, winning an event is worth 30 points; going undefeated in qualifying is worth 24. Performance in eliminations is really the lion's share of the points. The 2011 point system can be found at http://www.firstinmichigan.com/FRC_2...Supplement.pdf

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Oops, sorry. I hope Lisa doesn't see that; I'll be assigned to drudge duty at AA. I guess I was confused because MSU had such a presence at Cass Tech last year or 2 years ago.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

If I have to call a ref in here, you guys are in big big trouble. :D

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I am going to attempt to speak for the Silicon Valley area and will probably find myself heavily corrected, but I figure I should at least enter us into the conversation.

First of all, there are just a lot of teams in our area. Practically every school seems to have one these days, and there are even schools like Gunn (where I go) where there is a "school" team (192) and a "floater" team (1868).

I think Silicon Valley is unusual in that it has a wide range of middling to good teams that are mostly pretty old. These teams are well run and organized, and reliably turn out well built and competent robots. Some examples of teams I'm thinking of are 668 and 1280.

What tends to happen, however, are that there are a few very, very good teams that tend to sweep certain areas of competition and awards. For robot design and quality this is usually 254, for animation 192, for Chairmans and EI 115, etc. And once you remove the fact that 254 has won the regional almost every year, the pool of people who remain who have also won varies quite widely.

That being said, the teams in this area could not be more helpful or kind. A lot of us share sponsors and so we find ourselves doing events together. BAE sponsors quite a few teams in the area, and of course the NASA house teams are around each other constantly. Some of the outreach I have heard about from other teams is just incredible.

I certainly don't think we can compete with Michigan or some of the older districts, but I definitely think Silicon Valley is a good place to start a team or compete in any of the FIRST competitions. And I do think that an environment of good, but not powerhouse teams helps rookies be appreciated and welcomed into the community.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Chris introduced 14 WFFAs who attended just the NJ Regional this past Friday. Some were from out-of-town and I include the newest WFFA, too.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Bravo!

If you do get 'heavily corrected', not to worry. Michigan and Indiana are leading in that, sometimes correcting themselves. Let's see if your region can catch up. :)

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I'm going to bring up Michigan again :yikes:. I will, however, list concrete numbers:

• 2 Hall of Fame teams - 67 and, you guessed it, the one that runs this forum
• 9 of the past 11 years, at least one World Champion was from Michigan
• Since there's been a Michigan State Championship, at least one of the State Champions has been a World Champion
• 67, the team with the second-most World Championships
• The average score per match at the Michigan State Championship in 2010 was double that of the average regional score per match

There are two things I don't like about Michigan:

• It's so hard!
• The district system is a bit restrictive: we don't let other teams participate, and all teams in Michigan are required to participate (though teams can choose to go to regionals in addition). This means that Michigan teams often don't become as well known as other teams.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

What about last year? None of the Michigan State Champions (1918, 469, 2834) became world champions...

Edit: Oh, I get it. At least one of the State Champions each year has previously won a world championship. In 2009, every single team on the winning alliance was a previous world champion... crazy, huh?

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Yes, but how many of your young teams are World Champions? What is being done to help move them towards that goal? THAT's what I'm looking for.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I think the simplest answer is: "To get better, you have to play the best."

Teams that play future world champions and Einstein contenders at every compitition they attend really force them to improve. Not to mention that these veteran teams are willing to help them along with pretty much anything they need.

It's really a cycle. Competition breeds improvement, and improvement breeds more intense competition. Every year we see teams improve a bit more. Every year the compitition gets a little harder.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

On the other hand, as the general level of competition gets higher, so does the first step for a rookie team. Veterans can easily help new teams over that hurdle, but only if the newcomers are ready to accept the help.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

This needs to be posted in every shop and every competition venue.

Thank you, Alan.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

That's pretty accurate. If districting doesn't include us, we'd jump back to FLR, but given the choice of an hour drive and a 5 hour drive, we really don't have too much of a choice.