YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

To go along with Billfred's suggestion here, I'm starting this thread to collect ideas for trophy designs. This is entirely unofficial, and more of a personal challenge than anything else. Comments are welcomed on any design posted

Here's the challenge: Come up with a design that you think would:
a) look good in your favorite trophy case (AKA yours)
b) be cheap to make
c) be lightweight to reduce shipping costs
d) be durable

Flex your creative juices, and let's see what we can come up with. Hopefully, FRC HQ sees some of these ideas. (If not, then AndyMark...)

Starting out, I've got one in the attachment. That is not meant to be the FIRST logo, BTW--it's meant to be a representation of the shapes. The base is left very generic for simplicity. Material is something durable and ideally somewhat translucent.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

May I submit a 5th design requirement? (It's not engineering if the demanded product doesn't change.)

e. Easy to stack/interlock to reduce space in storage and shipping.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Or maybe even better, could be shipped in a couple of smaller pieces and assembled quickly and easily at the event prior to the awards ceremony(s). This would allow teams to also disassemble them for more easy shipment for the journey home. I know teams have received some flack from TSA trying to board and airplane with sharp pointy trophies and I couldn't imagine putting them in checked baggage for fear of breaking.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Or, we'll go with the generic requirement:
e) Easy to transport in luggage on an airplane by a team
e1) Also easy to transport with the field (or make locally)

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Here is the trophy design we did for the 2011 WIWI. We always design and complete final assembly in house, and have a new design each year.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/252870_1813497372382_1088460135_31574210_1466122_n .jpg?dl=1

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I like both Alex's and Chuck's ideas, and came up with this rough, not-even-remotely-to-scale sketch on my iPad. (In my mind, the visible parts of each stage of the trophy would be roughly equal.)

What I envision are three extruded shapes nested inside each other--square and round tubing is abundant, and finding triangular extrusion can't be THAT hard. The exact sizes of the tubes can be adjusted to suit the significance of the award, and the trophy could be made to (dis)assemble by use of set screws in the back; wrapped in tissue paper to protect the finish, the pieces should be able to nest in the square to make shipping them more compact. (As for finish, I'd want some expert opinions--anodizing anything in white appears prohibitively complex, and thus likely expensive if my Google-fu is strong.)

The blue bottom member would carry the FRC logo, while the award name and event could be engraved on the red top piece (perhaps turned 90 degrees for space). I believe engraving the red piece would make the trophy more visually appealing, though if cost savings ruled that out I'd suggest to rotate the square 45 degrees and engrave the FRC logo and award on adjacent sides. To save FIRST from wasting a bunch of engraved pieces on relatively rare four-team alliances, the policy becomes that the alternate team and the team it replaced leave the venue that day with one trophy each; the money FIRST spends on shipping the second trophy to those two teams will almost certainly be less if history is any indication.

I encourage anyone who actually knows what they're doing to chime in with feedback. :)

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Here's a pretty simple design I whipped up fairly quickly. Basically it comes in two parts, the upright and the base. Easily disassembled for transport/storage. I envision that this would be a good trophy for the "minor" awards (i.e. anything but Chairman's, Regional Champion, maybe EI as well?). Both parts would probably be made in a mold (it'd be pretty difficult to engrave the logo and text). I feel like it'd be more durable (and less pointy!) than the current award design, and could probably survive a drop without any parts breaking off.

Fun challenge Eric! I might make some more designs later. :)

http://i.imgur.com/MyYYr.png

Attachment 10820

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Hmm... Interesting idea for a thread. Bookmarking for revisiting at a later time.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Not FRC, but Team 604 made these trophies a few years ago for FLL teams the NorCal Championship. (The puzzles, water droplet, etc. reflected the FLL challenge theme for those two years).

They were 0.25" smoked lexan on an aluminum base.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

The lexan pieces are bolted in via holes at the back of the base, and can be removed.

The plate is for any engravings needed.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Great design! Easily scaled up in size for those who think that "size really does matter".

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

The top would be some visually appealing metal, or at least plated in something decorative. I personally like anodized aluminium.

One possible variation would be to tilt the pillar to one side to make it seem more dramatic.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I think the Winner style trophies are perfect if they were made as big as before.

The technical award trophies having just a single base piece looks nice, but maybe with a better FIRST logo on top it would be better. I'd love if the trophies looked like their respective awards - Motorola Quality being a beautiful, polished brushed aluminium FIRST logo on stands, Xerox Creativity being something completely off the wall, etc.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Just like Flava Flav:D :p
Just hot glue some household items together and you got a trophy!

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I have always thought the "Chisel Point"would make for a good trophy, but I don't know if I would want it for the "general" awards or the "winners" trophy either.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Do all the regionals/events have to have the same trophy? Allow the regional planning committees design and build their own local flavored versions.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I agree, but I've always called that shape the Cork Plug -- because I first learned about it via an article by Martin Gardner.

Also, the minimum volume Cork Plug has an interesting relationship to other primitive solids, based on ratios of volumes (see the attachment).

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

If they don't have to be I think that would be a very cool idea. For example: The Wisconsin Regional trophy could like cheese.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Related question: Do the regional committees pay for the trophies right now? If they did, it might fly...but if the money is coming out of the FRC budget in Manchester, I imagine economies of scale might kick in.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I suspect that they could get it done for a lot cheaper than the numbers that were floated earlier. I also see a competition starting between regionals to have the most desired trophy.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Would that be a bad thing though? Every regional would give out more impressive trophies trying to out-do other regional, so the net result is that teams get nicer trophies to show to their schools/sponsors.

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

Perhaps some teams at the event would be interested in making the trophies. Maybe require that teams only make the trophy for awards they are not going for. For instance, a team that enters for the website award can't make the trophy. They could even require teams to get approval of the particular design to ensure the quality is up to par. Also, not a fan of the area themed trophies. Teams that always go to home regional might get tired of the same thing. For instance, corn and race cars can only go so far for variety in Indiana. I also imagine alot of questions bringing home a robotics trophy with peaches on it. Especially if the game isn't peach-themed.

Jason

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

As opposed to now, where you get the same trophy wherever you go?

I can see disagreeing with area themed trophies, but not for the reason of becoming tired of getting the same trophy.

-Brando

Re: YOU design an FRC trophy!
 

I like the idea of a different trophy every year. As I suggested, having a different team every year design the trophy would give variety. It would also build somewhat of a competition as teams each year would try to out-do the previous year. I'm sure, if implemented properly, teams might even be willing to fund the materials for the trophy for the opportunity. The only thing I was opposed to was the area themed trophies.

Jason