Goals for 2012
 

With the New Year right around the corner and FIRST starting up right after that, what are some of your teams/personal goals for this coming season? Here are a few of mine/my teams:
1. I've been involved for 12 years and as a Senior I would love to go to the Championship since I have not gone, I have only seen my brothers go.
2. I want team 134 to win a competition
3. Personally as the webmaster, I want to win a website award!

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Win a regional
2. Compete in the elimination matches at Championships
3. Build a robot that isn't 119.999999 lbs

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Just took a peek at your site; it looks great! I hope you this goal gets completed; the best of luck to you! :D

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Ok, I will post a small list - though it probably could be much larger:

#1 - Have as many people that start the build season finish the build season.
#2 - Eat less pizza.
#3 - Eat less subway.
#4 - Sleep more (har har har)
#4.5 - Build a practice robot AND a competition robot
#4.6 - Have the students do more this year and the mentors do less
#5 - Win the Bayou Regional again And/Or win the Chairman's Award
#5.1 - Be a successful Drive Coach.
#6 - Raise the rest of the funds to attend the Lonestar and Championship
#7 - Go to the top of the Arch in St. Louis
#8 - Go back to The City Museum in St. Louis
#9 - Make it to one of the top eight alliances in St. Louis
#10 - Win Einstein

Ok - so I thought big. Sometimes my eyes are too big for my stomach :-)

-Daniel

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Have an undefeated season. (ohh, boy...)
2. Drill holes where we meant to, the first time.
3. Build a t-shirt cannon. With two gatling guns!
4. (personal goal) Get 11 rep point blocks. I know they're just dots, but they're such alluring dots...

EDIT: Oh, no! I just realized I missed my goal of getting a Cheesy Poofs number of posts! This is post 258 for me - how did that just go by like that? :ahh:

EDITED again: Thanks to everyone who put some positive rep on this post. One goal down, three to go! However, I really meant that I would work on my wittiness and experience to earn the rep the usual way, so I still have to work towards that.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

To design build an epic robot, win a regional with it, to go to nationals and to get to eliminations.
What else is there ;)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

I want us to...
CAD and plan everything before we build it.
Build a solid, consistent machine, even if it isn't the fastest, highest scoring, most amazing work of art ever to touch the field.

Dreams? Make it to elims at championship or win a regional.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Win a Design CAD Award
2. Win atleast one regional
3. Fully design the robot instead of building when its half designed.
4. Have an indestructible robot. (Fast, lazer cut sheet metal)
5. build two robots
6. Drive perfectly with my other driver
7. Eat MORE Pizza, subway, and burger king ;)
8. get a little more sleep
9. not let my grades drop in the beginning of the six weeks
10. Beet 1114 and 2056 (I know its almost impossible with them in Toronto together)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1.) Have a robot completely cadded before it is built.

2.) Get our robot on Einstein

3.) Be better than last year

Re: Goals for 2012
 

I wouldn't mind if our team would;
1. (add 2000 to the OP's team), win a regional.
2. learn how to use a mill/lathe to make parts.
3. learn how to motivate ourselves/other people about FIRST.
4. have fun! (wait, we do that already...)
5. watch a freshman's eyes light up as he cuts metal.
6. get a CAD team with powerful enough computers.
7. not blame the programmers!
8. use a "kit-bot on steroids".
9. finish our robot with time to spare.
10. attend an off-season event.
11. get full school support.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

For me personally:
1. Survive my first season as our lead technical mentor. (It's not my first season of involvement I just needed to step up to take on more this year.)
2. Help inspire our students.
3. Complete a fieldable robot early (Never finished, constant iteration, but having a robot we can put on the field and will function a week early would be nice so we have time to iterate).
4. Win our regional.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1) Improve myself and help others do the same.
2) Plan everything before I start (not when I am making the replacement part).
3) Eat less 1 dollar burgers (no matter where they are from).
4) Be a kind person.
5) Win a regional.
6) Think of more goals.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Win a regional (not a finalist again)
2. Win a chairman's
3. not live on McDonald's
4. Have the robot done before the event

Re: Goals for 2012
 

There's goals in 2012? Is this a game hint? :p

Re: Goals for 2012
 

We're trying to do the same thing!

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Be able to score in autonomous...
1a. ... and endgame...
1b. ...using Kinect for some function well.
2. Finish fast so we can actually have practice time.
3. Play on the field with WildStang at North Star
3a. Be on the winning side, either with or against them
4. Winning record...
4a. ...getting picked.
5. Award of some sort.
6. Get school district staff to come to the competition.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

I suppose mine aren't so ambitious, but they imply stretch goals similar to what's been posted:

1.) Be the best at the endgame this year, regardless of the main scoring goal
2.) Perform some of the decision aiding and numerical analysis techniques I've learned with my degree to find a quiet lucrative niche
3.) Seed #1 again
4.) Have a full render of the robot in various configurations, regardless of whether it's before or after the robot is built. (Often it's easier to spot a problem in build, redesign it via prototyping, and simply put the prototype on the bot...)
5.) Make a launch video and a wrap video

Re: Goals for 2012
 

My goals for our team are:

1. Fundraise more money
2. finish building the robot by week 4 to be able to test drive it
3. win the Los Angeles Regional
4. Go to St. Louis

These are my goals and you can help us fundraise by clicking the link below

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Win the Peachtree Regional
2. Build a 2nd robot
3. Go through the entire design process properly
4. Have loads of fun!
5. Bond together as a team.
6. Have the FTC members attend our regional, and us attend the FTC State competition!

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Win Chesnut Hill and Mt. Olive Districts or be Finalists
2. Win Rookie All- Star at the MAR Championships
3. Finish building 1st robot on time
4. Build second robot
5. Win at least 1 technical award
6. Aim High

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1) Win the first Montreal Regional
2) Have a practice robot completed
3) Post more regularly on CD
4) Inspire students the same way other mentors inspired me

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Thanks! I've put a lot of time and effort into this and there is some new stuff that I haven't seen any team do before that will be going up about 1/2 way through the season!

Re: Goals for 2012
 

I wouldn't mind a solid week of practice before a competition.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1) Win the Palmetto Regional. (Fun fact: eight years in, no team has won it back-to-back; only 11 has won it more than once (2004--then 2v2--and 2006.))
1a) If 2815 doesn't do it, have SOMEONE from Columbia win the Palmetto Regional. (2815's gotten one gold and one silver, 1398's won it once, 1293's been stuck in semifinal hell for two years running, and 3976's got a solid start. I like the odds here.)
2) Win the Chairman's Award. (I don't know if we stack up, but I think it's always worth giving it a swing. Even those who miss are almost always doing good things.)
3) Win the Imagery Award. (This is my inner marketing guy screaming.)
4) Make SCRIW II even better than the first. (More teams, more smoothness of operation, more fun. It was hard this year since a couple of teams knew the concept, but now people know what we're about.)
5) Demo more. (We've done more and more events around town, but I think getting into the rhythm of showing off often is crucial to long-term sustainability.)
6) Have fun. (It's easy to get pulled away by infuriating GDC rulings, school district fiery hoops, weather delays, and shipping snafus...but this is supposed to be fun for everyone. Sometimes it takes a boot to the head to keep it that way. :))

Re: Goals for 2012
 

11 hopes to extend that record. They came very close to it last year.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Two completed robots on Stop Build Day
2. A robot that competes in the top 25% at our regional (easily makes elims)
3. A team that's ready to do anything to make the above happen

Re: Goals for 2012
 

From a competition perspective I am surprised more people don't have "Win Championship" as a goal. We actually write it on the board on kickoff day when talking about strategy. Oddly enough our goal for a few years was "Make it to Einstein", but then we were making it and losing in the semis. We then changed our goal to "Win Championship".

Why is this important? Making this statement actually changes some of our decision making throughout the season. It drives us to never stop improving because we are not rated on our top goal until the end of the season. Also, gameplay always changes a bit over the competition season. When discussing strategies the question we try to answer is how will this game play on Einstein? It also affects robot design in that reliability becomes even more important when trying to play up 12-15 matches in one day. There are also small things like an argument had between 2 mentors about putting the compressor on the robot where one states, "When we are on Einstein, put the robot on the field and then have to wait for a Dean speech we are going to want the compressor on the robot". All of these seemingly small things add up to preparing us for the Championship.

So what's my point here? Don't be afraid to dream big and therefore plan big. I am always amazed at what my team is capable of and don't think anyone should discount their team's abilities to achieve big goals. What happens if you don't achieve your goal? Not much, it’s just a robot competition. However, it does allow you to evaluate why you missed it and change what you do the next season.

"Never expect it, always prepare for it".

-Eric

Re: Goals for 2012
 

These are the goals we had way back in aim high
1. Build a robot.
2. Don’t let it get destroyed.
3. Get picked by one of the top eight teams.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Keep the design simple, build it tough, and drive it like you stole it. And BE one of the top eight teams. :)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

You guys get within 6 matches of the Championship every year. We haven't qualified for the Championship yet. Our goal is to qualify, and then win. That also affects design decisions (i.e. being very good at a low hanging task to do well enough at regionals to advance as opposed to writing off that strategy because we don't think the winning alliance at Champs will feature that)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Hey, we did that last year! Wait, does a 131.4 pound robot meet this goal? :rolleyes:

2012 Goals:
1. Understand the game strategy as much as possible and let that drive our design.
2. Assemble a robust machine that can be repaired reasonably easily.
3. Have much more fun than last year.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Here is one for you: go a season without waiting an hour on the field for first to figure out why things arent working

Re: Goals for 2012
 

@FIRSTtm134 I will agree with you there because that happened a few times at the LA regional.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Chris,

We have been very successful at Championship. We have also not won a regional since 2006. Except for qualifying by winning the championship the previous year we have been to the championship via the waitlist sign up every year since '06. If you haven't qualified for Championship, why haven't you just signed up?

When evaluating strategies which affect design decisions at the beginning of the season, I can't think of any season which planning for a championship strategy would cause you to build the wrong robot. It usually makes sense to develop new strategies for regional play, but if you designed your robot to play a championship strategy, it will likely have the capabilities you need to contribute to your regional.

Also, don't forget that the last overall pick a division has a good chance of winning a division. If you don't think you can be a top 8 team, strategize to be a great 2nd pick in a division. It could reduce the requirements for your robot while still satisfy a goal of "win championship"

-Eric

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Build on 20 years of hard work.
2. Inspire a new generation so they come back another year.
3. Repeat.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1.Enjoy an inspiring and motivational journey towards an inspiring and motivational destination.
2. Prepare to be awed by the stories, impressions, work ethics, struggles, and commitment of the teams and their members.
3. Strive to listen carefully.

Here's to a terrific 2012 season,
Jane

Edit: Right after I made this post, I checked Facebook and read an article that Andy Baker had posted a link to. Here is the article. Moments like this make the journey so worthwhile and the path, beautiful. AndyMark, Inc., the TechnoKats, and the Kokomo community must be so very proud of Glenda. :)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Ed's is my favorite so far!

1. Continue to inspire and engage a new generation of firsters. We have a large amount of seniors and new students. The passing of the torch is important this year for our future growth as a team and for the growth of these new students as well.

2. Have the "Ahaha" moment before our first regional. I will explain what I mean by this. We have the past few years redesigned our robot or enhanced a certain feature based off more competitive designs after our first regional. While this constant improvement is part of the design process I would like to be one of the teams that gets it right the first time this year. The team that other teams look to base their redesigns off of.

3. Build a more simple robot: This is our first year attempting 2 robots so they need to be simple in order to pull this off. Our drivers grow tremendously over the season and continuously work on their technique and skill. I would like to see this growth start earlier on and have them tackle the challenges of adapting to the new robot well before it's first practice match.

4. Build a more simple robot: Doing one thing well is almost always better than doing everything. We have spent time this off season analyzing old games preparing our minds to attack this new challenge. The success robots have in the competition season is directly related to how the teams start the 6 weeks

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Goals for Ursa MAjor as an Alumni..........
1. BUild a working bot in the 6 weeek build and not finsh at compition
2. Weigh less than 120 before bag and tag
3.Win a Regional
4.Win any award
5.Have FUN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The guy who had fun will be in apperance cuz i will be on break GO Luck Ursa MAjor :cool:

Re: Goals for 2012
 

Our rookie year (2007) just building a functional robot was a stretch goal. We got crushed at the St. Louis regional and while we didn't see the field Saturday afternoon nor have our number called for any awards we were inspired by our pit neighbors 829 who shared with us the meaning of FIRST as well as some traction material for our ramps. We also got a first hand peek at some world class team like 45, 148, 217, 525, 1625, etc at what in hind sight was a fairly stacked event.

2008 goal -- Build something simple and robust that would be a good 3rd pick. We didn't want to miss Saturday afternoon ever again. Result: A super fast lapbot that seeded 4th and 2nd in the two regionals we competed in.

2009 goal -- Find a way to qualify for the championship event. This led to our first Chairman's submission. And while the niche robot did see play on Saturday afternoons it was the Chairman's Award earned in Minnesota that punched our ticket to Atlanta. The robot did not get picked for elimination play in Atlanta.

2010 goal -- Goal A, Win a regional. Goal B, play in the championship elimination rounds. To do this we knew we needed a robot that played well with other great robots but could also win a game on its own should our partners prove less capable. We couldn't just be good in a secondary game aspect like in 2008, we had to tackle the primary objective. Result: #1 pick by 71 in Minnesota and regional champions. #3 alliance captain in the Curie division and division finalist.

2011 goals -- Goal A, win a regional as an undefeated #1 seed. Goal B, play on Einstein. Goal A was accomplished at the Colorado regional. We missed goal B and have it back on the list for 2012.

2012 goals -- We are seeing a lot more rookies at the tournaments we are attending this year and one of our goals is to be that inspirational resource like 829 was for us when our journey first started. We've never won our home regional (KC) and that is certainly on the list as well.

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. It's my first year (and last because I am 12th grader) as my team captain. I want to be successful.
2. To find an alternative pizzeria (the pezzeria we used to eat from is in renovation)
3. Not to push the red buttons every day(we have 3 giant red buttons that shuts off the power if we push them)
Attachment 11246

Re: Goals for 2012
 

A Day doesnt pass when the build team DOESN'T blame the programmers :) even when it is a Jaquar that fried in the "on" position which would technically blame the mechanics. but who's watching?

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Dont kill team members
2. Win Chairmans
3. Have Dean email me back
4. UNDEFEATED!!!
5. Robo-prom:)

Re: Goals for 2012
 

I've been having the same problems! :yikes: You'd think after 271 emails he'd at least tell me to stop!

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1) Not catch fire, explode, crumble, shatter, ect. in any way shape or form. :P
2) Not block an artery
3) Get sleep...this one is more of a "this semester" rather than "this season" though xD
4) Leave this team with them on the road to becoming a successful, high level team.

Guess which one is the serious one. :rolleyes:

Re: Goals for 2012
 

1. Build up our teams brand
2. Qualify for Championships/ if not, personally get to Champs
3. Get our Mascott Agua to 250 likes on Facebook this season.
4. Make memories that'll last a life-time.