[rsegrest]

Originally Posted by bEdhEd

I have been watching a plethora of YouTube videos lately that are showcase and reveal videos that are posted by many teams at the end of build season. There are videos of good robots, not so good robots, and some absolutely incredible robots! The topic I want to discuss is the amount of ungracious and unprofessional comments left by some FIRST participants accusing these incredibly hard working and productive teams of having robots that are mostly built by corporate sponsors, or robots that are barely built by students. These comments are extremely negative, uninspiring, and most of all, ignorant. When I look at a team with a well built, beautiful robot, like Team 254 or Team 118 (Winners of SVR 2013 by the way, congrats!) I can only be inspired at how they are doing FIRST right!

The reason I say that these type of teams are doing FIRST right, is because they work with sponsors and engineers so much that it is an integral part of how their team is run. What is interesting as well is how these high performance teams usually have a huge number of students, and they are being accused that their students don't do enough or even anything, which is highly illogical. I'd hate to say that FRC teams that work within their high school which lack a decent amount of engineer mentors who work in the industry and are forced to make robots that are completely student built (Team 701 is guilty of that) are not doing FIRST right, but they really aren't. FIRST was originally started so students were not limited to the resources of their schools or parents. They are ideally supposed to be teams that are formed with students who may be from different schools who work with an industry partner and can work in that partner's facilities and use that partner's resources. I find it a huge issue that some people in FIRST now think that this type of partnership is "cheating," "unfair," or "too easy." I want these people to know that this type of attitude is not in the spirit of FIRST, and is completely ignorant, because what they consider "cheating" is how an FRC team should work. Team 701 has been running for 13 years now without the industry resources such as engineer mentors or large amounts of expensive professional machinery, and by seeing these high performance teams I wish we could do FIRST right.

This year, some FIRST participants have assumed that our 2013 robot isn't made by students because of how well built and aesthetically pleasing it is, when it actually is 100% built by our students, aside from powder coating, which isn't actually part of the building. The only thing our few mentors actually do is supervise, teach, and give advice. I get how stupid these kinds of comments can actually be now. I actually find it a compliment that a 100% student built robot can be mistaken for an industry built robot. A 100% student built robot is a great thing, but it certainly isn't something to brag about.

The whole point is, that I want all FIRST participants to understand that it is normal and should be praised that a team can work with an industry partner to construct a phenomenal robot, and if they aren't working with industries, they haven't done FIRST right just yet. They should feel inspired by high performance teams to do better, rather than being envious and making ignorant and incorrect statements. I think that a team of students can fully take advantage of the FIRST experience if they do work with industries. I wish my team did that, and I know that if Team 701 did, and if more teams did as well, we would have more exciting and competitive events, and students that are even more inspired and passionate than they are already.

Ok, let me give you a bit of my story...I am the founder of my team. I am the sole coach and over the years we have ranged between 0 engineers and this year we finally had 3. The first year I participated in FIRST my team attended a regional where we were invited to replace a robot in the finals. We were a rookie team who had no idea what Lock-tite was and if that tells you anything then you know how rickety our robot probably was. In talking to a student from the alliance that invited us to join them one of my drivers was told, "Don't worry about it. When we get to Championships our engineers will fix it for you." My team was highly offended as they took great pride in what they had accomplished. The following year when we returned to regionals we walked passed the pit of that same team and saw six engineers inside the pit fixing their robot while 25 students lined the edges of the pit never crossing a toe over the line or picking up a tool. I think this is where most of the animosity of which you speak comes from to be quite honest.

In the years since that time I have come to respect all FIRST teams equally no matter what they bring to competition. We all dedicate obscene amounts of sweat, blood, tears, and time to what we do. As a lone coach it has taken me 6 years to get my foot in the door at a top engineering facility in my town (i.e. they have huge corporate sponsorship of FIRST but the local plant manager was unwilling to meet with me until now). But doggone it we are finally in the door and had their mentorship this year. The other big firm in my town came on board last year and again through hard work of dedicated people we are now a fixture at their corporation this year.

What I have realized over the past six years is that in the end it does not matter who works on the bots (it does but it doesn't if you get my meaning). What matters is what you can learn not just from your mentors but from other teams as well to make your team better. This year when the Robotnauts released their video (which we hotly anticipated ) several of my new students tried to fuss and say, 'That's not fair, there is no way we can win!'. My response was, 'First of all if you cannot respect and admire the work of engineering art that their robot represents you are on the wrong team. Second, it is an honor and a privlege to compete with teams of that caliber. What you ought to be seeing is what you can learn from them to make us better.' These are my true feelings on the matter.

I believe that the attitude of the team starts with the mentors. If the mentors encourage UNgracious professionalism that is what the students will give them. If the mentors encourage gracious professionalism and accept nothing less that is what they will get from the team. As far as CD or YouTube we cannot control what our students or mentors say; however, through anonymous posts we can tell who truly 'gets it' and who doesn't. If you are stating your true feelings then be 'man' enough to say it with your name tacked to it. Support your feelings with facts and logic not emotion and temper tantrum throwing. There are things I would absolutely like to see changed within FIRST and I have sent my thoughts to FIRST HQ. What they do with them is their decision. I am only one team coach and they are trying to work with 2000+ other coaches who are just as passionate and dedicated as I am. They will never be able to make everyone happy but no organization ever will.

OP, I guess the short story is that I completely agree with you. Please remember, it starts with the expectations of the mentors and how firm they will hold their team to those standards. Having been a student and now a mentor you offer a unique perspective that the students will appreciate and emmulate. As long as you remember that you can't go wrong.