FIRST is absolutely an evangelistic organization - spreading the call to make the world a better place through a better understanding and exploitation of the details of how the world works. I am not aware of any evangelistic force that has succeeded so well that it no longer has a reason to exist. FIRST may wind up morphing and merging, but it will never end so long as there remain those of us loyal to its ideals. (with apologies/acknowledgements to J.K. Rowling).
Predicting the future is always a tricky proposition. A co-worker today mentioned how Heinlein had people working in space in the outer solar system with "slipsticks" on their belts. (OBTW, I had the distinct pleasure of showing my son Perry how one works just last night!) As I think about FIRST in 50 years, I realize that (assuming it exists in recognizable form), it will be thrice its current age. How does today compare to 2000, when FIRST was only eight years old?
From 1992-2000, only two games featured game pieces which were not spherical. From 2001 to 2016, seven games featured non-spherical game pieces (I consider Lunacy cells to be non-spheres).
From 1992-2016, only two games featured a game surface which was not primarily horizontal carpet. By 2066, I expect this to be commonplace.
From 1992-2016, only a handful of robots have not had wheels (#71's The Beast in 2002 Zone Zeal, quite a few pyramid climbers in 2012, a few stationary stackers in 2015, and not much else) . By 2066, I expect non-wheeled robots to be at least as common as swerve drive today, probably as common as non-skid-steer today, and possibly so common that anyone who is planning something so old-fangled as wheels will have to think at least twice before posting it on Chief Delphi, and will be considered an absolute genius if it is executed so well that it actually wins some events.
I expect Chief Delphi to still exist, though it will not use technologies readily recognizable to the dinosaurs who were posting to it in back in the 'teens, much less the 'aughts. I'll go 90% on being able to access a thread from 2016, 80% from 2004, and 65% from 2001.
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Originally Posted by tjf
Also, is that Woodie at 10:44!? That would certainly explain quite a bit.
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I have very little doubt. While Dean invented FIRST, it is easily arguable that Herb Richardson and Woodie Flowers invented what is now known as FRC through the MIT engineering course 2.70 (now 2.007), "Introduction to Design and Manufacturing". Quite a few of the 3946 alumni proudly tread on Woodie's brick in the 1966 section at LA Tech (known as Louisiana Polytechnic back in 1966, which is oh-so-curiously
fifty years ago today).