[archiver]

Posted by Jason Morrella at 1/30/2001 3:15 PM EST


Coach on team #254, Cheesy Poofs, from Bellarmine College Prep & others and NASA Ames/Cypress Semiconductor/Unity Care.


In Reply to: Trade Secrets...
Posted by Joe Johnson on 1/29/2001 10:18 PM EST:



Joe, you're not out in left field. I think everyone agrees that helping other teams is a great aspect of FIRST, and few do it better than ChiefDelphi - and there is nothing wrong with a team keeping their major developments which are key to success in the game to themselves (after all, they're only secret for one year anyway)
Robert wasn't asking any team to give away any detailed secrets, just ideas & experiences. Our kids have found out, like most other teams, that the Gyro doesn't do what they had hoped, so they are trying other methods. Robert was just trying to get a feel for what method other teams have found works best for them - he certainly wasn't asking for programming, design sketches, or anything of that detail.
One of the things I love most about the Regionals & Nationals is seeing what "trade secrets" teams have come up with - which is then public knowledge and raises the bar for everyone.
Many teams, like the TechnoKats (45), Kingman (60), and the Chief (47) have been invaluable to us over our first 2 years in giving advice and pointers. It took us 3 years, and incorporating "trade secrets" shared by the TechnoKats & Kingman along with our improvments to finally come up with a MUCH better motor mount & drive system this year than we have had before (we hope). When we found out some local teams were struggling last week, we decided to make extras and let a few other teams (ranging from rookie teams in San Jose to the Foothill 255 team) use our same drive system & motor mounts. It's certainly not a major advancement like ChiefDelphi frequently comes up with, but it is solid & reliable and can hopefully help those teams improve.
My point is - part of the reason we are more than happy to help others is because of the help some of the top teams in the country (45,60,47, and others) have been willing to give us - it's a nice cycle and makes everyone better in the long run.

And thanks for the recognition Joe - it is much appreciated coming from a program we continute to look up to - although I doubt we could possibly provide any "trade secrets" which the Chief hasn't already tried or mastered over the years. I must say - it was a thrill for our team to finally get to play with the Chief in a match in Florida last year, you guys are awesome.

I'm off - have a great week everyone.