In praise of FRC4451, ROBOTZ Garage

[Billfred]

South Carolina is not a powerhouse for FRC.

We have our moments of brilliance, yes, but when Palmetto wrapped up nine days ago, only one of the eight sets of medals stayed within the state*. 2056 has matched South Carolina's combined Einstein appearance count**, and done it in three seasons. While other states have experienced explosive growth, team count in the state hasn't doubled in ten years***.

*2187 won; Chairman's, Engineering Inspiration, and the five other teams in the finals were from out of state.
**343 in 2003, 1319 in 2007.
***19 in 2004, 36 in 2013. Of those 19, only 10 remain active today.

It is against this backdrop that I have to brag on a rookie team from the town Fountain Inn, South Carolina. (Never been to Fountain Inn? It's more or less the sign that you're close to Greenville.) Laurens County has a 14.3% poverty rate*, a 62% free/reduced lunch rate in their district*, not much of an industrial base...and you know what came from here?

• Palmetto #7 Seed (7-1)
• Orlando #4 Seed (8-1)
• Orlando Finalist (in three matches)
• Palmetto Semifinalist--including reaching Level 3 one timeout after falling from that high off the ground
• Palmetto Rookie All-Star
• Orlando Rookie All-Star
• Palmetto Highest Rookie Seed
• Orlando Highest Rookie Seed
• Palmetto UL Industrial Safety Award
• Orlando UL Industrial Safety Award
• The best image in the south this side of Exploding Bacon.
• And everyone, from the decade-plus mentors to the students, are just plain nice! Not gassed up, not tense, just having a lot of fun with robots and already helping other teams.

Ladies and gentlemen, FRC 4451, ROBOTZ Garage.

Watch these guys in St. Louis.

[Grim Tuesday]

Looks like we have the latest and greatest rookie powerhouse. Every time I watched them do an amazing climb and dump at Orlando I was impressed. They successfully managed to complete one of the most difficult tasks FIRST has thrown out. From what we've seen of their robot so far, I think they'll find a place on an alliance in St. Louis and I can't wait to see what they think of next year.

[dodar]

Its a scary thought, but you put them on an alliance with 1114/2056/254/987/610/1986 and they could win Einstein.

[Jacob Paikoff]

Billfred, do you know what their story is? On the Roboshow it sounded like they have a couple of mentors with FIRST experience.

Great, great robot and as part of the Field Reset team by far the most annoying robot to get off of the field (in a good way).

Good Luck to them in St. Louis and the future!

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Jacob Paikoff

Billfred, do you know what their story is? On the Roboshow it sounded like they have a couple of mentors with FIRST experience.

More than a couple; their mentors have been on 342, 1319, and 2751 in the past.

[Akash Rastogi]

Members of 11 could not stop talking about 4451 during week 1 and we were incredibly happy to see them pair up with our friends on 125 in Orlando. Such a great "rookie" machine. They executed their climb and dump strategy perfectly and consistently.

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by Billfred

More than a couple; their mentors have been on 342, 1319, and 2751 in the past.

Our mentors said that they recognized almost all of their robot mentors from some FRC teams in the past. I recognized Mike Bryan from 2751...I swear he mentored 342 at some point but maybe that's my imagination.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by John_1102

Our mentors said that they recognized almost all of their robot mentors from some FRC teams in the past. I recognized Mike Bryan from 2751...I swear he mentored 343 at some point but maybe that's my imagination.

You're off by one; he was with 342 through 2008 (including their lone regional title) before transferring to the Upstate.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Billfred

More than a couple; their mentors have been on 342, 1319, and 2751 in the past.

That explains a lot. Especially considering, when I talked to a few people about 4451, there would always be a couple of air quotes around the word 'rookie'.

Hopefully 4451 can keep up their technical success in years to come.

- Sunny G.

[Robotmmm]

I can not say enough nice things about this team! They are such a class act and the nicest group of people you would ever want to meet! They deserve only the best in the future!

[JoeWithTheSpecs]

4451 was the team I and a few others really wanted to win Rookie All-Star so we could see em in St. Louis.
They were great to compete with down in Palmetto, so glad to see them do well in Orlando as well, and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for the future.

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by Billfred

More than a couple; their mentors have been on 342, 1319, and 2751 in the past.

Billfred,
Thanks for the team shout out!

We have mentors with FIRST experience. But the key to our success has been the strong relationship with Laurens District High School. Their administration and staff have been 100% behind our industry / school partnership. We have also had terrific parent support that provided food and transportation during build season.

I’ve been very proud of our students’ accomplishments thus far. We have been working with them since October and have now turned over most competition duties to their control. I don’t think they understood all the preparation we were doing until they got a taste of competition.

It’s a long wait until St. Louis. Hopefully our game strategy will still be relevant…

Hope to see you at the Championship. We’ll definitely stop by SCRIW III!

David Allred

[EricS-Team180]

Originally Posted by dodar

Its a scary thought, but you put them on an alliance with 1114/2056/254/987/610/1986 and they could win Einstein.

Yes they could Mike. BillFred, they were a superb addition to the Orlando lineup. Those finals were a thrill to see live. ...just a thrill.

Eric

[Alpha Beta]

Looking forward to meeting 4451 at champs. I was blown away by the pictures of the pit and robot cart. Of course the robot success speaks for itself. Definitely a team I'd rather work with than against.

The buzz around this team reminds me a lot of the Rookie-All-Star we met at the Minnesota regional in 2009.

[Koko Ed]

They also have the coolest robot cart in all of FIRST.