Most embarrassing thing to happen to you at a FIRST event?

[Briansmithtown]

For me it's quite simple. Judging at an FLL event, we were handing out the trophies, and it came to the trophy where 2 teams get a half of the trophy. I go to pick it up, and as I do, the trophy wobbles and falls to the floor and explodes. The person who put the trophy together came running out and quickly put it back together. The worst part of it all was that we were in front of an audience in an theater. So all the parents and kids saw it.

[GeeTwo]

At least my top three most embarrassing things were being witness to un-GP behavior. One was a drive team member with the field crew, one was in the pits within a team, and one in the stands. I don't know the names, and wouldn't call them out here if I did. I'm glad that none were representing 3946.

Appended: To refine the question a bit, the most embarrassing thing I ever did at a FIRST event was actually something I let slide about several weeks previously, about two weeks into build season. The game was 2013, Ultimate Ascent. It was my first year as a real mentor (though I had thrown out some ideas and done a few calculations to support the team in 2012). Our second year of competition was the only time we actually ranked in the top 24 at Bayou, but our robot was so incredibly inconsistent that no one would pick us. I later identified the malady as TRS (Twitchy Robot Syndrome). We had several matches in which the pneumatic exhaust valve was left open (can't shoot, can't climb, and with our 2-wheel CIMPLE box drive, can't play much defense), and a number of electrical glitches. But the problem that had us down hard by the end of seeding (so hard that we would probably have turned down an alliance selection had it been offered) and that we did not fix for over a year was my fault. I had help in the poor decision, but it was ultimately my fault not to push harder for correction.

Our frisbee launcher had two pneumatic wheels in series along a linear track spun by ungeared CIMs; we had the first one spinning about 70% of the speed of the second, which both theoretically and by listening seemed to put the same amount of load on each CIM. During a design meeting, mechanisms more and more complex were suggested for the "trigger" that would lift a CIM into the first wheel, and the conversation seemed like it would go on forever. I disengaged from the conversation and built an aluminum "finger" which would ride on the front of a 3/4" pneumatic cylinder, extending into the bottom of a frisbee to lift it, and which would (by its shape) automatically ratchet back behind the next disc. I "cut" 3/4" aluminmum bar by metal fatigue, bent it by hand, drilled it with a hand drill, and pipe-strapped the cylinder in place. (Reasonable prototype techniques, but keep reading.) Long before the argument discussion was over, I had something that worked for several shots in a row. I argued that the bar needed to be rebuilt, but the general mood of the team was that it was "good enough", and after a couple of rounds, I let it pass. We did change the mounts, but we literally competed with a part that was formed by metal fatigue. By the end of competition, the back end of the tongue was completely jammed inside the 1" square tubing that was just supposed to keep it oriented the right way. I worked feverishly with another mentor and three students from the end of seeding to about match 6 of eliminations, and we were little closer to fixing it than when we'd started. I should have been more assertive about doing things right several times that year, but especially on this one.

[Greg Needel]

I have 2 stories.


1) 2007 at the championship was the first time I had my segway at the event. During opening ceremonies I was on the floor of the dome over by the cueing area event standing (on the segway). Right after the ceremonies we over I turned to speed off the field on the other side of the dome and hit one of those electrical bumps too fast and at a bad angle. I had a colossal wipe out and was thrown over the handle bars of the segway and onto the floor. Since this was right after opening ceremonies there were tons of people in the stands to witness the event.


2) In 2009, my rookie team 2775 qualified for the championship through winning the rookie all-star at their regional. The students on that team were so excited and engaging that we had quite a few judges coming by through out the event. At one point there were 5 students, 2 judges, and myself in a small huddle near our pits, talking about the team. Really great conversation and then the team driver's let one rip....SBD style. Everyone who has ever been to a regional know that there are some interesting smells that you encounter in the pits, but this was particularly bad The huddle went quiet and then quickly disbursed, and we all had a good laugh about it. We didn't win the Rookie all-start at champs that year and I am not saying the fart was the reason....but I do always tell me students it is important to make an impression, maybe I should have been more specific to the methods.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

1) 2007 at the championship was the first time I had my segway at the event. During opening ceremonies I was on the floor of the dome over by the cueing area event standing (on the segway). Right after the ceremonies we over I turned to speed off the field on the other side of the dome and hit one of those electrical bumps too fast and at a bad angle. I had a colossal wipe out and was thrown over the handle bars of the segway and onto the floor. Since this was right after opening ceremonies there were tons of people in the stands to witness the event.

You probably don't want to hear this, but I remember that one...
You scrambled up pretty quick and brushed off help.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

You probably don't want to hear this, but I remember that one...
You scrambled up pretty quick and brushed off help.

Meh....I'm over it. I always wondered if someone had photos or videos but they never got back to me. Fortunately this was before most people had smartphones so probably none exist...thankfully.

[techhelpbb]

Couple of years ago I face planted on the field during tear down. I was pretty tired and I caught my foot on the side bar as I went over it. No harm done: I am not getting any more pretty anyway

[Munchskull]

This year at the PNW Wilsonville event I was feild reset. They kept warning teams not to go over the step. During lunch right as every on was getting back I tripped and face planted because I had not listened.

[Jon K.]

When I was a senior in high school, I was the president of my team, and therefore the alliance captain. This was fine because I had also been the drive coach that year. My team was the number 1 seed at the Chesapeake regional, and when I went to choose my first alliance partner, I accidentally called the wrong team! Luckily the team I chose was not competing at that event, and I was able to fix my flub. But, then when I went to call the second team (this was before serpentine draft so it went 1-8, 1-8) the head referee, who at the time was Dr. Browne, we went to pick the second to last team. No one but my team and this other team knew we were even thinking of picking a team ranked in the 40s or 50s, but we saw potential in them and knew what they could do, so we helped get their robot going. The problem was, the field personnel didn't print the rankings that low, or had missed the last sheet, so Dr. Browne and the emcee both thought I had goofed again and were confused and looking at their sheets when up walks the team I had called. It was one of those moments that just sticks with you from your days in the FIRST® Robotics Competition. (Also, this was back before the scoring software had the team numbers in it for alliance selection)

End "Back in my Day" story.

[first3234]

When I was volunteering at the 2014 Southfield district in Michigan I was field reset and during a match I didn't know that a ball was just scored and I accidentally gave it to the human player near me and I didn't know I committed a field fault till after that match I don't remember if we replayed that match

[Billfred]

A few that come to mind:

Palmetto 2007. 1618's robot, then known as "What robot?", was powered by a CIM motor geared down not nearly enough because that's what we could interface with easily and cheaply. The arm was about 5' of PVC pipe with a window motor on the end for a grabber. What could possibly go wrong? Well, when the operator bumped the joystick with his butt in the pits and I was standing in front...

I apparently went slack-kneed for a moment, my jaw was sore for a week afterward, and the robot was immediately renamed Uppercut.

SCRIW 2014. After a joke about my lack of flying jump kicks while acting as the emcee, I decided to channel my inner Karthik during Finals 2. Never mind that I'm probably most of 100 pounds 45 kilograms heavier than him or that he seems to practice this way, way more. I finish the red alliance and start sprinting towards Blue 1. Duck the truss, avoid the robots, upppppp!

Apparently the coefficient of friction of my shoe on the diamond plate is higher than the coefficient of friction of my sock on my shoe. My foot immediately slips free of the shoe and I very nearly go headlong into the player station trying to stick the landing. I called Finals 2 and did teardown with a very funny walk.

[Katie_UPS]

FTC North Super Regional, 2015 I was running Tinker Field 1 as an FTA. A robot started doing a spin out from brick/motor lock (not uncommon at all with the old system). Despite having been an FTA for FTC for two years I completely blanked on how to turn the robot off. My FTAA had to step in and do it for me. He still brings it up anytime we talk about volunteering at events.

IRI 2011 (logomotion) My last event as a student and I got to drive coach for most of the event. The drivers had the type of blind obidence that is arguably a good thing to have and in our match with Wildstang I told them to put the logo up in the wrong orientation. Which I didn't realize until we heard Raul shouting "who put the logo on backwards!?!"

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

I have 2 stories.


1) 2007 at the championship was the first time I had my segway at the event. During opening ceremonies I was on the floor of the dome over by the cueing area event standing (on the segway). Right after the ceremonies we over I turned to speed off the field on the other side of the dome and hit one of those electrical bumps too fast and at a bad angle. I had a colossal wipe out and was thrown over the handle bars of the segway and onto the floor. Since this was right after opening ceremonies there were tons of people in the stands to witness the event.


2) In 2009, my rookie team 2775 qualified for the championship through winning the rookie all-star at their regional. The students on that team were so excited and engaging that we had quite a few judges coming by through out the event. At one point there were 5 students, 2 judges, and myself in a small huddle near our pits, talking about the team. Really great conversation and then the team driver's let one rip....SBD style. Everyone who has ever been to a regional know that there are some interesting smells that you encounter in the pits, but this was particularly bad The huddle went quiet and then quickly disbursed, and we all had a good laugh about it. We didn't win the Rookie all-start at champs that year and I am not saying the fart was the reason....but I do always tell me students it is important to make an impression, maybe I should have been more specific to the methods.

1) Who HASNT had a segway wipeout on the dome floor? :\

2) I'm adding this story to my judge training.

[Wayne TenBrink]

Our 2007 robot had a gripper on the end of a pivoting arm that would extend out to pick up the tubes and place them on the hooks (in the rare instances when it actually worked).

The robot was on blocks on the table in the pits at the Purdue Regional, and we were working on the arm. Some unfortunate, middle-aged guy who was wandering thru the pits had paused to look at our robot just as we operated the arm. It proceeded to reach out and grab him right in the crotch.

[Jardanium]

During the finals of the 2015 MN 10,000 Lakes Regional, I rolled my ankle when dancing in front of the arena to YMCA and fell to the floor.

Of course everyone was watching...

[Sperkowsky]

In finals 2 of an off-season competition I was driving. It was a 2v2 game and our alliance partner had some issues and wasn't moving. (Some driver station mode thing). We were capping and they said it would only take a second to get moving so we noodled 3 bins and put them on the scoring platform to prep. The other team then regained control and made a stack. I then proceeded to try to pick up a bin and knocked it over. Tried another knocked it over. Went to the third and knocked it over. Turns out picking bins off of the scoring platform is not our robots strength.