When you talk about FRC how many people ask about battle bots?

[robself705]

It seems that every SINGLE time I bring up our robotics competitions and what we do, regardless of who I'm talking too (students, adults, teachers), no joke 9 out of 10 people ask if we can put saws on our robots and then proceed to talk about how cool that would be. Then I try to explain what a bad idea that would be because you could only compete one match after 6 weeks of building and $2000 of parts. Its really quite amusing.

I'm curious as to how many other people hear the same thing from "non-firsters."

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by robself705

It seems that every SINGLE time I bring up our robotics competitions and what we do, regardless of who I'm talking too (students, adults, teachers), no joke 9 out of 10 people ask if we can put saws on our robots and then proceed to talk about how cool that would be. Then I try to explain what a bad idea that would be because you could only compete one match after 6 weeks of building and $2000 of parts. Its really quite amusing.

I'm curious as to how many other people hear the same thing from "non-firsters."

happens to me just about every time. the first question i get is usually "is it just like battle bots?!"

[robself705]

haha, then after you say you are not allowed to do that because it is specifically in the rules, they always seem disappointed. One of my teachers then asked if we could put an EMP on the bot and I told him is actually says "no EMPS" in the manual.

[artdutra04]

Just respond:

"Yeah it's kind of like Battle Bots, but FRC is more like a sporting event than a gladiator duel-to-the-death."

And then if they ask about saws or spinning blades on FRC robots, ask them:

"Do baseball or football players carry circular saws and spinning blades to attack the other players?"

[RoboMaster]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Just respond:

"Yeah it's kind of like Battle Bots, but FRC is more like a sporting event than a gladiator duel-to-the-death."

And then if they ask about saws or spinning blades on FRC robots, ask them:

"Do baseball or football players carry circular saws and spinning blades to attack the other players?"

Wow, I think this is great. Pretty hilarious too.

Many of the people who ask this are high school kids who don't really care about things like FIRST's vision; they just like to dream up cool things like battle bot robots. It's often impossible to tell them much more about what we really do, unless they're someone like an adult that actually has interest.

[elemental]

I get the battlebots all the time.
I usually take the opportunity to talk about Gracious Professionalism and explain about alliances.

[Enigma's puzzle]

I was filling a person in at our regional this weekend and they said, "So when does this program relate to the robots you would see on TV that would tear each other apart." And I just groaned and said "Battlebots?"

[Wildcat]

every person that ive discussed robotics with (except 1) has asked "do you get to kill the other robots"...it gets real annoying to have to explain FIRST in detail so many times

[RoseJ]

Most of the time when I explain FIRST and FRC to people, they ask if it is like battle bots. Some of them loose interest in FRC after I tell them that it is not like battle bots.

[BJC]

Well, maby next year that will be the game.

If it is we are making one giant steel cirular-saw blade with a crab drive.

Anyway, that way when people asked that, you could say "yes, actully its exactly like that."

I can't even imagine how many people would suddenly join robotics teams. That would certainly be one way to get people interested in FIRST .

[robself705]

Originally Posted by BJC

Well, maby next year that will be the game.

If it is we are making one giant steel cirular-saw blade with a crab drive.

Anyway, that way when people asked that, you could say "yes, actully its exactly like that."

I can't even imagine how many people would suddenly join robotics teams. That would certainly be one way to get people interested in FIRST .

haha, this is a very cunning idea.

[kjolana1124]

I think next time I'm asked I'll respond with something like this:

"Well, let's look at evolution. First cavemen hit each other with clubs, and now we're building technology. In Battlebots, we're cavemen. In FIRST, we managed to go through 2000 years of history into the new age of using technology to help others."

[Mushrooshi]

Although... these televised robotics events still aren't bad. Sure, the ignorance of the general public does tend to gripe us a lot, but accidentally watching Robot Wars as a small child pretty much set me on the path to robotics. Its the 'gateway drug' for robotics, if you want to make a terrible analogy. Over time, people will begin to understand FIRST and appreciate it more.

[JamesCH95]

After the first couple times I was asked this annoying question I started preemptively saying "the robots are not designed to damage each other, unlike battle bots"

[Jeffy]

As I have now competed in both, I ussualy say something like:
"No, I enjoy FIRST events much more than battlebots. It is much more like a sport."