Another Culture Change

[PhilBot]

I did attend the Pittsburgh regional.

I had heard beforehand that 1114 was expected to be a powerhouse at the competition, and personally that excited me, because there is nothing worse than a regional full of Toasters on Wheels.

From practice day, the mystique started to grow. How come they weren’t in any matches? Was their robot working? No, I was told… they never show their robot ahead of time. I thought that was odd, but I’d learned not to believe urbane legends.

Then when they did start playing later in the day, their capabilities were very evident. I immediately said “why didn’t we think of that, and that, and that?”

Their team sat behind us in the stands so I got a few moments to chat, but they were very quiet and restrained. On Friday, after a grueling day, my wife and I happened to pick the same restaurant as 1114 to eat dinner. All their talk was about the robot and what to do to make it run better (unlike our team for sure).

Several times during the event I did try and go over to have a look at their robot, and talk to their team about how they organized themselves, but I will admit to being somewhat intimidated, and I didn’t have much success. They seemed very protective of their robot and tended to keep much to themselves. It was difficult to even start up a conversation. Perhaps this was in response to feeling somewhat under the microscope.

However, this was very much in contrast to the other Canadian teams at the event who seemed very eager to chat with me when I did the rounds with our junior team members.

BTW, their singer did an AMAZING job of their National Anthem.

This was my first time competing with 1114 in a regional, so I don’t know if their reserved nature, on and off the field is typical. I also don’t know if the “apparent” stand-offish nature that I observed is real or imagined. I could understand their possible reluctance to show off their entire tech to other US teams. As a non-American (I grew up in Australia) I’ve experienced the fear more than once that the USA comes in with open arms and leaves with all your goodies

I believe 1114 has won Chairmans several times, so they clearly understand the FIRST mission. Perhaps they could help us eliminate the “haters” by showing US a bit more about what makes THEM the team that they are (rather than just a great robot).

I for one would love to find out what motivates them, and try to apply it to my own team. Next time I'll try harder to start a conversation.

Phil.