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Unread 14-03-2011, 15:21
Racer26 Racer26 is offline
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Re: Another Culture Change

Quote:
Originally Posted by fox46 View Post
I've competed alongside 1114 for quite a number of years both as a student and a mentor. I am very familiar with the negative vibes toward them. I will not lie nor will I take the moral high-road- I don't like competing with them.

Before you jump all over me, let me explain why:

Every year I watch a group of students, teachers, parents, mentors and sponsors pour their hearts and souls into a machine. They regularily stay up until 5am in the morning trying to squeeze in a few more hours of design work. I have watched them struggle to keep their marks from slipping as they try to make their team the best it can be. I have watched parents, teachers and mentors including myself push themselves to and past their mental, physical and emotional limits trying to give 150% - but they do it.
Every - single - year.

And yet every year I see these people show up to a competition with their masterpiece. They are proud of it. They are inspired by what they have accomplished. To make it onto the field is a high- it is the culmination of the thousands of hours of dedication compromises and commitment. They feel on top of the world. This is FIRST.

However, with one match against one of these powerhouse teams these people's hopes and dreams that they might have a shot at winning a regional, award or the acolade of their peers can be dashed to bits after being hopelessly clobbered by a team like 1114.

How are these people supposed to feel after having another team kick dirt all over their dream machine? They ask themselves- "We gave it our all- 150% - and yet it wasn't enough? How do we become a team like that? How did they do it?" At first they feel inspired to find out how this other team was able to produce a result so much better than theirs. Next year they try again.... and they get clobbered. The following year they try- and again they can't reach the "powerhouse" level of competition.

You have to understand that every year teams put so much time and effort - sheer sweat and determination into their machines but it seems hopeless to ever compete on a level playing field with the likes of these powerhouse teams. What was formerly awe and inspiration now turns to frustration and resentment. They feel inadequate and inferior. They have just been shown that their best effort is not good enough.

This is why these feelings exist and why there is much negativity felt for these kinds of "powerhouse" teams.

As for how we change this? Well I really don't know. Lets see what kind of problem solvers these teams really are.
I can certainly appreciate this sentiment. Being from a small-town GTA team, with limited (growing in the last few years, but still) resources, and a very small mentor-base to depend on, I'm certainly familiar with the "give-110% and its still not enough" feelings when being crushed by <insert powerhouse here>.

I regularly see this anti-powerhouse view within my own team, the whole "professionally- versus student-built" argument, and I regularly try to correct them, and point out that programs such as 1114's, 217's, 2056's, 148's et al, still do what FIRST is all about: inspiring students to embark on a life journey in changing the culture, by becoming scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians, they simply do it in different ways to how teams like ours do. Indeed, the programs of these powerhouses inspire people well beyond the walls of their own schools.

Big name sponsors with deep pockets, laser-cutting, sheet-metal stamping, and AutoCAD/Inventor drawn designs do not a dominating robot make. The members of 1075 should be well aware of this, since in the off-season of 2008, after our robot was a complete flop during the regular season, we set out to be competitive in the off-season by copying some of the best design elements of 1114's world-champion robot, and adding our own twist to it.

Its no real secret that we did this; indeed, Karthik had been notified by text-message within minutes of our arrival at the first event we went to with it. I'm not ashamed, imitation is the highest form of flattery. We went on to win at that event, and the other offseason we went to that year. For me, this was the confirmation I needed to prove that it does not take all those things to have a winning robot. What is needed to have a winning robot, is a winning design, coupled with some mechanical reliability (Despite winning at Kettering Kickoff 2008, we did not play in the finals, due to a drivetrain-destroying event, redesigned in time for Brunswick Eruption).

I think its fairly undeniable that Simbot SS (1114's 2008 robot) was a winning design. It won 2 GM Industrial Design awards, 3 regionals, and Championship. (According to FIRSTs website, anyway)

While Simbot SS was a beautiful sheet-metal machine, worthy of the awards it received, as well as the envy, and no doubt received its fair share of this "well, thats a professionally-built robot" nonsense, our implementation of the key design elements of it was far less pretty, far less costly, far less well known, but our robot won the only two events it went to.

What is needed to win FRC events is a mechanically-reliable winning design, and drivers that know how to drive their robot. ANY team, regardless of resources is capable of producing a mechanically-reliable robot. The key to this is to not attempt something that is beyond your means. Know what you can achieve, and work within it. ANY team is capable of producing a winning design. This does NOT require anything more than brainpower, and time. ANY team is capable of having drivers that know how to drive their robot. The key is practice. I often see robots that are quite capable of doing well have matches chalked up in the L column due to a lack of driver-experience. Whether this means building a second robot so they can practice between ship and competition, or whether this means building a SIMPLER robot, so you can be finished earlier in the build, I leave up to you and your resources.
 


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