[EWCP] EWCPCast - Inside 1114

[Andrew Schreiber]

EWCP would like to thank 1114 for allowing us to provide you with an inside look at their season. We covered everything from how they train students to how they play their last match of every season. If you have further questions please let us know and we will do our best to make sure they are answered.

Without making you guys wait any longer... The cast may be streamed from here (warning Flash) and may be downloaded from here.

As always, the fastest way of finding out about what we are up to is by liking us on Facebook. If you have any suggestions on how we can make this better please let us know either on our Page or this thread. Alternately you can PM any of the EWCP members.

We do plan on doing an IRI prediction cast similar to the cast we did before Championships. Look for this sometime in the next two weeks. We welcome any future topics you would like to see us cover.

[JackN]

Before I download this, I just want to know if we hear from any of them specifically or if it is based on secondhand information and done by you guys from the outside looking at their team? I am really excited about the IRI predictions, I really liked your championship one.

[Katie_UPS]

Its actually featuring about 4-5 simbotics folks (I just started listening).

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by JackN

Before I download this, I just want to know if we hear from any of them specifically or if it is based on secondhand information and done by you guys from the outside looking at their team? I am really excited about the IRI predictions, I really liked your championship one.

1114 was awesome and did an interview style cast with EWCP members. This is all direct from the source.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by JackN

Before I download this, I just want to know if we hear from any of them specifically or if it is based on secondhand information and done by you guys from the outside looking at their team? I am really excited about the IRI predictions, I really liked your championship one.

Would I call it Inside 1114 if it was from our perspective?

The EWCP members try to provide the most accurate information we can. It is safe to always assume that we either have first hand experience (as was our case with the Chairman's Chat) or have someone on as a guest who has the experience (also the case with Chairman's Chat). Honestly we try to do both if at all possible. We don't want to mislead anyone.

Along these lines I am proud to announce that Karthik has agreed to participate in a live question and answer session some time in the near future regarding any further questions. This will be recorded as well* and posted as an addition to this cast.

As a brief personal aside, I have admired 1114 since their sophomore year. I have had the pleasure of competing against them for years and I admired them for their on field accomplishments. After having a chance to get to know Karthik and several of their students I can safely say that I am still in awe of this family.

*Be advised, this recording may be edited due to language or callers behaving inappropriately (making personal insults mostly).

[rsisk]

Nice job on the podcast and kudos to 1114 for welcoming us inside their team.

[Karthik]

This Podcast was a really fun experience. We're always looking for new ways to share our experience and stories with the FIRST community, and the guys from the EWCP provided us with a wonderful opportunity. If you have any questions about the Podcast or our team in general, post them here and we'll address them on the upcoming live question and answer session.

Thanks to everyone at the EWCP for putting this together. I'm looking forward to future episodes, where they hope to chronicle the stories from more FIRST teams.

[Tristan Lall]

Nice work everyone. That should be required listening for prospective team leaders. (As well, it's a trial by fire: if they can't take in the whole thing, maybe they're just not committed enough....)

One complaint: explain what EWCP stands for. (I figured it out by looking in the Facebook URL, but you don't mention it in this thread or in the recording.)

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Nice work everyone. That should be required listening for prospective team leaders. (As well, it's a trial by fire: if they can't take in the whole thing, maybe they're just not committed enough....)

One complaint: explain what EWCP stands for. (I figured it out by looking in the Facebook URL, but you don't mention it in this thread or in the recording.)

EWCP stands for East West Collaboration Project. It is a group of mentors from several teams (and a few of us teamless folks). We focus on working together to build more competitive teams on and off the field. These casts came out of the desire to increase the level of knowledge available to every FIRST team.

We do plan on snipping it into more manageable chunks in the future. We have just been busy/having a social life lately.

[lemiant]

Something Karthik said at the end of that webcast caught my attention:

"If you want to start a rookie team, look at everything 2056 did in 2007 and copy it."

Where can I find a reasonably in-depth description of what 2056 did in 2007?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Something Karthik said at the end of that webcast caught my attention:

Where can I find a reasonably in-depth description of what 2056 did in 2007?

Ask them? Find one of their mentors on here and PM them maybe? Perhaps search for a discussion about them on here...

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Something Karthik said at the end of that webcast caught my attention:

Where can I find a reasonably in-depth description of what 2056 did in 2007?

One of the reasons we did this cast is to show people that they should never be afraid to go straight to the source for information, regardless of how intimidated you may feel. PM Tyler Holtzman from 2056 to get some facts about a great team.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Something Karthik said at the end of that webcast caught my attention:

Where can I find a reasonably in-depth description of what 2056 did in 2007?

Someone on 2056 can provide all the details, but here's the jist of it.

- They built the simplest possible robot for that game, a single jointed arm with a pinch claw
- They realized their limited resources (experience, machine time) and built within them, ignoring game tasks deemed essential by others (couldn't score on the top row, didn't have a ramp)
- The simple design allowed them to finish early, allowing for plenty of practice and programming time
- The simple design made control of robot easy for inexperienced drivers
- They chose a driveteam composed entirely of Freshmen, who became the backbone of their team for four seasons
- They had a lead mentor who brought experience from his past team
- They entered an off-season event prior to their rookie season, using a robot borrowed from another team

End result? Two dominating regional performances with two regional wins, as well as an IRI championship. Overall result? 11 straight regional wins. Not too shabby.

2056's 2007 rookie season is the ultimate testament to the power of simplicity in FRC (1503 in 2011 is right up there as well). Despite how many times we this, most teams never seem to catch on.