Congratulations to 1241, 1477, and 610- 2013 World Champions!

[TheMadCADer]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Erm, and maybe give the robot a rest at the Remix since you've worked it so hard this year? (Seriously, that robot has to have three seasons worth of hours on it by this point.)

Let's take a look at how many matches they played.

Lone Star Regional:    12 matches (10 qual, 2 elim)
Bayou Regional:        14 matches (10 qual, 4 elim)
Alamo Regional:        14 matches (9 qual, 5 elim)
Razorback Regional:    18 matches (12 qual, 6 elim)
Galileo Division:      16 matches (8 qual, 8 elim)
Einstein:              6 matches

Total:                 80 matches

Now, there were 2528 teams that played this season (Registration 2013 thread), and 8244 matches played (The Blue Alliance). This gives about 19.5 match slots per team (6 slots per match), or about the average number of matches played in one season by a team this year (a surprisingly high number in my opinion, I'm honestly worried I made a mistake here). Really, 1477 played about 4 seasons worth of hours, and at Championships alone played more than one "season".

For a bonus fun fact, 1477 was present in about 0.97% of matches this year. Additionally, that robot played for exactly 3 hours worth of competition matches this year.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by TheMadCADer

Really, 1477 played about 4 seasons worth of hours, and at Championships alone played more than one "season".

That got me thinking about how many matches they get to play with the district system. 469 had 95 matches this year.

Also congratulations again to the World Champs.

[Ken Streeter]

I'd like to add my congratulations to the 2013 FRC World Champion alliance of 1241, 1477, and 610.

Although I personally didn't have an opportunity to interact with these winning teams at the Championship until after their victory on Einstein, I know from qualification match alliances with 1241 and 610 in prior years at the Championship that these teams not only build top-notch robots, but are class acts that understand and embody the goals of FIRST. We've never before been on the field with 1477; hopefully they too will be able to count us as friends after our three matches on Einstein!

Furthermore, with 610 coming to New Hampshire's Granite State Regional this year, we were able to get to know some of the students and coaches on 610 a little better. (Hi, Mr. Lim!) They even provided inspiration and technical information on their shooter to us at the GSR Week 1 regional, enabling us to experiment with improvements and changes to our own shooter after the event that ultimately resulted in us increasing our own accuracy and reliability at full court shots for the North Carolina Regional. In short, without the "secrets" 610 freely and openly shared with us, we likely wouldn't have qualified to attend the Championship event at all, much less wound up on Einstein with 33 and 469!

The 1241/1477/610 alliance played superbly together as an alliance -- topping us fair and square in clean, well-fought matches for the Einstein finals. We're thankful to have had the opportunity to play in the big show, with all of the FRC world watching.

For 1519, though, this posting couldn't be complete without a big THANKS to our alliance partners, The Killer Bees (33) and Las Guerrillas (469)! We're especially thankful to the scouting and strategy folks on 33 who saw the potential in our robot and team to bring some significant capabilities and unique diversity to complete the 33/469/1519 alliance, despite our rather mediocre 50th place ranking in Archimedes and our 4-4 record. We made some significant improvements on Friday evening / Saturday morning which were demonstrated in our only Saturday morning qualification match. Before 33 picked us, we were concerned that we may be packing up our pit in a few minutes. Instead, our robotics team had the most incredible ride of our 9 years to date! However, we wouldn't have experienced any of it without 33 and 469 leading our alliance.

The whole concluding day of the 2013 FRC Championships is a day I'll surely never forget. Thanks to 33 and 469 for inviting us to share the magic with them. We'd love to be allied with either of your teams again some day; I can only hope that your teams both feel the same. Thank you!

There are a few other teams that deserve our thanks, too: Without Team 435, The Robodogs, picking us at NCR, we might not have been in St. Louis at all! In the CMP pits, we could not have repaired our shooter on Friday without the encoder MARS 2614 generously gave us, and Team 1334 helped us out with things like thread taps and talcum powder. Please know that you were each some of the many teams in FIRST that helped us this season and you deserve a portion of the credit for the recognition we received. Thanks!

Kudos to the 2013 World Champions - 1241, 1477, and 610!

[Rob Stehlik]

Now that I have had a couple days to digest it all, I'd like to share my thoughts on the whole experience.

Our goal this year was to "dance on Einstein". Just making it to Einstein was a huge achievement for our team. I couldn't believe when we actually did it!

A lot of luck was involved, and it all started with our final qualifying match on Galileo. We were up against 118, and desperately wanted to squeak out a win so we could be an alliance captain. We had a strategy planned out involving one of the many great full court shooters from our division. We figured this was our only change against the potent combination of 1114 and 118. So it was pretty discouraging when we lost the match. But this ended up being the best thing that could have possibly happened to us! Nobody had even considered making an alliance with three cyclers, but when 1241 picked 1477 and us, we were pretty stoked. This was way better than any alliance we could have come up with.

What emerged was a simple strategy of cycling like crazy, shooting all of our disks, and using 1477's amazing versatility for autonomous and defense.
1241 was a great alliance captain, and kept all teams in synch. I was pretty happy that we just had to focus on doing what we had been doing all along.

We kept thinking during the competition season that our robot needed more to be competitive at a higher level. The floor pickup we put on in Waterloo was okay, but needed so much more work to get it right. And it threw off our driver's confidence since it hit the pyramid a couple times and he was worried about breaking it. I hope we as a team can learn the value of doing less but doing it incredibly well.

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

The hardest part is still ahead. Once you know what it's like, you never want to experience anything else ever again. Not winning just got 10X worse than it was before.
-Adam

I sure hope not... Winning is a great feeling, but it's over in an instant. I hope we can be satisfied with our efforts if the robot we build does everything we wanted it to do. We work hard, we play hard, and the rest is up to chance.

Originally Posted by Holtzman

On behalf of Team 2056, I want to express our congratulations on the huge win. It's been something that we have been chasing for years, and I can only imagine how sweet it feels. All three of you played exceptionally well, and should be commended for a phenomenal performance. There was nothing magical about it, no fancy strategy. You simply outplayed the best in the world. Simply fantastic.

Thank you. We really do owe a big thanks to both 2056 and 1114 for dangling the carrot just beyond our reach every year. You inspire us to try harder and to someday reach your level of play. Our next big challenge is winning a regional in Ontario

Rob

[billylo]

Thanks for all the kind words to the #TheTheoryOfTexanCoyotes alliance, it means a LOT. They do.

Now that you have heard from our coaches, please allow me to show my appreciation for you, my fellow FIRSTer, on how you have changed students’ lives, and along the way, mentors’ lives too.

I still remember the afternoon when I walked into the classroom during 2013 kickoff as a rookie mentor. The excitement from the student leaders talking about their own departments was obvious. Throughout the season, reality kicked in (e.g. that darn pyramid is just so hard to climb; why does the blue frisbee fly differently than the white one?! we gonna have to face the dynamic duo 1114/2056 again in Waterloo, this time, without our best friends at 188; etc.)

Thankfully, our coaches persevered, leading by example. Students followed as a result (well, most of the time). We made it to Einstein and the rest is history.

On my flight back, reflecting on this whole experience: I wondered… what have I learned?

• “Grit” pays an enormous role in everything one does… Randy Pausch put it nicely in his last lecture… “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
  
  
• The more you put into something, the more you get out of it, and the sweeter it feels when the effort bears fruit. “The biggest and widest grin comes from the guys who persevered.”
  
  
• Mistakes are not only good; they are essential to success. Without them, there are no innovative designs. Don’t fear them. Embrace them. (just don’t make the same one twice… ☺ )

Inside our alliance, we had a motto that says “Without one – There is none.” It’s true from a micro-view within our crazy cycling alliance. But now that I have a chance to reflect on it, it’s also true from a macro perspective.

Without all of the passionate people in this competition, there is none.

So, thank you for making FIRST such a meaningful endeavor. And yes, FIRST does change lives.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Rob Stehlik

Thank you. We really do owe a big thanks to both 2056 and 1114 for dangling the carrot just beyond our reach every year. You inspire us to try harder and to someday reach your level of play. Our next big challenge is winning a regional in Ontario

This reminds me that Ontario is really competitive ! Competition is a great thing and I'm glad to see 610 step up their game and win in a big way.

Its not surprising to see that Einstein featured some of the most competitive regions of FRC.

Ontario (610, 1241)
Michigan (469, 33, 862)
MAR (303, 1640)
California (1678,3476)
Texas (148,1477)
Northeast (1519)

5 out of the 12 teams came from District play.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Rob Stehlik

Thank you. We really do owe a big thanks to both 2056 and 1114 for dangling the carrot just beyond our reach every year. You inspire us to try harder and to someday reach your level of play. Our next big challenge is winning a regional in Ontario

Rob

This. When winning Championship seems 'easier' than winning a regional in Ontario.

1241 has won 1 regional ever, 2005 Waterloo. That was before 1114 was wildly dominant, and 2056 didnt even exist yet.

610 has won 3, 2012 Arizona, 2013 BAE, and waaaayy back to the very first FIRST Canadian Regional in 2002, before 1114 even existed.

Someday soon one (or more) of the Canadian second-bests (1241, 610, 188, 1334, 1310, 4343, 4001, 1503, 2852, 2702, 3683, and more) will build a robot that can hang with 1114 and 2056, and will break the 'exactly 2' top tier robots mold that has left 1114 and 2056 winning Ontario regionals 13 times together.

[Akash Rastogi]

I've stated my congrats on Facebook already, but thank you and congrats 1477 for the inspiration you have brought me since I first became friends with James Tonthat. James, you and your team, along with Sean (2415) and RC (1323), have shown me how much a team can transform and become a very powerful competitor. Thanks for the inspiration through out the past 4 years. You serve as an example of a mentor to look up to.

I don't really know 1241 or 610, but I'm sure you all serve as an inspiration to those who have seen your progress as well.

Best of luck in the offseason!

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Great work all around.

Also, the Canadian teams have just been featured in the Toronto Star.

What a horribly written article. So many errors, plus its riddled with sentiments unbecoming of FIRST.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by Racer26

What a horribly written article. So many errors, plus its riddled with sentiments unbecoming of FIRST.

I hate how so many newspapers (and the general public) think that FIRST is akin to battlebots. We have spent quite a few years telling our local newspaper what FIRST really is. You have to just hammer it into them every time they write an article what FIRST is really about.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Racer26

What a horribly written article. So many errors, plus its riddled with sentiments unbecoming of FIRST.

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I hate how so many newspapers (and the general public) think that FIRST is akin to battlebots. We have spent quite a few years telling our local newspaper what FIRST really is. You have to just hammer it into them every time they write an article what FIRST is really about.

It would be worth writing them a letter. The Star has a reasonably simple process for submitting letters to the editor. I expect that the journalist covering the story would also be notified of related correspondence.

Keep the letter relatively short—two paragraphs is good. The format doesn't require proof of every assertion, merely a reasoned opinion or two.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I hate how so many newspapers (and the general public) think that FIRST is akin to battlebots. We have spent quite a few years telling our local newspaper what FIRST really is. You have to just hammer it into them every time they write an article what FIRST is really about.

That is the most ridiculous thing I find from the community outside of FIRST, they all think robotics is either Battlebots or something that is easy and boring.

[Mr. Lim]

... or we could write letters to the newspaper asking them to give us more coverage on robotics, regardless of whether it's 100% accurate or not.

Convince them it's the next "up and coming" sport and that they need to be scooping it over the other media outlets.

Pat this guy on the back, and get him to come back for more.

Truthfully, I don't think robotics out of the "any media coverage is good media coverage" phase yet.

Our focus needs to be to "Make it Loud" first, then worry about the accuracy of whether G18 / G30 interaction rules were properly conveyed in the article.

These writers are covering a brand new sport they've never seen before. We sat down with them for 20 minutes to try and deliver as many salient and media worthy points to cover. It was a lot harder than you all think.

I told him that robotics is a "full contact sport," and his eyes perked up. I mentioned that robots do smash into each other at up to 20fps, and can cause some serious damage. This was not a lie. I didn't go into the specifics of protected zones, entanglement, frame perimeters and bumper rules. I didn't want him to write about them, because quite frankly a) the mainstream wouldn't much care, and b) I barely understand them myself!

Although not the focus of the competition, hard robot hits are a very salient, and exciting (i.e. marketable/LOUD) aspect of what we do. They make a good hook that leads into the discussion about "being so much more than BattleBots."

We need more "Cool article, tell us more about these robots, who built them, what are they supposed to do, how does the competition work, what's the story behind the students? I want to know more" comments to the author.

Not more "That article sucked, therefore you suck" type comments. I doubt that will get us far in terms of increasing media exposure.

In fact, the latter thinking just might be the reason why robotics isn't nearly as "loud" in the mainstream media as it needs to be. By nature, we FIRST folks are terribly picky, and detail oriented in nature. Everything needs to be PERFECT, including this article.

However, I ask that we all tread carefully, and please remember what is in the best interests of "Making Robotics Loud!"

Treat this as a great, but imperfect first step... much like our students do every day in our robotics labs. Do not shut him down, but instead demand more...