The smaller bits of history

[Chris Hibner]

Here's another great one:

There were no divisions at the Championship until 2001. Before 1999, that didn't matter too much since alliances didn't exist and there was no alliance selection. In 1999 and 2000 there were around 200 robots at the Championship all in one giant division. Scouting and alliance selection was a nightmare.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

Here's another great one:

There were no divisions at the Championship until 2001. Before 1999, that didn't matter too much since alliances didn't exist and there was no alliance selection. In 1999 and 2000 there were around 200 robots at the Championship all in one giant division. Scouting and alliance selection was a nightmare.

I wonder if your post in 2000 had any influence on divisions. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=10687

[Joe Ross]

Team updates used to be faxed to every team, and included both updates and Q/A.

Before motorcycle batteries, teams used cordless drill batteries. FIRST had a giant bank of chargers and you would turn in your used batteries after a match and receive charged batteries.

FIRST used to be much more restrictive on parts. You could only use parts that came in the kit, a few additional materials, and around $400 of parts from Small Parts Inc.

Prior to alliances, teams would play a few seeding matches, and then everyone at the event would play a double elimination tournament. One year at the championship, we played 5 matches total, 3 seeding and got eliminated in 2.

The control system used to be owned by FIRST. Each team would get it in the kit and have to return it after the season was over.

Our first year, Dave Lavery visited our team, wearing a Hawaiian shirt. One of the students remarked "I expected a suit". OK, I guess some things don't change.

[artdutra04]

Here are a series of threads about FIRST in the 1990s:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101

[Jake177]

Here's a video I made my senior year of high school for 177's tenth season. It gives a brief overview of each of the 1995-2004 games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbfgBgXh9zo

In the '96 section, you can see an example of the "stealth bags" mentioned here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101.

One of my favorite game quirks came from the 2002 end game. Each alliance had a designated endzone at either end of the field. At the end of the match, you received points for every robot that was even partially in your endzone. Without a limitation on robot dimensions (other than height) you ended up with mechanisms that could span the whole length of the field. Some of these were completely passive, like a ribbon that unrolled at the end of the match. Some were essentially the precursors to minibots (with tethers of course).

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Jake177

Here's a video I made my senior year of high school for 177's tenth season. It gives a brief overview of each of the 1995-2004 games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbfgBgXh9zo

In the '96 section, you can see an example of the "stealth bags" mentioned here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101.

One of my favorite game quirks came from the 2002 end game. Each alliance had a designated endzone at either end of the field. At the end of the match, you received points for every robot that was even partially in your endzone. Without a limitation on robot dimensions (other than height) you ended up with mechanisms that could span the whole length of the field. Some of these were completely passive, like a ribbon that unrolled at the end of the match. Some were essentially the precursors to minibots (with tethers of course).

and then there was what 276 did....

[EricLeifermann]

What about the old rotating "cop" lights with the ability to change out the colored dome to indicate what alliance you were on, last used in 2003.

I still have a blue dome sitting in one of my book shelves.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

What about the old rotating "cop" lights with the ability to change out the colored dome to indicate what alliance you were on

Replaced by those flags that gave the queuers fiberglass splinters. And they always fell out. And the flag holder was one of the most restrictive parts in the rules ever.

[EricLeifermann]

The flags started in 2006 I believe. 2004-2005 was a flashing square LED which I believe was also the diagnostic light which we now have the amber one.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Replaced by those flags that gave the queuers fiberglass splinters. And they always fell out. And the flag holder was one of the most restrictive parts in the rules ever.

I can't believe the square diagnostic lights went away 8 years ago... that makes me feel old!

Perhaps it says something about how well the typical team reads the rules in that it was extraordinarily difficult to find a team that could successfully glue a 1/2" end cap onto a 12" long piece of 1/2" PVC and then mount it within 10 degrees of vertical on the top of their robot without drilling holes in it in 6.5 weeks.

Of course, 1276 spent our entire Thursday trying to put our flag holder somewhere the inspectors were happy with (our entire superstructure was a big rotating linkage), so I can't talk.

What was the deal with 3 team alliances in 2002-2004. I know you still picked 3 teams, but were alliances required to play each robot once per round? Once per tournament?

[Jake177]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

What was the deal with 3 team alliances in 2002-2004. I know you still picked 3 teams, but were alliances required to play each robot once per round? Once per tournament?

Pre-2002: Each alliance picked an extra robot for eliminations, but they were not required to participate in any elimination matches. So you ended up with teams getting credit for being part of winning alliances without actively participating in any of their elimination matches. (I know this was the setup in 2001, but I can't speak definitively on 2000 or 1999.)
2002-2004: Each alliance picked an extra robot, but every member of the alliance was required to play at least once in each best-of-three round. This led to some interesting gamesmanship trying to anticipate which two robots your opponents were going to send out, and deciding which two you should send out.

From the manual for 2002 (Zone Zeal):
T11. Each team in an alliance must compete in at least one elimination match in each series (quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals) unless a team’s robot is unable to move along the carpet under its own power. Alliance Captains will be the final judges of whether or not a robot is unable to move. FIRST urges all teams to use Gracious Professionalism when making this judgment so as to be fair to both opponents and partners.

(IIRC, 2005 was the first year of the current backup bot rules.)

[Andy A.]

Originally Posted by Jake177

Pre-2002: Each alliance picked an extra robot for eliminations, but they were not required to participate in any elimination matches. So you ended up with teams getting credit for being part of winning alliances without actively participating in any of their elimination matches. (I know this was the setup in 2001, but I can't speak definitively on 2000 or 1999.)

It was indeed the situation in 2001.

In fact, 2001 was the first year that 95 won a regional. We were the alliance captain, but the 'bot was pretty tired at that point so we didn't play a single elimination match. The 'backup' pick played for us the whole time.

2001 was sort of a funny year game wise, all things considered...

[Kims Robot]

Originally Posted by Jake177

In the '96 section, you can see an example of the "stealth bags" mentioned here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=FIRST+101.

Ohhh we should bring back the FIRST 101's!!

Some of my favorites...

In 1996 the Human players actually had to SIT on the floor, with seatbelts that strapped them into the floor!

The old days of Rumble at the Rock were amazing. This very first FIRST offseason event was held in Plymouth MA, by the recently renewed team 23! Many teams camped at this event to save money, and in 1996, there was a giant hurricane (I think it was Bertha) that made it absolutely crazy for any team that was carrying their robot in the back of a pickup truck!! (we may have raced into the venue 5 minutes before it started frantically wiping the robot off with towels because the tarp wasnt strong enough for the hurricane!)

The 1999 Game Objects might easily have been the best sleeping objects in the history of FIRST - Floppies were an almost silk material packed with styrofoam peanuts and lined with looped velcro.

I don't know the starting or end years, but I know at least 96-99 teams were allowed to have two drive coaches. This was one of my favorite parts of the drive team, as you could get past that whole student vs mentor coach debate and just have one of each!

Again my memory is fuzzy on the years, but it might have been 1997 where FIRST allowed the dimensions to expand to 36"x36"... which horribly didnt allow robots to fit through standard doorframes!! Too many teams learned this the hard way!

1996 competition (and maybe a few years prior?) were held on a stage inside Epcot. Several mascots overheated, and some were mistaken for disney characters and ended up having to give autographs!! 1997 was the first year of Tent City outside of Epcot.

For many years, the robots didn't have the Master Breaker switches we now know so well... we actually had giant fuses that were used to protect the robot components from damage.

We used to program in PBasic... no fancy C or Labview or Java... PBASIC... try implementing a random number generator in that!!


(BTW, there was a girl from the Thunderchickens doing research at champs on the "way back when" stories.. anyone know who she is and if she finished her project?? I'd love to see it!)

[WhiteJ85]

Before motorcycle batteries, teams used cordless drill batteries. FIRST had a giant bank of chargers and you would turn in your used batteries after a match and receive charged batteries.

How would have it worked with simply bank of chargers? I saw some cordless drill batteries that are still in use to customize some devices.