Old FIRST compared to New FIRST

[Zach101]

Great thread guys. For being in FIRST for the first time it was fun watching the videos and learning more about FIRST's history. It would be great if you could find anymore of those history videos of different years that would be great cause its so fun seeing how technology and FIRST teams grew and got better over the years.

[Brad Hanel]

After watching the videos, I've come to the conclusion that the biggest difference is the hair.

[Mark McLeod]

Here are videos from a few more years:

FIRST 1997 Championship Final Match
FIRST 1998 Championship Semi-finals 45vs67
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 1
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 2
FIRST 2000 CO-OPERTITION™ FIRST Championship Match
FIRST 2001 DIABOLICAL DYNAMICS™ Match
FIRST 2002 ZONE ZEAL™ Championship Semi-Finals Match

[Zach101]

Originally Posted by Brad Hanel

After watching the videos, I've come to the conclusion that the biggest difference is the hair.

Lol no its definitely the glasses and when I saw the hair and the glasses together...

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

It was great back before bumpers, when teams actually built strong drive bases that could withstand abuse.

T'was great before bumpers, but nostalgia patinates the past.
The drivetrains weren't necessarily more robust, but the Robots were less complex and delicate. Fewer connections to fault. Far lower data rates. No cameras, no autonomous. Not really Robots, Specialized RC cars.

Originally Posted by Damiaen_Florian

I've always heard a lot of people say how much different FIRST was "Back in the day" so I was just wondering if some of the older members on here could discuss what some of the major differences were between these past few years of FIRST and FIRST back in the 1990's and early 2000's, aside from obvious things like different games and less teams. I figure it'd be cool for some of us younger members to get some insight into the history of FIRST.

Less teams is really the only significant difference to me.
It's harder once I get to four digits.
This really hit home this year:
http://imgur.com/a/v9TcU
(Robot Crate pictures)

The overall vibe is intact. It's like a Grateful Dead concert with Robots.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/supato...57643219020225

[EricH]

How about this one for all you younguns: No autonomous.

Its first appearance as an official part of the game was in 2003. Before then, drivers all the way.


Also, most of the games before about 2005 (exception: 2002) had some large structure or obstacle in the middle of the field. Maneuvering around or over it was always entertaining.

[Jake177]

The general match format has changed several times throughout the years.

• 1992-1998: 1v1v1 - A match consisted of three robots on the field, each trying to score the most points. (Based on old videos, it looks like elimination rounds may have been 1v1 for at least some of these games.)
• 1999-2000: 2v2 - 1999 marked the beginning of the "Alliance Era" forcing teams to work together on the field.
• 2001: 4v0 - All four robots on the field were working together on the same alliance.
• 2002-2004: 2v2 - Direct competition during matches returned in 2002.
• 2005-Present: 3v3 - In 2005, a third team was added to each alliance.

Also, 2001 was the first year Championship was separated into divisions.

[Shameless Plug]
When I was a student, I put together this video for 177's 10th anniversary. It gives a little insight into the 1995-2004 games.
[/Shameless Plug]

[Matt C]

Small Parts Inc.

No bumpers.

Epcot Championship

I was a student from 1999-2001... life was way different before Andy-Mark.

[Andrew Rudolph]

There was pretty much no COTs up until about 2002, you had to buy things from (or similar to) what was in the Small Parts Catalog. Up until ~2001 there was limits on how much stuff you could use as well. Think 15 gears, 10' of extrusion, etc..

Being on a team in Miami it was great, we could drive over and pick up parts the same day we ordered them, and play with the cool coin machine in the lobby.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

This terrific video gives you a good idea about what happened in 1992.

Wow, where has this video been all my life?

[cj3958]

I will preface this by saying that I was not there durring this time, however my dad was, and I went to some competitions once i was old enough to understand what was going on. From what my dad has told me, the biggest thing that was different was the number of motors and gearboxes available. It was extremely difficult to get torque out of motors back then, because none of the motors has a standard shaft that was keyed or something similar to what we have today, because all of the motors were designed to be put in a drill or something like that. I got the impression that it would be like if every motor had an output shaft similar to the window motor, and each team had to figure out how to get that shaft to move their drivetrain separately, because there was no andymark that would make a gearbox with that output shaft as an input. On that note, every gearbox was also a struggle, because you had to effectively weld gears to shafts to get the torque to transfer because there was no standard hex shaft or hex shaft berrings or hex shaft bores to use on gears. Towards the end(just before andymark came out) people would use dewalt motor transmissions in order to get shifting and have a good gearbox they could use for everything.

[Kimmeh]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

The biggest change I've noticed is the family atmosphere is not nearly what it used to be. What I mean by that is you used to have 150 teams or so (total) and practically everyone knew everyone else. Now there are just too many teams to keep track of.

I'm the most sad about missing out on this. I feel like those of you who have been around for a while have a closeness that the rest of us don't.
Sure, it helps that that also means that you've known each other longer.

Also, keeping up with how 150 robots work is far easier than keeping up with how 2,000+ robots work...

[Zyrano]

I'll throw in a couple of things (for 1999)

1. Drill motors and transmissions for drive train
2. Most parts were fabricated (no kit bot chassis/transmissions available)
3. no bumpers
4. For Californians, 1st (and only) NASA Moffet field Hanger 1 regional
5. More contact, I remembered shattering a team's PVC basket into many pieces during a match... We even picked up an opponent's robot (some what unintentionally), one of my favorite robotics memory is captured in the this picture...

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Zyrano

I remember the red robot (which is actually on blue alliance). Does SuperChimp still compete in FRC, or were they done after that year?

BTW: I think this picture also shows the reason for the rotating lights used to identify alliances (2000-2003, replaced by LEDs from 2004-2005, replaced by flags from 2006-2009, replaced by bumpers starting in 2010) AND the requirement to have the team number visible all over the place. Ah, the rotating lights--so visible, and so annoying to mount so they'd stay intact. And yes, they counted towards your weight. So did the battery.

[Chris Hibner]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the field size. Prior to 1999, the field was about half the size of what it is now. In fact, they used to have two fields set up side-by-side at every event. As soon as one match ended on one field, they would immediately start introducing the next match on the other field while they scored and reset the field on the match that just ended.

1999 was a rectangular field (I want to say it was only 12' x 24'), and the previous three years had a hexagonal field.

Another fun thing about the field is how it was managed in 2000 and 2001. They tried to keep the idea from pre-2000 of introducing the next match while the previous match was being cleaned up. They did this by alternating the ends of the field. In 2000, both alliances drove from the same side of the field, and the game pieces were lined up on the far side of the field. The next match, the drivers were all on the opposite end of the field. This was so the next match could start setting up while the current match was being played. 2001 was the same. They finally scrapped that idea for the 2003 season.