Robotics becomes official sport in Arizona!

[Chief Hedgehog]

Congrats AZ! Maybe this will help more state high school leagues realize that this truly is a sport!

[gblake]

Is the title of this thread correct? Did "robotics" become a sport, or did the AIA decide to sanction a state tournament for FRC? There is a big difference. FRC is just a single program among many.

"Robotics", in this context, encompasses a broad spectrum of inspirational and educational programs supplying a wide variety of opportunities to students (with/without school involvement) with diverse financial, organizational, educational support/backgrounds.

If anyone gets a chance, please inform the AIA, and the people of Arizona, about all of the "robotics" opportunities they have to do good for their communities.

Don't fall into the trap of FRC tunnel-vision. Instead, perhaps, celebrate this announcement as the first of what will hopefully be many more (for FTC, VRC, FLL, VIQ, BEST, Botball, etc.)???

Blake

[Francis-134]

This is wicked cool! Is this mostly a "symbolic" victory, or does it confer some sort of specific benefits to robotics teams in the state (i.e. the can hang banners in gyms, have access to more school facilities, easier funding process etc.)?

Congratulations to the parties involved!

[sergioCorral842]

Originally Posted by Francis-134

This is wicked cool! Is this mostly a "symbolic" victory, or does it confer some sort of specific benefits to robotics teams in the state (i.e. the can hang banners in gyms, have access to more school facilities, easier funding process etc.)?

Congratulations to the parties involved!

So far, I only know that we will be able to get varsity letters and jackets. Other than that, I am not sure.

[MooreteP]

The state of Connecticut, though the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Association) has also recognized Robotics as a high school sport:
http://www.firstct.org/news-events/c...-championship/

[AllenGregoryIV]

I found this article that makes it sound like its only FRC and not all robotics.
http://www.aia365.com/articles/4644/...tics-is-coming

From this and what happened with UIL in Texas this summer it seems like HQ is lobbying state interscholastic leagues to make FRC tournaments like MN has.

[MattRain]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I found this article that makes it sound like its only FRC and not all robotics.
http://www.aia365.com/articles/4644/...tics-is-coming

From this and what happened with UIL in Texas this summer it seems like HQ is lobbying state interscholastic leagues to make FRC tournaments like MN has.

It is only FRC. The FTC side hasn't heard a thing from them.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

The state of Connecticut, though the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Association) has also recognized Robotics as a high school sport:
http://www.firstct.org/news-events/c...-championship/

Originally Posted by MattRain

It is only FRC. The FTC side hasn't heard a thing from them.

OK - So I'm going to be a bit of a broken record here... I know I seem overly grumpy but, dang it, it's so easy to get this sort of thing right. As a community we need to avoid wearing FRC or FIRST blinders.

These announcements are that FRC state championships are going to be endorsed/sanctioned by state bureaucracies. These are not announcements that "robotics" is an official / high school sport. FRC is not the end-all, be-all, of "robotics". FRC is an excellent part of "robotics"; but it is only one part of "robotics"; and by several measures it is not the even the biggest or best part of "robotics".

If "robotics" did equal FRC, and FRC alone, FIRST (and I as someone who has invested hundreds of hours in FIRST's success) would have failed. The cultural shift FIRST seeks can not be gotten by only forming FRC infrastructures. Many would argue quite effectively that FRC infrastructures should be put into place only after other programs' infrastructures exist to create a solid foundation for FRC activities....

Switching gears a bit - This is both excellent news on many levels, and maybe not so good news of a few others.

Some of the things to consider are that:

• Team membership rules created by the states are probably going to slowly start to encrust the FRC events governed by these organizations, and then effect student participation in the teams.
• Many/all aspects of Mentor and volunteer participation in the teams that compete in these events) are probably going to slowly start to be affected/governed by the state organizations sanctioning these events.
• Expect that state rules and regulations will begin to creep into determining when and where teams may do their business (activities like building the FRC robot).
• Expect a constant low-level of confusion about how non-school FRC teams participate in state championships (and the events that feed into to them). FRC teams usually are associated in some way with a single school, but that definitely isn't required or always true; and it certainly isn't true for other, popular, non-FRC, robotics programs that also deserve our best efforts.
• Etc.

To exaggerate a bit to make a point, let me quote Mark Twain, “No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

To sum up: Please, please embrace (and ensure your actions reflect) the fact that neither FRC, nor FIRST, nor any other single STEM program is the right "robotics" solution for the entire culture we seek to change; and be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Blake

[gblake]

Maybe I have too strong of a libertarian streak in me, but I think that maybe I would be happier seeing headlines that joyfully announce something like this:

"Popular, affordable and inspirational, grass-roots, student-robotics competition(s) avoid(s) entanglement in government bureaucracy, and remains free to continue charting its own course."

Think about it....

Blake

[falconmaster]

Originally Posted by gblake

OK - So I'm going to be a bit of a broken record here... I know I seem overly grumpy but, dang it, it's so easy to get this sort of thing right. As a community we need to avoid wearing FRC or FIRST blinders.

These announcements are that FRC state championships are going to be endorsed/sanctioned by state bureaucracies. These are not announcements that "robotics" is an official / high school sport. FRC is not the end-all, be-all, of "robotics". FRC is an excellent part of "robotics"; but it is only one part of "robotics"; and by several measures it is not the even the biggest or best part of "robotics".

If "robotics" did equal FRC, and FRC alone, FIRST (and I as someone who has invested hundreds of hours in FIRST's success) would have failed. The cultural shift FIRST seeks can not be gotten by only forming FRC infrastructures. Many would argue quite effectively that FRC infrastructures should be put into place only after other programs' infrastructures exist to create a solid foundation for FRC activities....

Switching gears a bit - This is both excellent news on many levels, and maybe not so good news of a few others.

Some of the things to consider are that:

• Team membership rules created by the states are probably going to slowly start to encrust the FRC events governed by these organizations, and then effect student participation in the teams.
• Many/all aspects of Mentor and volunteer participation in the teams that compete in these events) are probably going to slowly start to be affected/governed by the state organizations sanctioning these events.
• Expect that state rules and regulations will begin to creep into determining when and where teams may do their business (activities like building the FRC robot).
• Expect a constant low-level of confusion about how non-school FRC teams participate in state championships (and the events that feed into to them). FRC teams usually are associated in some way with a single school, but that definitely isn't required or always true; and it certainly isn't true for other, popular, non-FRC, robotics programs that also deserve our best efforts.
• Etc.

To exaggerate a bit to make a point, let me quote Mark Twain, “No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

To sum up: Please, please embrace (and ensure your actions reflect) the fact that neither FRC, nor FIRST, nor any other single STEM program is the right "robotics" solution for the entire culture we seek to change; and be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Blake

I can't speak for the AIA but I can say that it is a great step. As far I as I know it is FRC, they are concentrating on high school right now. As the popularity grows and everyone become used to the idea I am sure it will include more robotics categories just like there are many different sports. rather than looking at this as for what it is missing, try looking at it for what is there. It's a start! Let run with it. I agree that FRC is not everything, in fact we, TEAM 842, know this to be true. We also do AUVSI Robosub and NURC.

[The_ShamWOW88]

Good to hear!! Hopefully soon, robotics will be viewed and treated as a sport nationally and internationally

[falconmaster]

http://kjzz.org/content/73371/aia-re...h-school-sport

[hadynbrouwer98]

congrats

[Nathan Rossi]

More information on the State Championship. Specifically, we now know how the top 30 teams will be selected. It is determined by using the district point system to rank teams, with some modifications.

http://www.aiaonline.org/activities/robotics

Also notable, the State Championship is a bag and tag event.

[jvriezen]

Looks like the AZ model was lifted pretty much with minimal (if any) change from the MN model.

See

MN rules: http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/arts/MSHS...Procedures.pdf
vs.
AZ rules: http://www.aiaonline.org/files/14680...de-2014-15.pdf