Forgetting About Robots

[DougHogg]

Originally posted by baculpepper
How do you forget about robots?

I cannot stop thinking about the outcome of the St. Louis regional. I am proud of our robot and how we preformed, but I am disappointed in knowing that the outcome possible could/should have been different.

So basically how should I forget about robots?

One way that I have found to handle competitions where it wasn't a total victory or perhaps was a disaster, is to start planning ahead toward the next match, competition, year, or even your career. After all, if you always won, that would be boring also. So now you know you have a real game, where you might lose. So try to figure out how you could do even better in the future. What was successful that you shouldn't change? What could perhaps be tweaked a bit to make it better, and what if anything should be totally changed? In other words, it isn't over. That was just the second round. We are going the full 15 rounds here. The adventure continues. It's like a formula-one race where you have only done a few laps. Maybe you skidded a bit and lost a few seconds on the last turn. How are you going to approach that corner the next time you come to it? Now share your realizations with someone else, because you now have knowledge that other people, especially rookies don't have. (I just read a great post from Jay Lundy who is a student on the Cheezy Poofs, Team 254, about how to avoid tipping. Hats off to you Jay, and many, many others, for using your experience to help other teams. I passed on the message about tipping to our whole team.) Ready? Go for it. Don't hold back. Go all out.

People in FIRST ARE lucky, because they are living a very creative adventure which just doesn't let up, and that is okay. Who wants to sit there watching TV and being a spectator anyway. When was the last time you heard of someone on their death bed talking about a great movie they saw? I think it far more likely to hear of their accomplishments, something they did to make things better. Well that's what FIRST is all about. Wow, we really are lucky! We've got something that is really worth caring about.