pic: First Robotics Google Trend

[Abhishek R]

Interesting that it seems to be a decreasing trend over the years...

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

Interesting that it seems to be a decreasing trend over the years...

That's exactly what piqued my interest.

[BrennanB]

Originally Posted by Gregor

That's exactly what piqued my interest.

"Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart. If at most 10% of searches for the given region and time frame were for "pizza," we'd consider this 100. This doesn't convey absolute search volume. Learn more"

https://www.google.ca/trends/explore...ics&cmpt=q&tz=

Another comparison.

[Dunngeon]

When you compare the major terms that FIRST uses, the results are pretty interesting.



It's interesting that FRC (red) has caught up to First Robotics Competition (yellow) over the years.

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by Dunngeon

When you compare the major terms that FIRST uses, the results are pretty interesting.



It's interesting that FRC (red) has caught up to First Robotics Competition (yellow) over the years.

I think this is crazy. The reach FLL has over any other program is amazing!

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Metonym

I think this is crazy. The reach FLL has over any other program is amazing!

And that VEX is also a lot more succesful in outreach than FRC.

I'm also interested/worried/confused about the fact that searches for FIRST have declined over time (even if it is just a percentage of volume). Shouldn't more teams and students equal more searches?

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

And that VEX is also a lot more succesful in outreach than FRC.

I'm also interested/worried/confused about the fact that searches for FIRST have declined over time (even if it is just a percentage of volume). Shouldn't more teams and students equal more searches?

I can confirm that the VEX spike is due to some flash game, not the robotics competition.

[jman4747]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

And that VEX is also a lot more succesful in outreach than FRC.

I'm also interested/worried/confused about the fact that searches for FIRST have declined over time (even if it is just a percentage of volume). Shouldn't more teams and students equal more searches?

I think that actually comes from people typing in the program names (FLL, FTC, FRC) in place the organization. Also the use of "FIRST Robotics Competition" over just "FIRST robotics".

Because of how the spikes for "FIRST robotics" and "FRC/FIRST Robotics Competition" seem to be timed exactly the same I'd guess FRC people are using "FIRST robotics" more than FLL/FTC people as short hand for "FIRST Robotics Competition" but as "FRC" is more recognizable nowadays on it's own newer FRC participants are using that more often.

[BrennanB]

Originally Posted by jman4747

I think that actually comes from people typing in the program names (FLL, FTC, FRC) in place the organization. Also the use of "FIRST Robotics Competition" over just "FIRST robotics".

Because of how the spikes for "FIRST robotics" and "FRC/FIRST Robotics Competition" seem to be timed exactly the same I'd guess FRC people are using "FIRST robotics" more than FLL/FTC people as short hand for "FIRST Robotics Competition" but as "FRC" is more recognizable nowadays on it's own newer FRC participants are using that more often.

Interesting theory, here are the results

FTC is super high, while FLL still has more reach than FRC (not suprising)

FTC is also an acronym for Federal Trade Commission, which skews the result a lot.

It also seems like the most interest comes from people searching FIRST Robotics Competition, not FRC.

It also seems FRC search terms are messed with because of a Argentinian University.



While "FIRST Lego Leauge" All it's top search terms are actually related to the metric we are using.

[SteveGarward]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

I'm also interested/worried/confused about the fact that searches for FIRST have declined over time (even if it is just a percentage of volume). Shouldn't more teams and students equal more searches?

I think this could easily come from a number of factors (apart from acronyms)

• People are doing more specific searches
• FIRST is putting out more useful information, leading to less need to search for it
• More teams helping other teams
• People come to Chief Delphi or other teams websites more for their info
• Teams are struggling more than we know
• With more COTS parts and a largely pre-packaged 'just hook it up' control system, less need to dig deeper for custom work (certainly it doesn't require the term FIRST robotics...)

Are people less interested, or are we doing a better job as a community?

[Ryan_Todd]

My bet is that all you're seeing is a shift in the specific search terms that people use to research FIRST Robotics.

As evidence, I present the trend with respect to searches about the general topic of the FIRST Robotics Competition, representing the sum total of all search terms that Google associates with this subject:
https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F096kcy



In this graph, I find it interesting that the summertime dip in interest has generally gotten deeper over time, whereas the dual build-season and competition-season peaks have gone through a bit of a cyclic trend with 2010 as the worst year and older+newer years doing better.

---------------------------------------
EDIT:
And yes, you can definitely see the effect of that university in Switzerland when you look at the national distribution chart!

[Jalerre]

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B70J...p=docslist_api
Just to add to this, the search term "robotics" has a similar pattern, but to a lesser degree. It seems to dip in the summer compared to the rest of the year. First might have an effect on the robotics search term as well.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B70J...p=docslist_api.

[Alex2614]

I wonder how many of these are internal people doing searches for FIRST official stuff because it is easier than going through the maze that is usfirst.org.

[BrennanB]

Originally Posted by Alex2614

I wonder how many of these are internal people doing searches for FIRST official stuff because it is easier than going through the maze that is usfirst.org.

Far too many.

[Deneb]

The declining overall interest could possibly be a result of how STEM is prevalent in the news and in education lately, making FIRST less groundbreaking. But I think that the increase in teams should show some results. Outreach may actually be a problem though...