Arizona East Regional: Team 4111

[DessertDuel319]

I'm carrying out some research. For anyone who's been to the Arizona East regional in the last few years, what does Team 4111 "Peace, Love, Robots" make you think of (if anything)? I'm interested in any opinion as long as its truthfully yours.

[DessertDuel319]

This original post is highly ineffective. I wish I could edit it, although its current statistics (numerically speaking) tell me something along the lines of what I wanted to know.

I don't think we have too much of a reputation as a team. If I am wrong, somebody applicable please correct me.

[maxxman]

I feel that many teams, including my own get caught up in the what I like to call "reputation trap". They worry about what other teams think and they almost idolize the regional powerhouses. In Ontario I bet a lot of teams wish they were the world famous 1114 or 2056, but at the same time I think more people wish to be 4039 or 3683.

The thing is to have a reputation you need to have a couple key things, your robot needs a design language, you need a large number of members on your team, and the often overlooked portion good uniforms.

The for a team to have a clear design their robots need to use similar materials and machining from year to year. Look at team 3683 from my earlier example: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-...BmyRCwpD_1ibJQ. Watch their 2014 and 2015 reveals. Their robots are clearly made by the same team. Allowing for other people to quickly make the link between robot and team.

Having a large team just allows you to take up a large portion of the stands. If you have a large number of people in the stands it will make your team quickly identifiable.

Lastly with your team uniforms I will use 4039 as my example. Look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKlOKeTrwc. When you see them at a regional you instantly know "oh yeah that's 4039, they are the team with the crazy shirts.

So if you would like to have your team develop a reputation, look at the teams that you remember from year to year. Do not copy them exactly, but follow in their footsteps. See what it took for them to get where they are and try your best to differentiate yourself from everyone else.

I know this is not the answer you were looking for but I hope this helps.

[Rangel]

I agree with Maxman. Don't worry so much about reputation in terms of numbers. Focus instead on trying to be the best you can be in regards to your own team. For us, that started with trying to do things that people thought were impossible or out of our league. This went from electric cars to college level underwater robotics competitions. Our team also believes in changing the culture of not only the team or school, but the entire community so we started doing tons of outreach and mentoring. This eventually lead to many different competition wins including the world chairmen's award in 2008. Be the best that you can be with regards to the team, robot, community, and most importantly to yourself and the reputation will be generated on its own. A cool and catchy name and flashy t shirts are nice but ultimately, it's what your team is and does that is important if you want people to remember you. In same cases, it might be your hard work at media production like flashy t shirts that generates you reputation. Do whatever works for you.

[DessertDuel319]

Thanks for the advice. We should be able to implement some of that this year.


I believe this research has been successful.