2015 World Robotics Conference

[Phoenix Spud]

Today we are excited to announce FRC will be part of the World Robotics Conference in Beijing China!

From November 21 to November 25, 2015 the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST) will hold the World Youth Robotics Competition at the Beijing National Center on the grounds of the former 2008 Olympics. This will be part of the largest robotics event in Chinese history and will be the largest and most comprehensive robotics competition ever to be held in China.

Chinese president Xi Jinping declared that the world economy is currently undergoing a third great revolution called the "robotics revolution". As a consequence the Chinese Ministry of Education is investing large sums of funding towards youth robotics programs towards this aim and has invited a number of different global robot programs to demonstrate themselves on a national platform for potential expanded public support in China. FTC and FRC are part of this effort and with this opportunity there is the chance to grow the programs on a massive scale in China.

We will be playing the 2013 game Ultimate Ascent. FRC teams who have confirmed their attendance include:

• 2013 World Champions 610 The Coyotes from Toronto, Canada
• 1884 Griffins from London, United Kingdom
• 3132 Thunder Down Under from Sydney, Australia
• Aggregate Team from Turkey

Since registering the first 2 FRC teams in China in 2012, 3132 is excited to continue our support of FIRST in China. This will be our 6th trip to the country - we're starting to learn Mandarin in preparation for more trips in the years to come! In addition to attending the event, we will be traveling around the country delivering FIRST workshops.

For more information on the event, please check out the video the Chinese Government put together. (Note: it often plays best in Internet Explorer.)

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTI1NjQ5MTIwMA==.html.It

[Jacob Bendicksen]

That's amazing! It's wonderful to see the expansion of FRC and FIRST in general to more and more countries. Looks like it'll be an international group of teams, so best of luck to all of you!

Also, uh, watch out, world. 3132 is coming for ya.

[tindleroot]

好！我觉得你们去中国是很好的经验，中国高中和中学的机器人学很有帮助。
Sorry if the grammar is wrong, my Chinese has gotten a little rusty

[3132MentorMike]

谢谢！

[jeser#1772]

Great News!

I had the oportunity to play a FRC off season in august this year in Shenzen,

was organized for CUYRA and american teams and was also one of the bigest events i went to,

was there 30 chisese teams plus 11 international teams playing RecicleRush

987, 148, 118, 525, 469, 2468, 359, 1595, 1538 (USA) 1772(Brazil) and 4613(Australia).

i don't know their plans to have a regional there but considering the organization i saw China will have one soon.

i didn't knew about this event in November, otherwise i would love to attend

FRC in China will be big!

[JB987]

Originally Posted by jeser#1772

Great News!

I had the oportunity to play a FRC off season in august this year in Shenzen,

was organized for CURYA and some american teams and was also one of the bigest events i went to,

was there 30 chisese teams plus 11 international teams playing RecicleRush

987, 148, 118, 525, 469, 2468, 359, 1595, 1538 (USA) 1772(Brazil) and 4613(Australia).

i don't know their plans to have a regional there but considering the organization i saw China will have one soon.

i didn't knew about this event in November, otherwise i would love to attend

FRC in China will be big!

Things are starting to take shape in China for sure! Last month's CRC (China Robotics Challenge) was another huge success with our great Chinese hosts ( CUYRA- China Urban Youth Robotics Alliances) building upon last year's event. Pre event workshops with visiting teams listed in the previous post providing side by side build assistance resulted in better quality robots and game play. The quality of the venue was stepped up and our Chinese volunteers took over a greater amount of the planning and operations associated with this second event. A FIRST representative joined our American contingent of teams to see first hand ( no pun intended) if our Chinese friends are closer to being ready for an actual FIRST regional. There will be another CRC event next year and as things look at this point, there is a good chance there will be an actual regional the following year (2017). Chinese teams will continue to arrive days before some regionals here in the States and a few of our teams will continue to provide pre event workshops at our build facilities.

With the collective efforts of our American teams and other international teams like 4613 and 3132 (kudos to 3132 for your continued efforts) and soon others, growth of FRC in China is guaranteed. Best of luck this November to all FRC teams, the doors have been opened widely and the future of FRC in China is looking brighter!

[3132MentorMike]

It’s really encouraging to see the lively discussion this thread is creating. FIRST was originally founded around US-focused issues in the 1990s but it has turned into a powerhouse for things globally today and into the future. I would like to think that Dean and Woodie may have hoped back then that it would grow beyond USA and North America, but they never imagined what we have today and where we are headed. Joe and the 987 High Rollers have really taken FRC in China to heart and made it a passion. Jesser is “living the dream”, by taking all the great experiences of 1772 Trailblazers in Brazil and making a difference with younger teams in Australia and now China.

3132 Thunder Down Under has been privileged to help a lot of new countries come to FRC—Australia, Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Japan, and others---and each one has had its challenges, but these challenges get overcome by older FRC teams and experienced volunteers. We feel like we are just paying back all the help we got when we started FRC in Australia in 2009 from 2342 Team Phoenix in NH, 368 Kika Mana in HI (even though Osa humbly denies it!), 365 “MOE” in DE, 126 Gael Force in MA, all the fine folks at BAE Systems who ran the old Granite State Regional, FIRST HQ, and others.

FRC internationally is not just taking FRC from USA and having build season, or even a regional, in a foreign country. You’ve all probably heard of the challenges with shipping costs and delays, with customs for robots and spare parts, etc. As someone who started doing FRC in USA and then moved overseas, I didn’t realize the subtle differences culturally that make FRC different abroad. Sometimes these differences make it harder, sometimes they make it easier, but all of it put together all over the world is FRC. FRC has become a global phenomenon and not just an American thing transplanted to other places.

I remember watching the old “FRC Promo Lan” video with Larry Pag,e and Dean saying that a student in FRC would go on to find the cure for cancer or invent an engine that doesn’t pollute. But I think FRC is much bigger than this. When I see an alliance come together with teams from the USA, China, and Taiwan, I have hope that one day one of the students from that alliance will stop a war, because they remember THAT alliance and how they banded together to win the first FRC regional in Australia this past March. I hope they remember that at the regional, they had more uniting them than dividing them.

What makes FIRST the best at what it does is that all of us participating in FRC are becoming and can be a truly global community. We have a common love for STEM and robotics and competing like crazy. We have a common ethic in our notion of GP. And we are demonstrating that we don’t care where you are in the world: come join us……if you want, we are happy to stop by and help you out!

[JB987]

Originally Posted by 3132MentorMike

... But I think FRC is much bigger than this. When I see an alliance come together with teams from the USA, China, and Taiwan, I have hope that one day one of the students from that alliance will stop a war, because they remember THAT alliance and how they banded together to win the first FRC regional in Australia this past March. I hope they remember that at the regional, they had more uniting them than dividing them.

What makes FIRST the best at what it does is that all of us participating in FRC are becoming and can be a truly global community. We have a common love for STEM and robotics and competing like crazy. We have a common ethic in our notion of GP. And we are demonstrating that we don’t care where you are in the world: come join us……if you want, we are happy to stop by and help you out!

Well said, Mike! The cultural walls fall quickly when teams share a common goal. Many thanks to your team, 525 (who got my team involved in this global effort) and all of the other FRC teams engaged in this worthy effort. Our kids are having a blast while making life-long friends with kids around the world as a result of their FRC involvement. What more could we ask for?

[DaRealSlimShady]

Will the pope be there?

[Phoenix Spud]

Originally Posted by DaRealSlimShady

Will the pope be there?

No... but our sources say some big names might be...

[hunterteam3476]

Code Orange 3476 will see you in China!

[Phoenix Spud]

Originally Posted by hunterteam3476

Code Orange 3476 will see you in China!

We can't wait! So glad you guys can make it.