FIRST - Reason for existance

[Mr. Lim]

Originally Posted by Karthik

There was actually a team from Jamaica before 188, but Woburn is the first international team that stuck around. I was in my last year of High School at Woburn when 188 formed in 1998, so I can shed some light.

When Woburn first signed up for FIRST, we did it because looking for a new challenge. We had been in previous smaller robotics competitions, which no longer satisfied us. We knew very little about the mission of FIRST, rather we just saw it as a cool robotics competition. No special support or attention was given to us by FIRST for being an international team. (Nor did we seek it)

So, at the beginning Team 188 was a not project in getting FIRST to become an international competition. FIRST really began supporting the Canadian in movement in 2002, with the debut of the Canadian Regional.

I hope that answers some questions...

And for those who may be interested, the entire team 188 history is nicely chronicled here:

http://www.team188.com/web/index.php...urn +Robotics

It includes info on some interesting forays into failed copycat FIRST competitions held in Canada before the real-deal debuted in 2002. Also included is our short-lived stint as "Team Canada Robotics" which was officially recognized in an address on Parliament Hill in 1998. It was easy to call ourselves "Team Canada Robotics" when we were the only FIRST team from Canada. Needless to say, it didn't take long AT ALL for that to change!

Now, to keep this post on-topic:

Debating whether the goal of FIRST is to service the US, or the world at large, is a bit like arguing whether Civil Rights or Women's Suffrage should apply to just the US, or the world as a whole.

The creation of all these things are deeply rooted in the US, but once the concepts became well-developed and defined, they were exported and practiced all over the world, to the benefit of EVERYONE. If anyone were to claim that Civil Rights and Women's Suffrage were exclusively for the US because they were invented there, they would promptly be met with a firm smack to the back of the head by yours truly.

You wouldn't want us Canadians to keep Celine Dion just for ourselves would you? (please don't answer that!)

If you're thinking I'm a crackhead for paralleling Civil Rights and Women's Suffrage to a pithy robotics competition, then humour me for a second: To me, FIRST is "for inspiration and recognition of science and technology".

In a world where our heroes are recording artists, media celebrities, professional athletes, and the uber-wealthy, we glorify them for the fame and fortune they've received. We give little or no regard to whether that fame or fortune was gained by stealling millions from stockholders through bogus financial reporting, whether they simply stumbled upon the right people to sleep with in Hollywood, or if they're just freakishly good at throwing a ball through a hoop. We care even less if they are genuinely GOOD people - so what if he deals drugs, beats his wife, and neglects his kids... he's rich AND famous! I want to be rich and famous too, no matter what it takes... I can find lots of easy money too, just like these people did. The ends will justify the means.

It pains me to see such perversion of the American dream.

"for inspiration and recognition of science and technology" represents not just a robotics competition, but a change in our priorities as a society. The people in FIRST are the ones who should be recognized as "the rich and the famous." Wouldn't it be great if we paid our teachers and innovators the salaries of our professional athletes? What about our scientists and researchers? We envy someone for being able to run fast? But ridicule the "nerds" for being able to think fast? How wrong is that? And if you share those feelings, participating in FIRST is your way to speak up.

Too often, society's inspiration often comes from the wrong people, and recognition goes to the wrong people. FIRST is a great movement that aims to set things straight, to reward and recognize those people who society really depends on. The robotics competition is just a very successful mechanism in the FIRST movement as a whole.

So in short...

FIRST is for the world.