pic: The Triplets are Coming To Atlanta!!

[Kyle Love]

1503 won Rookie Inspiration
1680 won Rookie All-star
Those two awards qualify them for the championships, I believe.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Kyle45

1503 won Rookie Inspiration
1680 won Rookie All-star
Those two awards qualify them for the championships, I believe.

Actually Rookie Inspiration is not a qualifier. Team 1503 was on the waiting list for the Championship. On the Tuesday after the last weekend of regionals, the team received a phone call from FIRST saying that a spot had opened up. Needless to say that the entire team was very excited about the wonderful opportunity.

[Collmandoman]

Karthik PLS realize I'm in no way trying to be rude ~ and there is no way to copy paste this without sounding rude.. but somehow I mean it with as much respect as I can


Important: 2005 Rookies are not eligible for to attend the Championship via Open Registration but must qualify to attend per the Merit Based criteria set forth above.

it's just a matter of confusion

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

Karthik PLS realize I'm in no way trying to be rude ~ and there is no way to copy paste this without sounding rude.. but somehow I mean it with as much respect as I can


Important: 2005 Rookies are not eligible for to attend the Championship via Open Registration but must qualify to attend per the Merit Based criteria set forth above.

it's just a matter of confusion

You're correct. That applied at the beginning of the season though, when only tiers 2 and higher could signup (or whatever it was)

Since FIRST had spaces left, after that registration period had ended, and whenever and veteran teams could have signed up, the teams on the waiting list got in, including rookies.

[Collmandoman]

Awesome! good luck you three..
what stumps me is... if your robot is the same.. and you get first seed.. why don't you pick the robot that's exactly the same?!?!

[sanddrag]

That's what Chatsworth 22 and the Cheesy Poofs 254 did at SVR and then they won.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

That's what Chatsworth 22 and the Cheesy Poofs 254 did at SVR and then they won.

I think that was more a case of 22 slipping through the cracks, but still very cool.

I waited all last year to see a 254/60 matchup, but I guess 22/254 will have had to make up for that

[whakojacko]

Driving skill becomes much more obvious with identical bots, might be a reason for the discrepancies between thes triplets, it was something that was evident with 254 and 22 However theres also the randomness of the qualifiers as well, so it might also be just bad luck. Anyways, gj to all 3 teams for qualifying (2 of them are on curie yay). And wish everybody good luck

[mtaman02]

wow i neva seen three robots identical, i'm suprised they all didn't win the same thing =) very close though.


wasn't there a rule that says you can't have more then one robot that looks the same - oh wait neva mind that was if the team built 2 robots identical and used them both at the regional, if im not mistaken that was last year or the year before that.

anywho, good luck at the nationals. i'll come by the pits and say hi to the 3 of them, btw are they all boys or girls =)

[Cory]

Originally Posted by mtaman02

wasn't there a rule that says you can't have more then one robot that looks the same - oh wait neva mind that was if the team built 2 robots identical and used them both at the regional, if im not mistaken that was last year or the year before that.

No such rule exists. FIRST to this date, has been completely passive about collaboration.

[IMDWalrus]

Originally Posted by Cory

No such rule exists. FIRST to this date, has been completely passive about collaboration.

So far.

If this gets out of hand, though, FIRST will change the rules. I know that there was a lot of discussion on the site when the first two identical robots were revealed during the 2004 season, and I'm a bit surprised this hasn't drawn the outrage that that thread did.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by IMDWalrus

I'm a bit surprised this hasn't drawn the outrage that that thread did.

I'm not. I don't mean this in a derogatory manner to any other teams that have collaborated, but simply put, no teams that have collaborated were as successful and in the public eye as much as 254/60.

Two powerhouses collaborating? that's a no-no (In the eyes of most)

Two lesser known teams collaborating? Sure, go for it.

Similarly, in 2003, at Sacramento, there were two teams with identical bots. Now why did people not care? Because they were rookies (or second/third year teams), and they didn't do all that well.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by IMDWalrus

I'm a bit surprised this hasn't drawn the outrage that that thread did.

The reaction has actually been very positive at both our two regionals. When Team 1114 founded NiagaraFIRST.org and decided upon the collaboration, the goal was not to give our teams a competitive advantage. We did this because we wanted to spread FIRST throughout the Niagara community. We saw the amazing impact FIRST was having on the students from 1114, and we wanted to share this with others.

We knew we that we did not have the mentor base or the funding to start a new team with out stretching 1114 too thin. Using a common design, and engineering and manufacturing approach allowed us to minimize costs and mentor load. Sharing the mentor expertise, equipment and tools, and the workload of manufacturing and assembly enabled us to reap economies of scale.

Most importantly, we were able to seamlessly pass on the lessons we had learned about FIRST. I'm not just talking about the engineering lessons, but we were able to teach the new teams about gracious professionalism. For most rookies, GP is something that they only fully understand after their first season. They learn it by experiencing at the competitions. In our case, by having 1114, 1503 and 1680 working so closely together, the lessons learned we passed along. This collaboration allowed 1503 and 1680 to skip the steep learning curve. They were two rookie teams who stepped into their regionals with poise of veterans, and were able to start spreading the values of FIRST to other rookies!

So, why hasn't there been more outrage? It's pretty hard to argue with a business model that allows for resources to be used effectively and results in three times as many students being inspired, and three times as many communities being excited about FIRST.

More inspired students, more community involvement, less drain on the mentors... Sounds pretty swell to me!

[neilsonster]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

Awesome! good luck you three..
what stumps me is... if your robot is the same.. and you get first seed.. why don't you pick the robot that's exactly the same?!?!

Our team was at both of NiagaraFIRST's regionals, and I was sort of thinking the same thing before I met the teams (I had the knowledge that they built identical robots). After seeing them play a few matches I was amazed at how differently each team plays, and I quickly lost any thoughts that these were three "clone" teams who planned to carry each other to Atlanta. In fact, I have a video where one of them tips over the other in one of the quarter-final matches we played in Waterloo!

I'm sure those of you in Curie will notice the same things as well. I believe the greatest thing that was accomplished by the NiagaraFIRST "project" was that two different self-sustaining teams were created who have flourished rather than being "subordinates" of their mentor team.

I can't wait to see them again in a few days!