What does it take to be considered and elite team?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I was just saying that coloring makes the team more identifiable rather than blending in with all the other natural aluminum. Just look at The Cheesy Poofs 254 and Kingman 60. Do you think they would be so popular if they didn't have a beautiful color scheme consistent from year to year? Probably not as much. I'm sure it is at least somewhat of a contributing factor to their popularity.

As for 980, they have one of the biggest most visible banners in their pit that says "980 Thunderbots" Yellow on black, you can't miss it.

I noticed the Thunderbots banner. Who didn't that was at LA, Nats, or anywhere else they went?

Your using Cheesy Poofs and Kingman. Throw 22 into the mix, because this year (at least early on), you needed the paint to tell the robots apart. Coloring simply makes the robot recognizable in a crowd.

[rufu5]

While all the criteria thrown out so far has been very true, I think the main way you become an "elite" team is by helping other teams and making a difference (thats how you win the chairman's award and get into the hall of fame now isn't it?).

Teams that just win all the time, at least in my opinion, don't sustain the same kind of respect as teams that utilize robotics as a way to help others and make a difference. Because lets face it, you can have a bad year and lose all that "street cred" you had built up, but if you are known as a team that is always there, not only at the competitions when the judges are marking on their little cards, but in the build season when its only you, and God is marking on his little cards . Thats when it really matters.

I would rather have a team of 20 kids that wanted to have fun and make a difference, than an entire armada of engineers.

447

[techtiger1]

Well I agree with what everyone has said here. To me an elite status team has everything. A good mix of marketing,mentors,students,teachers and parents. This is what I recoginze in the 67's,233's and 254's they have all of these things. Consistancy is also a big factor elite teams continue to year in and year out win and produce great robots. It doesn't hurt to paint the robot bright pink either hehe . No seriously though having the complete package of everything is what makes those teams elite.

My two and half cents,
Drew

[Koko Ed]

If you want to be a technically elite FIRST team hang around their pits and ask lots of questions. Study their methods. Visit their website. Look at what they designed in the past. See what makes them tick.

If you want to be a Chairman's elite team go visit the Hall of Fame at the Champinship and look around. Ask questions as well and study what they do as well. Visit their websites and see what they do to make the FIRST community stronger and see if your team is capable of doing things like that as well.

[Winged Wonder]

first of all, thank you everyone who mentioned PINK... it means a lot to us.

i agree with everything that has been said before me about elite teams, but one thing i dont believe has been touched on that i've noticed with many of the teams that have been mentioned, is that these teams have ambition. they set high goals and work hard to achieve them, and even if those goals are not achieved, they are most certainly noticed for their blood, sweat, and tears to try and make it to the top, whether it is for chairmans award, the robot competition, or whatever.

These "elite" teams help to inspire others, to spark ambition. there is nothing wrong with being ambitious (as long as it doesnt become arrogance)... without ambition, there is no driving force to do great things. even if you fail miserably, that ambition helps you pick yourself right up again and continue to try. Without ambition as a driving force, we never would have gotten to the moon; without ambition as a driving force, FIRST will never succeed in changing the world.

[dmurdz]

The elite teams in FIRST need to have consitant sucess year after year, which pretty much means high perfomances at the Championship year after year.

Also, I think an elite team is one that consistantly draws attention, an example would be all the teams mentioned in this thread, we know who all these teams are, therefore they are the elite teams.

Each part of the country has its own elite teams, being from New England, I know that the UTC teams are always high perfomers, along with many other teams like 121 from RI. Some of the other teams, like 71 from the Midwest and the Cheesy Poofs from Cali, are elite to those people around them. It is the few select teams that are know nationwide that are the elite teams of FIRST.