FIRST 101 [3/22/06]

[Andy Grady]

Hello class!

Finally after an extended vacation due to catching up to life after build season, the professor is back and ready to teach again. With the competition season upon us, now would be a good time to dive into the history of those who are behind the glass.

Drivers, Operators, and Human Players...oh my!

One of the most difficult positions to carry at a competition is that of a member of your average team's drive crew. Today most drive crews have a plethora of controls to work with. Everything from your average, run of the mill set of flight sticks, to project boxes, to heads up displays, to power gloves, to dashboard ports, to virtual reality retna scans, to...well...you get the idea. Back in the early days, you had to use what FIRST gave you. The primitive robot control had a small metal box with an Atari-like joystick for the control. Seeing many people here have no clue what the Atari 2600 was, imagine a Playstation 2 controler...make it more boxy, and give it a long joystick and a single button...thats all you have to work with...well with the exception that the FIRST joystick didn't even have the button! Pretty tough job for your driver if you ask me!

Another fun little tidbit about the drivecrew...in the real early days, every driver was required to wear the same shirt. US FIRST had a sponsor, Russel Athletics, and they provided t-shirts for all the drive teams. Really bright, yellow, god awful t-shirts with that big ugly Russel "R" on it! Aren't you glad they allow you to wear your own team shirt?

Here is another fun fact for all the newbies...did you know that you used to be allowed 2 coaches? Its true! Oh...and that human player you have grown to love so much? Never even exsisted before Hexagon Havoc!

Speaking of the human player, its time for a short history on the human player's job.

1996 - Human Player is added to the US FIRST competition. Hexagon Havoc allowed for a human player to be strapped down sitting on the outside of the field. Human had to shoot balls over a bar in order to take shots at the goal.

1997 - FIRST got a little more daring and allowed the human player to stand up for Torroid Terror. Still had to wear the goofy helmet and face mask though.

1998 - FIRST decides to let human players throw massive inflatable balls directly into the goal. Crowd watches in amazement as the whole ladder logic playingfield jumps at each throw through the bars.

1999 - FIRST decided that massive inflatable balls were bad for humans to be throwing...gives them pillows instead.

2000 - Human Player now gets to join the drive crew directly behind the glass! Has a little chute to get balls from robots...robots rarely use the chute.

2001 - See 2000

2002 - Coach is elminated, human player becomes second coach.

2003 - Pad sensors invented...human players now required to be sprinters.

2004 - Human Players get jealous, take over scoring from robots.

2005 - Numerous human players get bonked in the head from flying tetras...more of those sensor pads everyone loves so much.

As you can see...the human player has had a glorious yet roller coaster-ish history!

Did you know that your professor was the first human player in the Yellow position? Did you also know that he was the first human player to ever miss a match due to injury?

Did you know that your professor lives a sad life and states that as his only true claim to fame?

Ahem...anyhow...so now here we are. Drive crews are more complicated, smarter, louder, crazier....its an interesting turn of events...

Still waiting for the human player to be the game object though...that hasn't happened yet.

Glass dismissed.

Professor Grady