Giving First A bad name

[N7UJJ]

We tell them our competitions are pretty rough, but our sport is more like football, not gladiators. We invest $6,000 to $15,000 in the robot competition and we would hate to see it all destroyed in one match.

[Donut]

We get this on our team just like any other; our response is always "sorry, but you know this is a school team, and the district won't allow something like that." Actually I know our officers a few years ago actually looked at doing a Battlebot in addition to FIRST but the idea faded out somewhere.

Show them some of the other cool things you can do. Build something that shoots stuff for the off-season; shooting things seems to be just as cool as smashing them, at least that's what our t-shirt cannon (and the ones other teams have built) have proven.

You will inevitably have to mention you can't do that though, and if they leave purely because of that then they probably weren't actually interested in building a robot in the first place, they just wanted to be the driver for smashing things.

[Orominuialwen]

I actually got involved with FIRST because I was a huge fan of the British TV show Robot Wars. Back when I was in early middle school, it was on at midnght on Saturday nights on my local PBS station. (I wasn't allowed to stay up that late, so I had to tape it and watch it the next day.) My brother and I loved the show and always wanted to build our own robot and be on it. PBS took the show off the air after a litle more than a year (I was so mad I wrote them an angry letter demanding it be put back on.) When I was a freshman, my science teacher told our class about the robotics team that he was starting up at our school. I probably would've never given it a thought if it hadn't been for Robot Wars, but I did and now my brother and I are devoted members of our team.

[Setsanto]

Originally Posted by Orominuialwen

I actually got involved with FIRST because I was a huge fan of the British TV show Robot Wars. Back when I was in early middle school, it was on at midnght on Saturday nights on my local PBS station. (I wasn't allowed to stay up that late, so I had to tape it and watch it the next day.) My brother and I loved the show and always wanted to build our own robot and be on it. PBS took the show off the air after a litle more than a year (I was so mad I wrote them an angry letter demanding it be put back on.) When I was a freshman, my science teacher told our class about the robotics team that he was starting up at our school. I probably would've never given it a thought if it hadn't been for Robot Wars, but I did and now my brother and I are devoted members of our team.

My robotics experience began with summing along those lines

[Nica F.]

I understand it seems like every kid you try to recruit wants to make destructive robots,

but in all reality, you just have to show them what FIRST is made of, and get them to understand that you can have fun without being a "battlebot".

They may not believe you if you just explain it, but have them try it out. Tell them to give it a shot.

You never know who might end up interested in it in the end.

Believe me, I've explained to many many freshman at my school that we dont build robots with saws and hammers popping out. but in the end, your result may be not too dissapointing.

[Athleticgirl389]

I don't think Battle Bots gives FIRST a bad name. I have found it a bit challenging to explain to potential members that we do no build robots to intentionally damage the other robots. Sometimes it is hard for them to grasp that concept and they want to attempt to do it anyways. But once we really drill into their heads that we build to just compete (not damage) they let it go. Trying to explain gracious professionalism to someone who wants to destroy other bots in kinda hard haha. But Battle Bots does get kinds interested based on the fact they build robots and compete them; just not destroy. It's a good segway for Battle Bots to FIRST. Now only if we could get FIRST their own television series haha.

[Pavan Dave]

Natchez said this in his post on this topic about battlebots threatening FIRST and brought a new point of view to me at least.

Originally Posted by Natchez

Give me more tools; I’ll use the ones that are most useful for the job.

Our job is to build future engineers because our country needs them. It just so happens that FIRST is the best tool in our toolbox right now but there is a lot of room left. If BattleBots IQ becomes a useful tool to do our job, then we should use it. BattleBots IQ might be the very thing that we need to convince some schools to give us their students so we can build them into America’s future scientists & engineers.

Currently, the best tools in my toolbox are FIRST & BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, & Technology) for the high schools, LEGO League & Botball for the middle schools, and LEGO Spectrum system kits for the elementary schools. Although I consider FIRST the best high school spring competition and the best tool in the ole toolbox, I can definitely see using a BattleBots IQ tool for schools that can’t afford FIRST.

Considering the enormous amounts of bright and intelligent students that we are not harvesting because they just happen to live in rural Mississippi or any other poor part of the country and cannot afford FIRST, we must find or make tools that will harvest these students. If BattleBots IQ is that tool, then we must use it. By far, the best tool that we've had in the past few years has been the NASA sponsorships (all of the Mississippi schools have been started by NASA sponsorships ... and have done great things in their communities).

With all that said, my vote is that they can coexist as long as both sides stick to gracious professionalism. Can FIRST crush BattleBots IQ like a cheap aluminum coke can with a few choice remarks by a few influential people? YEP! Can BattleBots IQ put on a "FIRST costs too much" campaign and bring it to its knees? YEP! I just hope neither goes that route.

Take care,
Lucien

Something to ponder: You're in the finals at Nationals and the 1/4" bolts that hold your wheels onto your base are loose and all you brought to the stage was a pair of pliers and a screw driver, do you tighten the bolt with the less-than-perfect-tool-for-the-job pair of pliers or do you just let your wheels fall off because the perfect tool for the job, your trusty ole 7/16" open ended wrench, was back in the pits?

[harryscience]

Actually when we did our presentation we were able to weed out the serious and the phonies very quickly.

[Dantvman27]

i'm not saying that its completly bad, it just attracts kids that show up then leave which is annyoing and people rip into us for the reason that our robots "Don't Do Anything"

[Zero-Bee]

I joined F.I.R.S.T. because we could build robots like in BattleBots and play complex games.

Althou I still try and throw in the possibility of a rocket launcher on the bot.

[sporno]

ya know bad mouthing other robotic competions isnt exactly gracious or professional , it stills follows the main goal of first .. to make ENGINEERS like superstars ... they are still promoting engineering and everything first is about only in a violent way ... its something people can identify with. ya know it makes kids look up to engineers like grant imahara instead of people admiring some steriod induced baseball player. so no , battlebots , robot wars all of that is still what first is about , yes it violent , but talking $@#$@#$@#$@# about it isnt gracious professionalism

[Gabe]

I just tell them that the school would never allow a liability like a weaponized robot in a school environment. As an example, I tell them about the woodshop and auto shop that our school used to have but then removed it, for liability reasond. If you consider that, we are very fortunate to be able to build robots at all at school. (That's the way I tell it.)

[Spikan]

I will admit that that first time I heard of FIRST the first thing I thought was battlebots, but after a day or two, you kind of realize that this is better in many ways.

[Norm M.]

It is interesting that there is a thread each year like this.

Let's review a few things:

Battlebots has not been on television for five years? It was on the air for two years?

FIRST has been around for how many years?

There are many people associated with FIRST who are still jealous that Battlebots has name recognition and FIRST does not.

There are many mentors associated with FIRST who have participated in Battlebots. These are not mutually exclusive interests.

Don't confuse the show with the reality. With a few exceptions, I have seen GP to the extreme demonstrated at Battlebots.

Use the interest in robotics to build interest in robotics. Get involved with Lego League, grow your audience and grow your future team members. Put your energy into building up your team.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Norm M.

Don't confuse the show with the reality. With a few exceptions, I have seen GP to the extreme demonstrated at Battlebots.

To the people who assume that combat robotics doesn't involve good sportsmanship and gracious proffessionalism, you are wrong.

Just because something is violent doesn't mean there are not nice people involved. For example, I train in Mixed Martial Arts (unfortunately known as cagefighting and ultimate fighting) and some of my trainers, who make a living as pro fighters, are the nicest people I've ever met.