Robot Showcase - Team Promotion

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Posted by Splash.

Student on team #53, Team Inferno, from Eleanor Roosevelt High School and NASA GSFC.

Posted on 7/22/2000 8:15 AM MST



How would you like it if FIRST ran a series of competitions during the lunch break and after competition on Friday at regionals to display your robots. Events such as tug-of-war, obstacle course, robot race, scoring challenge, etc.

Teams have always made an issue of no one being able to see their skilled robot. With these events during the lunch break when most of the people on every team are sitting in the stands, there would be no room to complain. If a team had a robot as fast at they say, we would be able to see it. If it was the strongest robot, it would have a title. Giving out awards for features like this would help teams promote themselves at nationals. Being able to say, 'we've got the fastest robot in michigan' says a lot. To be sure not to exclude the all-around teams that can do everything well, but not good enough to win the events, there could be an event where teams would have to do a multitude of challenges (time trial, scoring, and some sort of defense thing maybe).

I think teams would enter their robots despite the possibility of something going wrong with the robot. The opportunity to be noticed far outweighs the possibility of damage. And even if something did, they would have time to fix it for the finals. I think the higher profile teams that don't need to be noticed anymore, would probably enter for the fun of it. Perhaps at Nationals there could be a competition between all of the regional winners. I'm not sure what attendace would be like though.

Who wants in?

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Posted by Jason Rudolph.

Student on team #168, The Flashbacks, from North Miami Beach Senior High and Velda Farms/FedEx/ETC/HPE Automation.

Posted on 7/22/2000 6:35 PM MST


In Reply to: Robot Showcase - Team Promotion posted by Splash on 7/22/2000 8:15 AM MST:



Well, this sounds like a good idea, but in reality, I doubt that there would be enough time to allow this. And, at nationals, there is another concern, with all of the fields out there, there would still be a lot of teams not noticed, because most of the time, your whole team sits together, so teams would be spread out in the stands between various fields, which means that the teams displaying their robots on field 'A' would not be noticed by temas sitting in the stands of the other three fields.

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Posted by Splash.

Student on team #53, Team Inferno, from Eleanor Roosevelt High School and NASA GSFC.

Posted on 7/23/2000 10:12 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Robot Showcase - Team Promotion posted by Jason Rudolph on 7/22/2000 6:35 PM MST:



True, if everyone was allowed to compete at Nationals, getting noticed would be a problem. But if only say the top 1 or 2 from each regional (there would probably be some repeats) were included, they would have earned the opportunity.

At regionals, after competition, my team has always just gone back to the hotel. If these events were held after competition on Friday, teams would have a reason to stay and watch. At regionals everyone can be noticed because so many people watch the matches. But this way, robots could be displayed doing what they do best, before the finals on Saturday. That way, teams won't be bitter when they don't get selected. If a team has the fastest robot, everyone will see, and if someone wants that, they can watch the team more closely in the early rounds on Saturday.

It would also give teams a reason to send a scout to a regional even if they weren't competing. The scouts could get a close look at everyone.