Nothing is impossible!

[Chris Fultz]

You have identified the beauty of FIRST, in that while 1500 teams received the same game challenge, there are multiple ways of playing the game and anding the game elements. Systems were designed by one team that were thought to be impossible by another.

If you look around a competition, there are several ways to score in this game, and lots of variations of those gereral themes.

The challenge for each of us, new, veterans, students and mentors, is to make the decisions of what is possible and feasible given the constraints on the team, and what is fundamentaly impossible given the same constraints.

Anything that is stated as impossible will eventually be proven posible, it might jst be thta it is not possible today given the knwledge and tools that exist.

*example - 25 years ago it was impossible to send a text message - no systems existed for that to happen. Now, it is commonplace.*

[Raul]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

You have identified the beauty of FIRST, in that while 1500 teams received the same game challenge, there are multiple ways of playing the game and anding the game elements. Systems were designed by one team that were thought to be impossible by another.

If you look around a competition, there are several ways to score in this game, and lots of variations of those gereral themes.

The challenge for each of us, new, veterans, students and mentors, is to make the decisions of what is possible and feasible given the constraints on the team, and what is fundamentaly impossible given the same constraints.

Anything that is stated as impossible will eventually be proven posible, it might jst be thta it is not possible today given the knwledge and tools that exist.

*example - 25 years ago it was impossible to send a text message - no systems existed for that to happen. Now, it is commonplace.*

Come on Chris, I can think of at least one thing that will ALWAYS be impossible - convincing ones wife that FIRST really does not take up too much of your time.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by martin417

(this thread is a result of a post in this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=66450)
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."--Arthur C. Clarke

I don't think Arthur C. Clarke said this because it's flat out wrong. As much as we can hope and wish there are things that are impossible.

[martin417]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

I don't think Arthur C. Clarke said this because it's flat out wrong. As much as we can hope and wish there are things that are impossible.

Actually, Arthur C. Clarke DID say this, and it's not wrong. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Arthur_C._Clarke/
Everyone realizes that there ARE some things that simply are not possible. But if you read the quote carefully, you will see the caveat "very probably". Not "certainly". We do not know everything about our own planet, much less the entire universe. At this point, we cannot say what is impossible with any certainty.

But this argument is not what this thread is about. This thread is a caution against discouraging teams from thinking outside the box.

[neshera]

Actually, certain things ARE impossible:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7E9eTUZN4as

I feel the evidence in the link above is indisputable. Plus, it rhymes.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

*example - 25 years ago it was impossible to send a text message - no systems existed for that to happen. Now, it is commonplace.*

That needs to backup a few years. I was text messaging between mainframes and between remote terminals in the 60's. They just weren't very portable... (Hi Michael!)

Is it possible to think of something that's impossible?
Or is that impossible?

[Gboehm]

Originally Posted by martin417

Actually, Arthur C. Clarke DID say this, and it's not wrong. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Arthur_C._Clarke/
Everyone realizes that there ARE some things that simply are not possible. But if you read the quote carefully, you will see the caveat "very probably". Not "certainly". We do not know everything about our own planet, much less the entire universe. At this point, we cannot say what is impossible with any certainty.

But this argument is not what this thread is about. This thread is a caution against discouraging teams from thinking outside the box.

I can't believe he passed away just a few weeks ago...

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by martin417

[color="Magenta"]...as well as comments about the impossibility of shooting the ball using pneumatic cylinders...

Yep, I was thinking almost exactly what this post was talking about when 1075 got our ENTIRELY PNEUMATIC launcher working. Of course, picking up the ball proved to be more difficult than we thought, and we only got to launch a couple of times in competition, but it DID work.

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by Raul

Come on Chris, I can think of at least one thing that will ALWAYS be impossible - convincing ones wife that FIRST really does not take up too much of your time.

Raul, I have found a solution to that.
My wife is now a team mentor for 234!

[vivek16]

If nothing is impossible, then anything is possible. If anything is possible, there is the possibility that something is impossible. Right?

-Vivek

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by vivek16

If nothing is impossible, then anything is possible. If anything is possible, there is the possibility that something is impossible. Right?

I think it's possible that you ought to sit down with a nice hot cup of tea.

[Protronie]

Motto of the Protronie Shop...

The difficult we do while you wait.
The impossible might take a day or two.

Protronie said that!

[Scott L.]

The belief that everything is possible at any given moment in time in some dimension of the universe, which gives the possiblity of any given outcome.

[SL8]

I believe that everything is impossible. It's our job to overcome that.

[vivek16]

If everything is impossible, then it is also impossible that anything is impossible. So everything should be possible. Yet, I have not seen anyone dribble a football....

-Vivek