Team of the Decade

[Akash Rastogi]

254 'nuff said

along with those previously mentioned of course.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

254 'nuff said

Here are the "stats" for 254 to add to the discussion

2 Championship Finalists (2001, 2005)
1 Championship Division Finalist (2008)
16 Regional Championships
2 Regional Finalist
2 Regional Chairman's
1 Championship Chairman's (2004)

Personally I would go with 71 narrowly over 67 with 111 a close third.

[Gary.C]

233. I think they would be deserving. I have not seen word of them in this thread yet.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Depends on what we are measuring. Dominance, 71 in 2002 or 1114 in 2008. Hands down. Nod goes to 71 out of my sheer respect for 71.

Most stunning rookie, 1114, 2056 would come a close second. (This is not based on their rookie year, it is based on impact since then as measured in my completely subjective manner.)

Most inspiring 968. I recall in 2005 a team that competed at one regional because they had no money to compete at more. I also remember the most gorgeous machine to come out of a FIRST team in years.

Team I most want to be on, toss up between 1114 and 33.

Most influential mentor, Andy Baker. Andy Baker and Mark Koors single handedly (ok not really but a bit of exaggeration never hurt anyone) launched 1000 rookie teams moving.

Team that will always hold a special place in my mind 47, the ringing in my ears you guys caused back at the 2003 Sweet Repeat hasn't stopped yet.

Strongest supporter of FIRST, IFI. Consider the millions of dollars a year given away to teams in control systems, speed controllers, transmissions, and chassis material over the last couple years. Consider the thousands of hours of time spent supporting all that.

[Carol]

Any team who inspired at least one student is deserving.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Strongest supporter of FIRST, IFI. Consider the millions of dollars a year given away to teams in control systems, speed controllers, transmissions, and chassis material over the last couple years. Consider the thousands of hours of time spent supporting all that.

Not to take anything at all away from IFI (I think those guys are absolutely great), but all of that stuff was provided under a paid contract, not donated. Was it provided at a significantly discounted price, with IFI absorbing some of the cost? Absolutely. But it was not donated for free.

I think the role for strongest supporter of FIRST has to go to Autodesk. Nobody else is even a close second. Think about it - they have donated full-function versions of their software to every FRC team for the past 18 years. Over the years, that has totaled up to over 12,500 teams* receiving their software. The number of software seats per team has been increasing over the years but a conservative estimate of 65,000 seats is reasonable, based on the years that Autodesk provided 1, 5, 10 or unlimited seats per team. At an average price of $8,000 per seat** that is $520 million dollars worth of products that Autodesk has donated to FIRST teams. Yup - they have provided over half a BILLION dollars of support for this program.

EVERY team, whether you actively use their software or not, should send a huge "thank you!" to Autodesk for demonstrating a level of commitment to FIRST teams and the students in FRC that eclipses all others. If a few more companies followed their lead and showed their level of commitment, we actually might be able to get robotics competition teams in every high school in the country, and fundamentally change the way STEM education is implemented.

-dave


* source: FRC team count, FIRST 2008 Annual Report
** market price for combined 3DS Max / Inventor software package


...

[Fe_Will]

Originally Posted by dlavery

I think the role for strongest supporter of FIRST has to go to Autodesk. Nobody else is even a close second. Think about it - they have donated full-function versions of their software to every FRC team for the past 18 years. Over the years, that has totaled up to over 12,500 teams* receiving their software. The number of software seats per team has been increasing over the years but a conservative estimate of 65,000 seats is reasonable, based on the years that Autodesk provided 1, 5, 10 or unlimited seats per team. At an average price of $8,000 per seat** that is $520 million dollars worth of products that Autodesk has donated to FIRST teams. Yup - they have provided over half a BILLION dollars of support for this program.

EVERY team, whether you actively use their software or not, should send a huge "thank you!" to Autodesk for demonstrating a level of commitment to FIRST teams and the students in FRC that eclipses all others. If a few more companies followed their lead and showed their level of commitment, we actually might be able to get robotics competition teams in every high school in the country, and fundamentally change the way STEM education is implemented.

-dave


* source: FRC team count, FIRST 2008 Annual Report
** market price for combined 3DS Max / Inventor software package


...

Not only has Autodesk donated software, they have also donated money to keep regionals in the Pacific Northwest. Truly the gold standard of FIRST supporter. I'm excited to return to Portland, OR for a seventh straight year and compete in the Autodesk Oregon Regional.

THANK YOU AUTODESK!

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by dlavery

I think the role for strongest supporter of FIRST has to go to Autodesk.

The support of Autodesk to youth STEM programs goes deeper than just FIRST, too. They are a primary, and perhaps largest, supporter of the VEX Robotics Competition, have worked with IFI to develop a classroom curriculum combining Inventor and VEX, and are the signature supporter of the VEX online design challenge: http://forum.robotevents.com/design/. According to their Website, they contribute to ten high school STEM programs: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...12&id=10916525. Autodesk roolz.

[Rick TYler]

If you look beyond the competition to which team has best spread the word about STEM, I would throw in a vote for 1318, Issaquah Robotics. The work their students (not just mentors) did to get state support for FIRST was instrumental in the growth of FRC in Washington from less than 15 teams to more than 50.

[ebarker]

[quote=Rick TYler;889413]The support of Autodesk to youth STEM programs goes deeper than just FIRST, too. [ /QUOTE]

And they also provide free software to ANY high school student not just the ones on FIRST or VEX.

You don't have to be on any team anywhere to take advantage of the Autodesk outreach to education.

[EricH]

Team of the Decade: 67. See above.

Sponsor of the Decade: IFI, Autodesk, and FedEx are easily the top 3.

I don't exactly know what shipping a crate that size takes in terms of money, but when FedEx donates an amount sufficient to send it to one event (or two, if the second event is the Championship), then they've got to go up there.

IFI supplied control components that were reliable at a discounted rate every year for every team, and then provided tech support and spares at every event. Spares were free of charge, unless you took it home (when it was rasied to normal price). Still sponsors several teams through the RackSolutions portion of the company.

Autodesk: see above for a description.

I can't make up my mind between those three; you'll have to!

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by EricH

Sponsor of the Decade: IFI, Autodesk, and FedEx are easily the top 3.

I think that NASA should be the Sponsor of the Decade. Think of how many teams would not exist without their constant support. I would guess that FIRST would be 1/3 or 1/2 it's size without NASA.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

I think that NASA should be the Sponsor of the Decade. Think of how many teams would not exist without their constant support. I would guess that FIRST would be 1/3 or 1/2 it's size without NASA.

I think NASA would rate FIRST Hall of Fame status.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I think NASA would rate FIRST Hall of Fame status.

Aren't they? (At least the sponsor equivalent of)

Originally Posted by Previous Founder's Award Winners

1993 Motorola, Inc.
1994 Honeywell
1995 Walt Disney World’s Epcot
1996 City of Manchester, NH
1997 Francois Castaing
Chrysler Corp
1998 Johnson & Johnson
1999 NASA
2000 William Murphy, Founder
Cordis Corp & Small Parts,
Inc.
2001 Autodesk, Inc.
2002 John Doerr, Partner
Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield &
Byers
2003 Innovation First
2004 FedEx Corporation
2005 The Lego® Group
2006 United Technologies
Corporation
2007 General Motors
2008 BAE Systems
2009 National Instruments

I would like it noted, the only place I can find this information is in the Awards section of the manual. This sort of surprised me.

[OZ_341]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

I think that NASA should be the Sponsor of the Decade. Think of how many teams would not exist without their constant support. I would guess that FIRST would be 1/3 or 1/2 it's size without NASA.

Amen to that!
And its not just money. Its the mobile machine shops, volunteers, kick-off broadcasts, direct mentorship of teams, etc.
For our team its the delivery of a playing field each year for Ramp Riot. This not only helps our team, but also the 35 FRC and 20 FTC teams that attend.
Now multiply that impact by a ton of other events like Battle of Baltimore, Duel on the Delaware, Brunswick Eruption, Ra-Cha-Cha Ruckus, and the Virginia State Fair.
Quite honestly without NASA, I think the whole thing would unravel.

Ya gotta love NASA!