Team of the Decade

[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.

[NickE]

I'll vote for 67 over 71 because of their Championship Chairman's Award. 71 and 111 are close seconds.

[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


...

[Chris is me]

"Team of the Decade" is a strange question.

As for the most dominant teams in competition, rattle off 71, 111, 217, 67, all the teams that won more than one Championship in this decade. Also excluding all teams that were only around for part of the decade (1114) or have never won a Championship despite being amazing (254's the obvious one), simply because then you'd have to list more than 15 or 20 teams.

In terms of 2000s Championship Blue Banners:
71: 4 Division Wins, 3 Championship Wins
111: 3 Division Wins, 2 Championship Wins, 1 Chairman's Award
67: 4 Division Wins, 2 Championship Wins, 1 Chairman's Award
217: 4 Division Wins, 2 Championship Wins

That puts 71 and 67 on the same level, but 67 is a Hall of Fame team, so I'd have to give the nod to them in this mostly numerical analysis.

Other teams worth mentioning: 968 has appeared on Einstein every time they've attended the Championship Event. 254 and 1114 have a billion banners. All of the triple regional winners (1114, 1503, 1024, 67, 217), etc etc

[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!

[Billfred]

I've tried this post a couple of times; let's see if this one pans out.

If you look at 2000-2004, the answer is simple: 71. When you win three of the five Championships in that timespan, two of them with robots who seem to take perpetual residence on best-robots-of-all-time lists, it's not a hard question.

In the second half of the decade, it's not as easy. While 71 has by no means rolled over and died, they haven't met with that same level of success at the Championship. Instead, we see the rise of 217 making appearances nearly every year on Einstein (2007 being the exception), along with several other teams making their presences felt on the regional level.

But if we're talking about the decade as a whole, and with all my biases known, I think the winner has to be 67. Let's lay out the high points--ignoring all the other hardware--of their seasons this decade:

2001: UTC Finalist
2002: Championship WFA (and getting beat by Beatty in division eliminations--hey, stuff happens).
2003: Division Finalist
2004: Division Champion
2005: Championship Winner and Championship Chairman's Award (beat that!)
2006: Just winning the Great Lakes Regional.
2007: Division Finalist
2008: Championship Finalist
2009: Championship Winner

Going back to when 1114 was just shining up their Rookie All-Star trophy, 67 has been among the top eight alliances on the championship level all but one year (a year that threw a lot of great teams for a loop), while being one of the few teams to have won the highest three awards in FRC between winning the Championship, Chairman's, and WFA*. I don't think anyone can bring up a team that has been that successful that consistently over this decade.

*111 did it a year later when Dan Green won WFA, and the newly-formed 51 can claim it as well with their combined history. (47 won Chairman's in 1997, 65's Ken Patton won WFA in 1999, and 65 won the Championship in 2003.)

[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!

[Nameo0]

I would just like to ask if anyone has considered that the team of the decade should be more of a team that has greatly influenced FIRST and the community, not one that just wins and obtains awards at competitions.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Nameo0

I would just like to ask if anyone has considered that the team of the decade should be more of a team that has greatly influenced FIRST and the community, not one that just wins and obtains awards at competitions.

I hope Hall of Fame rings a bell for you.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Nameo0

I would just like to ask if anyone has considered that the team of the decade should be more of a team that has greatly influenced FIRST and the community, not one that just wins and obtains awards at competitions.

I think you'll find that most of the teams who excel in one, excel in the other.

-John

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Nameo0

I would just like to ask if anyone has considered that the team of the decade should be more of a team that has greatly influenced FIRST and the community, not one that just wins and obtains awards at competitions.

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I hope Hall of Fame rings a bell for you.

Just to clear up what Akash is saying, the Hall of Fame teams are the past winners of the Chairman's Award, these are teams that have made a significant impact in their community, in short, they are the teams we all should look to emulate.

For example, I mentioned 1114 not because they win awards. I mentioned them because every dealing I have with them they have wowed me with their willingness to help as well as their professionalism. I view them as a real class act.

Also, I have to second John's statement, you will generally find any team that wins generally has a good support system behind it, you cannot get a support system without having a positive impact on your community.