What does it take to be considered and elite team?

[Amanda Morrison]

There is a huge difference between 'elite' and 'elitist'. As Cory stated, Schaddelee was looking for 'elite'. I would assume the definition he was looking for was "The best or most skilled members of a group: the football team's elite", in this instance.

Of course there is no favoritism from FIRST. Everyone is given the same restrictions, the same kit of parts, the same rules. However, it's what you create from those restrictions that matters - given that your only other boundaries are your imagination (and sometimes physics gets in the way).

Is there the potential for FIRST to breed elite teams? Of course, and FIRST is chock full of them.

What qualifies a team as 'elite'? It's a matter of personal preference. Some look at Championship winners, while others look at the list of Chairman's Award winners. On these boards, there's several teams we look at as elites because of their consistency in producing a machine that is effective, well-designed, and built to sustain the game's challenges.

Many of them have the advantage of a lower team number - more experience in the program. Some have the advantage of better funding, some have more engineers within the robotics field, and some have a great parent base to support them. However, the real big boys always have one thing - my answer to this question - they have consistency in innovation.

Why is it that people flock to see WildStang's designs, and have made the ThunderChicken a household name? Since when did the Cheesy Poofs become more than just a South Park reference? Why is SPAM no longer only a nasty meat-like substance? What the heck is a TechnoKat? It's not because their mentors are big on ChiefDelphi. In a crowd of about a thousand teams, these team names stand out not only because they have great marketing and unique names, but because every year they take another new bot out of the crate that shows the time, energy, money, expertise, and imagination of their whole team. It stands out. Nobody in Atlanta says 'You've got to come watch match 46 with me, that bot really stinks!' - they say, 'Have you seen Pink this year? They are CRAZY!'. You get 'em talking, and you keep 'em talking.

It's not just the kids, either. Engineers like peeking into the insides of other bots, to see what everyone else has got under the hood. They learn, and they see what works and what doesn't. They pass this enthusiasm for learning onto their students. The cycle continues.

Are there elite teams in FIRST? Definitely. It's very hard to refute that. Even this 'high speed chess game with flashing lights' needs kings, queens, and bishops to keep the action going. As long as teams keep showing their consistency in innovation, FIRST will keep dazzling us all.

[sanddrag]

The team needs a memorable name, not just the school name probably. Robot performance must be dominating at every event and from year to year. The robot and team shirts must have consistent color scheme from year to year. Lots of powder coating and anodizing on the robot certainly helps.

[OZ_341]

The qualities of an elite team are difficult to quantify. There are so many great teams and yet they are all so different from each other.

I guess in the end it is consistent performance and a pure spirit, that cannot be broken, which eventually makes a team elite.

For my personal preference, I tend to admire teams that have faced difficult times. I get inspired by seeing a team work through its adversity and still remain a great TEAM!!

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

The team needs a memorable name, not just the school name probably. Robot performance must be dominating at every event and from year to year. The robot and team shirts must have consistent color scheme from year to year. Lots of powder coating and anodizing on the robot certainly helps.

Powdercoating and anodizing is not required to be an elite team. It may help in making a good impression, but it only adds color and not functionality.

Being an elite team, in my mind, means that the team 1) has a good robot every year and 2) is more than willing to help any other team build a good robot/team or become an elite team. Number one has been filled by many robots without anodizing/powdercoating/painting the frame and/or everything else. (examples off the top of my head: 980 (one of SoCal's best), 111 (I don't think they do any anodizing, unless it's clear), 71, and probably countless others. Number two--well, if a team isn't doing this, then they are probably a rookie or have a robot that needs a lot of work.

[sanddrag]

I was just saying that coloring makes the team more identifiable rather than blending in with all the other natural aluminum. Just look at The Cheesy Poofs 254 and Kingman 60. Do you think they would be so popular if they didn't have a beautiful color scheme consistent from year to year? Probably not as much. I'm sure it is at least somewhat of a contributing factor to their popularity.

As for 980, they have one of the biggest most visible banners in their pit that says "980 Thunderbots" Yellow on black, you can't miss it.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I was just saying that coloring makes the team more identifiable rather than blending in with all the other natural aluminum. Just look at The Cheesy Poofs 254 and Kingman 60. Do you think they would be so popular if they didn't have a beautiful color scheme consistent from year to year? Probably not as much. I'm sure it is at least somewhat of a contributing factor to their popularity.

As for 980, they have one of the biggest most visible banners in their pit that says "980 Thunderbots" Yellow on black, you can't miss it.

I noticed the Thunderbots banner. Who didn't that was at LA, Nats, or anywhere else they went?

Your using Cheesy Poofs and Kingman. Throw 22 into the mix, because this year (at least early on), you needed the paint to tell the robots apart. Coloring simply makes the robot recognizable in a crowd.

[rufu5]

While all the criteria thrown out so far has been very true, I think the main way you become an "elite" team is by helping other teams and making a difference (thats how you win the chairman's award and get into the hall of fame now isn't it?).

Teams that just win all the time, at least in my opinion, don't sustain the same kind of respect as teams that utilize robotics as a way to help others and make a difference. Because lets face it, you can have a bad year and lose all that "street cred" you had built up, but if you are known as a team that is always there, not only at the competitions when the judges are marking on their little cards, but in the build season when its only you, and God is marking on his little cards . Thats when it really matters.

I would rather have a team of 20 kids that wanted to have fun and make a difference, than an entire armada of engineers.

447

[techtiger1]

Well I agree with what everyone has said here. To me an elite status team has everything. A good mix of marketing,mentors,students,teachers and parents. This is what I recoginze in the 67's,233's and 254's they have all of these things. Consistancy is also a big factor elite teams continue to year in and year out win and produce great robots. It doesn't hurt to paint the robot bright pink either hehe . No seriously though having the complete package of everything is what makes those teams elite.

My two and half cents,
Drew

[Koko Ed]

If you want to be a technically elite FIRST team hang around their pits and ask lots of questions. Study their methods. Visit their website. Look at what they designed in the past. See what makes them tick.

If you want to be a Chairman's elite team go visit the Hall of Fame at the Champinship and look around. Ask questions as well and study what they do as well. Visit their websites and see what they do to make the FIRST community stronger and see if your team is capable of doing things like that as well.

[Winged Wonder]

first of all, thank you everyone who mentioned PINK... it means a lot to us.

i agree with everything that has been said before me about elite teams, but one thing i dont believe has been touched on that i've noticed with many of the teams that have been mentioned, is that these teams have ambition. they set high goals and work hard to achieve them, and even if those goals are not achieved, they are most certainly noticed for their blood, sweat, and tears to try and make it to the top, whether it is for chairmans award, the robot competition, or whatever.

These "elite" teams help to inspire others, to spark ambition. there is nothing wrong with being ambitious (as long as it doesnt become arrogance)... without ambition, there is no driving force to do great things. even if you fail miserably, that ambition helps you pick yourself right up again and continue to try. Without ambition as a driving force, we never would have gotten to the moon; without ambition as a driving force, FIRST will never succeed in changing the world.

[dmurdz]

The elite teams in FIRST need to have consitant sucess year after year, which pretty much means high perfomances at the Championship year after year.

Also, I think an elite team is one that consistantly draws attention, an example would be all the teams mentioned in this thread, we know who all these teams are, therefore they are the elite teams.

Each part of the country has its own elite teams, being from New England, I know that the UTC teams are always high perfomers, along with many other teams like 121 from RI. Some of the other teams, like 71 from the Midwest and the Cheesy Poofs from Cali, are elite to those people around them. It is the few select teams that are know nationwide that are the elite teams of FIRST.

[tiffany34990]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

Why is SPAM no longer only a nasty meat-like substance?

lol.... to some it still is just meat in a can that doesn't taste so good..other may think it taste good....but as Amanda said...S.P.A.M. is one of the many great known teams out there....

I agree with a lot of you though...

elite many just know the name and number and design logo b/c of time around FIRST and the quality of a robot the team brings out year after year...

wins do help of course...teams seen in the spotlight of a win..you remember them but you also remember those teams that tried their hardest and their gracious professionalism during competition...

elite teams keep up the good work year after year...from involvement in the community to the robot...

there are more and more "elite" teams out there rising to the top...as we seen with rookie teams and the things they do it's amazing....