Old FIRST compared to New FIRST

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

One of the biggest things I noticed is that Dean is much more engaging and interesting when he is speaking in this manner, than how he talks to us now. I wish he would go back to the speech pattern he used back then.

If you've ever had the pleasure of listening to Dean Kamen speak in front of a relatively small group, you'll know that he does still talk that way. He's just not able to express his passion effectively when addressing thousands of people at once.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

If you've ever had the pleasure of listening to Dean Kamen speak in front of a relatively small group, you'll know that he does still talk that way. He's just not able to express his passion effectively when addressing thousands of people at once.

He was even far better when he spoke at my college graduation than he is now. I think he misjudges the audience when it's already people involved in FIRST. He doesn't engage them the same way or act as though he has to earn and keep their attention.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

One of the biggest things I noticed is that Dean is much more engaging and interesting when he is speaking in this manner, than how he talks to us now. I wish he would go back to the speech pattern he used back then.

To add on to what Alan said, I remember how night-and-day he was going from the opening ceremonies last year to the Dean's List presentation. It's mostly stage fright, I guess.

I think a comeback of the beard would help immensely...

[Alex Cormier]

It was great back before bumpers, when teams actually built strong drive bases that could withstand abuse.

[Zach101]

Great thread guys. For being in FIRST for the first time it was fun watching the videos and learning more about FIRST's history. It would be great if you could find anymore of those history videos of different years that would be great cause its so fun seeing how technology and FIRST teams grew and got better over the years.

[Brad Hanel]

After watching the videos, I've come to the conclusion that the biggest difference is the hair.

[Mark McLeod]

Here are videos from a few more years:

FIRST 1997 Championship Final Match
FIRST 1998 Championship Semi-finals 45vs67
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 1
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 2
FIRST 2000 CO-OPERTITION™ FIRST Championship Match
FIRST 2001 DIABOLICAL DYNAMICS™ Match
FIRST 2002 ZONE ZEAL™ Championship Semi-Finals Match

[Zach101]

Originally Posted by Brad Hanel

After watching the videos, I've come to the conclusion that the biggest difference is the hair.

Lol no its definitely the glasses and when I saw the hair and the glasses together...

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

It was great back before bumpers, when teams actually built strong drive bases that could withstand abuse.

T'was great before bumpers, but nostalgia patinates the past.
The drivetrains weren't necessarily more robust, but the Robots were less complex and delicate. Fewer connections to fault. Far lower data rates. No cameras, no autonomous. Not really Robots, Specialized RC cars.

Originally Posted by Damiaen_Florian

I've always heard a lot of people say how much different FIRST was "Back in the day" so I was just wondering if some of the older members on here could discuss what some of the major differences were between these past few years of FIRST and FIRST back in the 1990's and early 2000's, aside from obvious things like different games and less teams. I figure it'd be cool for some of us younger members to get some insight into the history of FIRST.

Less teams is really the only significant difference to me.
It's harder once I get to four digits.
This really hit home this year:
http://imgur.com/a/v9TcU
(Robot Crate pictures)

The overall vibe is intact. It's like a Grateful Dead concert with Robots.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/supato...57643219020225

[EricH]

How about this one for all you younguns: No autonomous.

Its first appearance as an official part of the game was in 2003. Before then, drivers all the way.


Also, most of the games before about 2005 (exception: 2002) had some large structure or obstacle in the middle of the field. Maneuvering around or over it was always entertaining.

[Jake177]

The general match format has changed several times throughout the years.

• 1992-1998: 1v1v1 - A match consisted of three robots on the field, each trying to score the most points. (Based on old videos, it looks like elimination rounds may have been 1v1 for at least some of these games.)
• 1999-2000: 2v2 - 1999 marked the beginning of the "Alliance Era" forcing teams to work together on the field.
• 2001: 4v0 - All four robots on the field were working together on the same alliance.
• 2002-2004: 2v2 - Direct competition during matches returned in 2002.
• 2005-Present: 3v3 - In 2005, a third team was added to each alliance.

Also, 2001 was the first year Championship was separated into divisions.

[Shameless Plug]
When I was a student, I put together this video for 177's 10th anniversary. It gives a little insight into the 1995-2004 games.
[/Shameless Plug]

[Matt C]

Small Parts Inc.

No bumpers.

Epcot Championship

I was a student from 1999-2001... life was way different before Andy-Mark.

[Andrew Rudolph]

There was pretty much no COTs up until about 2002, you had to buy things from (or similar to) what was in the Small Parts Catalog. Up until ~2001 there was limits on how much stuff you could use as well. Think 15 gears, 10' of extrusion, etc..

Being on a team in Miami it was great, we could drive over and pick up parts the same day we ordered them, and play with the cool coin machine in the lobby.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

This terrific video gives you a good idea about what happened in 1992.

Wow, where has this video been all my life?

[cj3958]

I will preface this by saying that I was not there durring this time, however my dad was, and I went to some competitions once i was old enough to understand what was going on. From what my dad has told me, the biggest thing that was different was the number of motors and gearboxes available. It was extremely difficult to get torque out of motors back then, because none of the motors has a standard shaft that was keyed or something similar to what we have today, because all of the motors were designed to be put in a drill or something like that. I got the impression that it would be like if every motor had an output shaft similar to the window motor, and each team had to figure out how to get that shaft to move their drivetrain separately, because there was no andymark that would make a gearbox with that output shaft as an input. On that note, every gearbox was also a struggle, because you had to effectively weld gears to shafts to get the torque to transfer because there was no standard hex shaft or hex shaft berrings or hex shaft bores to use on gears. Towards the end(just before andymark came out) people would use dewalt motor transmissions in order to get shifting and have a good gearbox they could use for everything.