What would you do to improve the FIRST experience?

[Tim Sharp]

Originally Posted by nickbrickmaster

What would you do to improve the FIRST experience?

I know this has been discussed many times, and I don't have a solution, but if I had a magic wand I would find a way to lower the financial and logistical barriers to entry. The district system is a move in the right direction and the problem will probably become more manageable as FIRST continues to grow, but we spend a LOT of time raising funds for travel and logistics that could be better spent on team development and outreach.

[Hot_Copper_Frog]

I'd like to start with a disclaimer that this is a personal opinion based on my experiences.

Move all of FLL to elementary school, and FTC to middle school. We've had a lot of success with this in Michigan and I think it creates a really smooth pipeline for students to flow from one program to the next as they age. A clear progression keeps students engaged with age appropriate challenges and results in high school freshman that are ready to hit the ground running when it comes to FRC.

Pair this with lowering the barrier to entry/cost of FRC through district systems as regions/states reach critical mass of team density and you have a great progression of programs.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Reduce the registration fee for returning teams. Lower the entry bar to FRC so teams can have a little more cash to buy the stuff they really need.

Eliminate or restructure bag & tag so that all teams have out of bag work time between their events. The only teams that stop working after bag & tag are usually the ones that can't afford to build a second machine.

Emphasize the team experience from the top down. Without the teams there is no FIRST, but sometimes it feels like the teams are secondary to the organization overall.

[JamesCH95]

FIRST should hold events at locations where teams are not captive to the (generally very terrible) concessions. Sports arena food might be survivable for a 2-4 hour event, but it is terrible to hold teams hostage for 1-2 meals per day for 3-4 days. I am sick of feeling captive to venues that are looking to make money off of selling me and my team awful food at an insane price.

I guess some people think that it is more inspiring to hold events at venues that are more glamorous than HS gyms... but I'm not so sure the sacrifice to our health and wallets is worth it.

[jweston]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

FIRST should hold events at locations where teams are not captive to the (generally very terrible) concessions. Sports arena food might be survivable for a 2-4 hour event, but it is terrible to hold teams hostage for 1-2 meals per day for 3-4 days. I am sick of feeling captive to venues that are looking to make money off of selling me and my team awful food at an insane price.

I guess some people think that it is more inspiring to hold events at venues that are more glamorous than HS gyms... but I'm not so sure the sacrifice to our health and wallets is worth it.

I have to agree with this. While I appreciate the efforts of FIRST to provide accommodations, the food concessions, particularly at large events, is one area that has been problematic. The food is often very expensive and hard on us older folks and students with medical conditions. Also the logistics for delivering food and seating haven't historically worked well for us.

In many cases, exclusive concessions is a stipulation of the hosting arena. That creates a difficult choice. Sorry. I don't have answers to that. But the delivery logistics and seating could be handled better at large events.

[Koko Ed]

A mentor on FRC 1923 came up with a Queing system called the GMS that I think had the potential to be even more.It was tied directly to the FMS and allowed to track teams to Que up for matches. I think it could have been used as an app to give information to teams from schedules to statistics. I also think it could be used to send different levels of messages to teams when it times for them to Que up for matches (kind of like a buzzer you use at restaurants when your food is ready). Alas it never has been used beyond Midknight Mayhem.

[Robomarfa]

I coach an FRC team and an FTC team. I'm new to FIRST (and teaching)!

We have a great time running an FRC team in a high school with 86 students in four grades. Are we at a disadvantage? Sure. Do our students get a great experience? Absolutely.

So what do I do with my junior high kids? FLL (4th-8th) where they play with legos or FTC (7-12th) where they compete with high schoolers? FIRST needs to tighten this up. I would like one high school program and one junior high program and one elementary program.

The nearest big city (Midland TX) has seven FTC teams, all in high school. All at much bigger schools than ours. Our junior high FTC team competes against high school teams. Take a look at this photo to see what I mean:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9E...ew?usp=sharing

We would not do this in athletics and should not do it in robotics.

I understand that FTC is more affordable and is a smart choice for lots of high schools. I just think that FIRST needs to admit that they have an expensive high school program and own it. Leave FTC to junior high kids and stop running parallel high school programs.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

A mentor on FRC 1923 came up with a Queing system called the GMS that I think had the potential to be even more.It was tied directly to the FMS and allowed to track teams to Que up for matches. I think it could have been used as an app to give information to teams from schedules to statistics. I also think it could be used to send different levels of messages to teams when it times for them to Que up for matches (kind of like a buzzer you use at restaurants when your food is ready). Alas it never has been used beyond Midknight Mayhem.

Quick note - Raj is not affiliated with 1923. We do enjoy working with him for GMS at MidKnight Mayhem, though!

FIRST Mid-Atlantic uses GMS for inspection & queueing at events. I love the inspection implementation - all inspectors can see where each team is through the process. Red for no-inspection, Yellow for Size/Weight, Green for complete, IIRC. (I'm sure someone who has inspected at official events can clarify.) Plus the ability for pictures right there in the system of what's been changed for each re-inspection. Pretty cool to work with!

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Libby K

Quick note - Raj is not affiliated with 1923. We do enjoy working with him for GMS at MidKnight Mayhem, though!

FIRST Mid-Atlantic uses GMS for inspection & queueing at events. I love the inspection implementation - all inspectors can see where each team is through the process. Red for no-inspection, Yellow for Size/Weight, Green for complete, IIRC. (I'm sure someone who has inspected at official events can clarify.) Plus the ability for pictures right there in the system of what's been changed for each re-inspection. Pretty cool to work with!

I worked with GMS for the first time at the Sacramento Regional. I was inspecting, and everything went smoothly once it all got set up. I had a few small points of improvement which I communicated through the LRI. Really cool system!

-Mike

[ctt956]

I think the awards should be separated from the robotics competition. Both are so important, that they deserve that division.