The Barker Redbacks (Team 4613) are proud to present one of our 7 FTC robots for 2020
In this Video we are showcasing ORION our Barker Greybacks Robot (11148)
Full Match Australian Nationals
they went undefeated on the NSW State Championship (11-0-0) and won the Australian Nationals *remote (1st seed )
If you want more information about our other FTC robots please visit our Facebook page
Cheers
Not gonna lie, if this was the style/calibre of robot built by even 50% of FTC teams, I could really see FTC giving FRC a run for its money. To clarify some, I’m not suggesting all teams need to perform at this level. Rather that this style of design/manufacturing process is much more on par with what one would expect to see of an FRC bot.
When I watched the reveal video (for the 1st of many times), this machine screamed mini FRC bot. This machine looks like it taught it’s creators much about design, fabrication, prototyping and more.
Amazing machine yet again from the Barker Redbacks.
I generally like FTC robots quite a bit, but wow. Clean robot, clean video. I love it
My jaw just hit the floor.
FTC is basically a micro version of FRC now. Insane looking robot builds. Nice work.
That was… unreal. I was never really a fan of FTC but I think that changes starting now.
Question, at 0:23, is that on/off switch for the LEDs?
This one reveal might have changed my mind about FTC. Really nice work.
I think this is the smoothest 4 wheel mecanum I’ve ever seen.
So when can we get some CAD 
Nice work Barker Redbacks! We were disappointed NZ was excluded from the Aussie FTC event this year so no 5110 unfortunately.
Pretty sure if I showed my students this they would want to do FTC now.
Bonus points should be given for having a human player not flinch once, as 30 rings are launched directly at them.
Outstanding work!
There are a lot of FTC teams with this level of design skills. It may seem like there are only a couple but that’s because the vast majority of FTC teams don’t really have the resources to build robots like this. It seems like you’re bashing the design/fabrication/prototyping skills of students on FTC teams, and minimizing the difficulty of FTC, which simply isn’t fair. Many people participating in FTC do have these skills, they just don’t have the resources to turn out a robot that looks this nice. Also, I can assure you that there are many bad FRC teams.
Not really to trying to link to other threads, but the reason FTC doesn’t seem as competitive is because generally only the richest teams with the most resources can even think about competing in FRC. ( thread1, thread2 )
While I wish that robots this good were built by a lot more teams, it’s not going to happen until FIRST acknowledges that FTC has a similar potential for learning (Maybe even more potential due to the great accessibility), despite the smaller robot size and encourage regions with small, underfunded FRC teams to switch to FTC.
I think guineawheek put it well:
The feeling that FTC is not a valid highschool program in and of itself is kinda insulting to programs where it might fit best. Seeing those banners with the arrows always pointing to FRC always felt really off. There’s an overshadowing paternalistic implication that they “haven’t grown up yet” or something, and it’s something that I’ve seen basically everywhere in FIRST, both when I was in it, and when I was long out of it.
I mean, why does an FTC robot have to look like an FRC robot to be good? I have nothing but respect for Barker, and their robot looks great, but it really is a mini FRC robot in my view. FTC is a whole lot different from FRC, and I don’t think that it should be seen as “mini FRC” or that successful robots should look like this.
The idea that there’s some ideal of what a successful robot “should” look like is silly.
A lot of very good FTC robots look like duct-taped COTS parts because that’s an effective way to play FTC. There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s nothing wrong with taking FRC concepts to FTC, even if either of those strategies is off-putting to someone used to the other.
I’ve seen enough 469 robots up close to know something duct taped together doesn’t preclude it being good.
Everything in my post was nothing but positive compliments towards the creators of this machine (at least that’s how I read it). So I’m not quite sure where the idea that I’m bashing FTC comes from…
My initial post specifically states that I’m not suggesting a team NEEDS to be good or bad. In fact, the entire first paragraph of my post is merely noting the similarities between this FTC robot and that of it’s much bigger cousins in FRC.