Posted by Joe Johnson. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.
Posted on 8/23/2000 8:50 PM MST
Hey all,
So Bill Nye (the science guy) does Battle Bots but doesn’t do FIRST?
I don’t get it!
This seems like a no brainer. FIRST & Bill Nye have everything in common.
I have been thinking that Bill Nye would be a great person to get behind FIRST for a long time. I figured that, Hey, he’s a busy guy (as all science guys are), he wouldn’t have time for a lousy robot competition.
BUT…
… then I see him on the Battle Bots section of Comedy Central’s website. We have got to get to this guy. He belongs on the FIRST team.
Anybody have any contacts at Disney (who produces Bill’s shows)?
Oh yeah, that would be Dean.
Dean, where are you on this one?
Joe J.
Posted by colleen. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #246, Blue Light Special, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.
Posted on 8/24/2000 8:52 AM MST
In Reply to: et tu Bill Nye? posted by Joe Johnson on 8/23/2000 8:50 PM MST:
I remember last year people talking about Bill Nye getting involved… and I found a link to email the guy and I did… giving a little info on FIRST, etc… it obviously didn’t work… but heck i tried…
It would be cool if… if each team ‘adopted’ someone and tried to get them into the FIRST program… you know… various ‘famous’ people that may want to support it… one way to get FIRST on TV is to bring FIRST to the people already on TV… We’ve got to be the ones to build awareness about the program…
Maybe we could all work together and develop a ‘presentation’… filled with important info and promotional of FIRST… then each team can choose a target person to teach about FIRST and try to gain their support ($$$, smarts, and/or just a voice in favor of the program)… from top corporate leaders, to politicians, to tv and movie stars… I think FIRST could land it’s spot on a few talk shows… news programs… comic strips… 
We’re the ones that have to do the hard work… what teams would be up for the challenge???
Posted by Pamela.
Student on team #166, Team Merrimack, from MHS and Unitrode/ R S Machines.
Posted on 8/24/2000 9:57 AM MST
In Reply to: Tried it before… but what if we… posted by colleen on 8/24/2000 8:52 AM MST:
Colleen, just so ya know, FIRST has been in the comics numerous times, Most honorably in Sally Forth (I think) which runs a strip about FIRST each year around competition time. Also Channel 9 always has the FIRST Place camp on the news, why can’t they get us better coverage!
Posted by colleen. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #246, Blue Light Special, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.
Posted on 8/24/2000 10:24 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: Tried it before… but what if we… posted by Pamela on 8/24/2000 9:57 AM MST:
I know about the comics… it’s why I jokingly refered to it… and many local news stations carry FIRST stories… 20/20, CNN, World News Tonight have also spotted FIRST some space…
but… I’m talking more big-time… Oprah, Rosie, Good Morning America (i think team 25 was on there?)… shows that aren’t into showing the ‘good side’ of America… and heck, shows that Mom’s watch… cause you want to know what… 9 times out of 10 when a Mom sees something that she thinks should be available for her kid to do… she WILL make it happen… (many dad’s do it too ;-)…
Also… if we can raise awareness among the bigger names… who knows what could happen… if it all started with Bill Nye… then featured on Disney Channel… featured more on ESPN… more on Nickelodeon… have TRL broadcast live from the National Competition in Epcot center… think about it… each team just has to adopt one ‘star’ and convince 'em we got something they should give a word or two about… maybe a little clip…
Next thing you know… it won’t be Stupid Pet Tricks on Dave Letterman… it’ll be Stupid Robot Tricks
hey, it could happen (McDonald’s commercial… we could make our own robot Happy Meal toys 
Posted by Matt Leese.
Student on team #7 from Parkville High School and NASA, Black & Decker, AAI, Raytheon.
Posted on 8/25/2000 9:25 PM MST
In Reply to: I’m talking BIGGER! posted by colleen on 8/24/2000 10:24 PM MST:
Speaking of commercials, there was a FIRST robot (from the '98 competition) in a major TV ad (I think I saw it during the Super Bowl actually, but it was shown after that). I think it might’ve been GE but I can’t remember very well (it was a fairly large company). Anyone else remember this?
Matt
Posted by Amy .
Student on team #126, Gael Force, from Clinton High and NYPRO.
Posted on 8/25/2000 1:28 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: Tried it before… but what if we… posted by Pamela on 8/24/2000 9:57 AM MST:
FIRST is in File, the comic strip about Manchester, too.
Posted by Justin.
Other on team Blue Lightning Alumni Association from RWU sponsored by FIRST-A-holics Anonymous.
Posted on 8/24/2000 9:07 AM MST
In Reply to: et tu Bill Nye? posted by Joe Johnson on 8/23/2000 8:50 PM MST:
Hello All,
Last night I tuned into battle bots because there has been a lot of discussion on it here as of late, and it’s not fair to judge something without at least giving it a chance. I think what I realized last nite had nothing to do with whether Battle Bots is really better than FIRST at all, it had to do with society. Look at your local evening news, your video games, movies, etc. Violence Violence Violence. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not one of these people who believes that all of this leads to pshycopathic kids, etc. BUT I do have to admit that in today’s society robotic combat is a lot more marketable then balls in a trawth, to the average person. We all know and love our FIRST but the average person they want quick and dirty last man standing, saws buzzing, action. But I think we could really give Battle Bots a run for it’s money…anyone who was at Battle Cry or one of this summers many invitaitonal competitions has probably never seen more intense action. I also had a very intriguing conversation with someone last night who brought up the point that Battle Bots could be FIRST’s huge break. Think about it for a minute, first of all Survivor is gone now (thank god). If you look at the past few months there have been various TV crazes…all kicked off with ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire.’ Then came Survivor…(by now u probably see there I’m going with this.) Soooo…people, and networks, are looking for something new, exciting that we haven’t seen before. Enter Battle Bots. Once/if Battle Bots takes off then other networks will want to try and clone that type of show. Which is where FIRST can step in and market itself to other networks.
Just some thoughts Who knows things could get interesting before January
-Justin
Posted by Splash.
Student on team #53, Team Inferno, from Eleanor Roosevelt High School and NASA GSFC.
Posted on 8/24/2000 12:25 PM MST
In Reply to: Couple comments on Battle Bots posted by Justin on 8/24/2000 9:07 AM MST:
I make a point of watching BattleBots and I for one think it was great. There definately could have been a lot more coverage of matches, but I guess it was just a preview show. Comedy Central did a great presentation. It looked like an NBA game with people commentating in a set, and then they had Donna D’Errico talking to people, and Bill Nye. But like I said in an earlier post, if you notice, all the robots that seem to get onto tv are excellent. The first robot that got flipped and then destroyed ovbiously wasn’t that great, but for not being great it got ripped apart. I think that’s the best part of it. I think FIRST is much more fun for us, but watching hours of work get ripped apart is great tv.
I’m not positive BattleBots taking off will do anything to help FIRST. It’s on cable, it’s on the best channel it could be on, and they’ve got celebs like Donna D’Errico and Bill Nye. There aren’t that many networks that are competing for the same audience as Comedy Central. Maybe MTV and FX. If MTV did a True Life on FIRST that would spread all kinds of attention. I think you can send in a tape about an issue to get on the show. And while I could see FIRST on FX, it’d be much more likely to show up on the Discovery Channel or the Leanrning Channel first, and without all the extra effects. And if it did, not as a series, but just a one-time show because the elimination matches are the only guarantee of non-stop action.
Did anyone else notice that in a preview for the next show it said below the picture ‘RAMTECH: Team 59?’ That’s a FIRST team right?
Posted by Lora Knepper.
Other on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks, Analog Devices.
Posted on 8/24/2000 4:21 PM MST
In Reply to: Battle Bots - RAMTECH? posted by Splash on 8/24/2000 12:25 PM MST:
: Did anyone else notice that in a preview for the next show it said below the picture ‘RAMTECH: Team 59?’ That’s a FIRST team right?
From what I understand (and have been told from a friend), RAMTECH the FIRST team does participate in BattleBots…I could however understood wrong…
Lora
Posted by Brian .
Student on team #56, Robbe Xtreme, from Bound Brook High School and Ethicon Inc…
Posted on 8/24/2000 8:44 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: Battle Bots - RAMTECH? posted by Lora Knepper on 8/24/2000 4:21 PM MST:
yes i actually taped the battlebots and it does in fact have team 59 RAMTECH there but who knows How ever i think i recall readign a letter about them being involved in Battle bots
Posted by Brian .
Student on team #56, Robbe Xtreme, from Bound Brook High School and Ethicon Inc…
Posted on 8/24/2000 8:44 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: Battle Bots - RAMTECH? posted by Lora Knepper on 8/24/2000 4:21 PM MST:
yes i actually taped the battlebots and it does in fact have team 59 RAMTECH there but who knows How ever i think i recall readign a letter about them being involved in Battle bots
Posted by Dan.
Other on team - from Carnegie Mellon sponsored by -.
Posted on 8/25/2000 12:10 AM MST
In Reply to: Re: Battle Bots - RAMTECH? posted by Lora Knepper on 8/24/2000 4:21 PM MST:
Yeah, i don’t believe it’s the whole team though. It’s Korey Kline and 3-ish students. I believe they also went to London (on MTV’s bill) for the Robot Wars US Heavyweight championships. I don’t think they won. BTW, they are using Innovation FIRST equipment. The IF guys tweeked the Victors for 24V (same current capabilities,) they’re not officially available but mine should be here in a day or two (for Battlebots Las Vegas!)
Dan
Posted by Brandon Heller.
Student on team #449, Blair Blazers, from Montgomery Blair High School and NASA Goddard, Sigma Space.
Posted on 8/28/2000 9:15 PM MST
In Reply to: Battle Bots - RAMTECH? posted by Splash on 8/24/2000 12:25 PM MST:
Not to spread rumors or anything, but MTV has approached the FIRST teams in the D.C. metro area about having a Real World, my team included. This info is from a teacher, so it’s about as reputable as possible. Don’t be surprised if you see a FIRST team on MTV next year.
-Brandon Heller
Posted by Eric Rasmussen.
Engineer from FIRST.
Posted on 8/26/2000 8:07 PM MST
In Reply to: et tu Bill Nye? posted by Joe Johnson on 8/23/2000 8:50 PM MST:
Click on the link below for a funny fake news article about Bill Nye.
-Eric