There are many robot reveal videos, season recap videos, and Chairman’s/Impact Award videos, but I can only think of one other alliance video besides this one. So does that potentially make this the greatest FRC alliance video of all time (even if just by default)?
Video editing is not my area of expertise and my equipment/software was not the greatest, but I tried to compensate by putting a lot of time and love into creating this video. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Great question! So for context, last year, the team I coach (6413) had the opportunity to compete in the Arizona Robotics League (ARL). ARL is a series of six off-season competitions that have a qualifier every month starting in May and then ending with the Championship in October. Based on your performance in the qualifiers, your team is ranked. After the last qualifier in September is over, teams then select their alliance partners (based on their ranking) to compete in the ARL Championship. What is awesome about the championship is the fact you know who your alliance partners are for an entire month before you actually compete. I’m not aware of any other FRC competition like is. This allowed all three teams to collaborate meaningfully over an extended period of time. The alliance had its own Discord channel and every time a team posted an update on their progress, it would motivate the students on the other two teams to work even harder. We even had time to develop alliance branding (name/logo/cheer/etc.). For example, the flag in the video may also be the only FRC alliance flag in existence.
I’ve been coaching FRC a long time, and being able to work so closely with the other teams was, in my opinion, an extremely unique and beneficial opportunity for the students I coach. So much so…it’s making me wonder if this is a model that could/should be expanded to other off-season (and maybe regular season) events. What if a competition had two tracks, one in which you compete as normal (earn RPs and choose alliances at the competition), and one in which you choose you alliances well in advanced? It would be similar to tennis where you have a competition in both singles and doubles. There would be some logistical issues to sort out, but I think there is a lot of really interesting possibilities there. What do you all think?
