I just checked out this week’s episode, hoping for the typical review of events around Michigan. There was none. Looking back on their YouTube channel, it looks like they are not reviewing each week’s Michigan competitions. They did spend a lot of time discussing an Indiana tournament. Looks like in an earlier episode they were in Ohio. Did not feature Dan and Jim either. Does anyone know - has the format changed for 2019? 
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I was going to post the same thing today.
RoboZone has gone from a neat summary of each weeks events with Dan & Jim commentary to completely useless and unwatchable.
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I am not speaking on behalf of FiM or RoboZone but these two entities have split ways in regards to the RoboZone Show. RoboZone looks like they are now covering multiple different programs in different geographic regions.
I believe that FiM went with another entity to provide coverage called Robotics Gameday. Here’s the info on their site (scroll down)
https://firstinmichigan.us/FRC/
I was quite surprised to hear about the split. I thought RoboZone did a fantastic job in television show coverage.
As Freddy stated below: If you are looking for event Recaps check out InFiMidation which local hosts from FiM.
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If you’re looking for a review of the weeks events in FIM, you may be interested in InFIMidation, Mondays at 8:00 EST on First Updates Now Twitch! twitch.tv/firstupdatesnow
To add to this, from what I heard from the volunteers at our event this past weekend, apparently there was quite a bit of drama around the breakup too.
Also, the new show has it’s own set of issues, as it’s filmed and broadcast live, and the broadcast team calls their own event time-outs for the purposes of commercial breaks (and other things), which causes major delays during elims. I also have no idea if they’re actually posting any of the recordings from these broadcasts anywhere, and they haven’t done a good job advertising it.
Personally, I’m happy that they are covering other events and competitions besides FIRST, like VEX and SeaPerch. Not every school can afford FIRST, and so, making other forms known can only help more kids. Robotics is robotics.
It’s about learning, right?
I just saw that the other day too. I was surprised.
I’m glad to hear about the other shows too. I didn’t know about them. I think it’s sometimes hard to know where to look for those kind of resources. Thanks for posting them.
I’ll bite the bullet and say no. Robozone’s primary purpose was about recognizing MI FRC teams that achieved excellence.
First off, it’s on FSDetroit, a Michigan channel. Not focusing on Mi teams (whatever the program) seems outside of the scope of their target audience. Most Michiganders probably don’t care much about hs athletics outside of Michigan either, except for how it will affect college recruiting (will said athletes go to UM/MSU/their rivals).
Secondly, doing a bit about Boston Dynamics, while interesting, is a wide deviation from their previously scheduled programming of summarizing each week’s competitions. It has nothing to do with Michigan or its hs teams.
Third, some of the teams they are focusing on aren’t even winning. They did a lengthy bit on 2767 right before they were eliminated in the SF of their event. That’s fine offseason material after they won the World Championship, but with 540 teams in Michigan, I expect you to be covering the teams participating in the finals of each event. 540 FRC teams is more than enough content for a once per week 22 minute show dedicated to highlighting said achieving teams.
For many fringe teams (such as my own), getting public recognition or our accomplishments (such as a 30sec bit on tv) is really inspirational for the students involved and a huge motivator to continue said competitive excellence. What this show is now doesn’t even move the needle.
This show used to paint the picture of what the Mi St. Championship will be like, and what teams to expect to do well. I don’t know what purpose this show now serves. General info dump?
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You make good points. Like anything, though, I’m guessing that there’s much more to the story.
I assume that Robozone is a commercial venture and as such, it needs viewership to survive. First in Michigan is also a profit-based entity (as is FIRST). They have to be - so that they can be sustainable and help more kids - in Michigan
If I had to make a guess, I’d say that the separate needs of Robozone and FIM conflicted and so they parted. To me, it’s not a big deal. I want both FIRST and FIM to succeed, and also, I want Robozone to continue making STEM and robotics more popular in The US. I guess I just don’t see a problem. I wish them all well.
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