Greetings ChiefDelphi brethren!
I am proposing a great idea for the FIRST Robotics community as a whole to bring a sense of pride to all of the students, mentors, alumni, and volunteers for being a part of this wonderful program.
On this forum I am introducing a symbol that I hope will not only be recognizable to the teams and volunteers of all four FIRST Robotics programs, but companies, schools, colleges, political leaders, and everyone else in the whole world. I have designed a flag for this great non-profit organization so that teams of all four programs would someday be able to display it in their shop, their robots, their pits at competitions, alumni’s college dorms, or even display it on the awards stage at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championships where founder Dean Kamen is speaking every year. Here is my design of a new flag:
The new flag I have designed took me about fifteen minutes to draw. The proportion of the flag is 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It has four vertical stripes of different color, representing the colors of the FIRST programs in order from the left of the flag to the right of the flag. The stripes also represent the acronym “S.T.E.M.” in order from the left side to the right side of the flag because FIRST Robotics promotes the advocacy of the following principles in young students to help them prepare for the changing world economy.
The green stripe represents the Junior FIRST Lego League (Jr. FLL). It is a program for elementary school students to create LEGO Robots for an opportunity to learn about STEM. They also create “Show Me” posters to explain what they learned while building their robots. The green stripe also represents “Science” in the acronym “S.T.E.M.”
The red stripe represents the next program after Jr. FLL, the FIRST Lego League (FLL). This program is for middle school students and they build a LEGO MINDSTORMS robot to compete in competitions. The program also teaches more advanced skills, such as teamwork, problem solving, and safety. The red stripe also represents “Technology” in the acronym “S.T.E.M.”
The orange-yellow stripe represents the next program in the procession of FIRST programs, the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). Teams of FTC are comprised of middle school and high school students where they will learn more advanced skills, such as programming and robot design. Teams compete in alliances to win matches and the robot parts are reusable every year. The stripe also represents “Engineering” in “S.T.E.M.”
The blue stripe represents the fourth and final program of the succession of FIRST Robotics programs: The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). It is the most advanced program in all of the FIRST programs offered. In this program, high school students from around the world have six weeks to build a robot, and then use it to compete in a competition, where they could be eligible for a world championship. Teams also create a brand for their team and spread the word about S.T.E.M. in their community. The final blue stripe also represents “Math” in “S.T.E.M.”
To design this flag, my goal was to make the design as not only simple on the outside, but complex on the inside. To accomplish this, I followed the following principles of designing the FIRST flag. First, I did not use any words or pictures. Secondly, I used simple symbolism to give them meaning, such as the four stripes on the flag, so that people will recognize it. I hope that one day the flag design will be recognized and maybe it will be the official flag of FIRST Robotics so that it will be displayed in events across the world. It will be a dream come true to see the flag at the FIRST Robotics world championship where Dean Kamen is speaking and other teams or individuals receiving awards, such as the Make it Loud Award, and the Chairman’s Award.
I know this may sound crazy, but I think it would be pretty cool for FIRST Robotics to have an official flag, just like the Olympics. I hope that one day I will raise enough money so that I could make the flag as a keepsake and display it at other FIRST regular season events and off-season events. In my part, I would help make it loud for this organization.
What do you think?