I’ve always heard a lot of people say how much different FIRST was “Back in the day” so I was just wondering if some of the older members on here could discuss what some of the major differences were between these past few years of FIRST and FIRST back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, aside from obvious things like different games and less teams. I figure it’d be cool for some of us younger members to get some insight into the history of FIRST.
This terrific video gives you a good idea about what happened in 1992.
Dean had some serious facial hair…
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Some more videos from Youtube:
1996 Championships.
1995
1994
1993
In my day, we had to drive the robot up hill, no matter which direction we were driving. But we liked it.
The biggest change I’ve noticed is the family atmosphere is not nearly what it used to be. What I mean by that is you used to have 150 teams or so (total) and practically everyone knew everyone else. Now there are just too many teams to keep track of.
This is an interesting topic - maybe I’ll post more when I have some time.
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Incredible video Ed. Very insightful on what it was like at the start of all of this.
Such a different time (small and unproven concept) but so powerful that all the same concepts (cooperation between mentors and students, GP, competition, etc…) are still exactly the same today.
One of the biggest things I noticed is that Dean is much more engaging and interesting when he is speaking in this manner, than how he talks to us now. I wish he would go back to the speech pattern he used back then.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to Dean Kamen speak in front of a relatively small group, you’ll know that he does still talk that way. He’s just not able to express his passion effectively when addressing thousands of people at once.
And there goes my afternoon! Im not sure I knew this existed!! This was my first year (saw my first FIRST robot - Hook - flash by in the first video… gotta watch to see if there is more!!) Hexagon Havoc was such an awesome game, I’d love to see it replayed!! Gosh they really need ESPN to do something like this again…
I know there are some “old days” threads floating around too, I’ll have to dig them up.
He was even far better when he spoke at my college graduation than he is now. I think he misjudges the audience when it’s already people involved in FIRST. He doesn’t engage them the same way or act as though he has to earn and keep their attention.
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The Technokats History Project is the best place to get information about old skool FIRST.
I miss Disney. And no bumpers.
Anyway, here’s a link to video of the 1999 Championship eliminations. I believe much of this footage was recorded for a Delphi-produced video on FIRST:
You’ll see quite a few recognizable faces in this!
…has not yet been fixed after it failed to transfer cleanly to the new web server. Sorry. It’s on our To Do list.
To add on to what Alan said, I remember how night-and-day he was going from the opening ceremonies last year to the Dean’s List presentation. It’s mostly stage fright, I guess.
I think a comeback of the beard would help immensely…
This is, to me, the biggest difference when watching older games.
It was great back before bumpers, when teams actually built strong drive bases that could withstand abuse.
Great thread guys. For being in FIRST for the first time it was fun watching the videos and learning more about FIRST’s history. It would be great if you could find anymore of those history videos of different years that would be great cause its so fun seeing how technology and FIRST teams grew and got better over the years.
After watching the videos, I’ve come to the conclusion that the biggest difference is the hair.
Here are videos from a few more years:
FIRST 1997 Championship Final Match](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf0j0ztIsOE)
FIRST 1998 Championship Semi-finals 45vs67](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKcxG8tIXSY)
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ6-oJ519Nw)
FIRST 1999 DOUBLE TROUBLE™ Championship Finals part 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF4MvwACgqo)
FIRST 2000 CO-OPERTITION™ FIRST Championship Match](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FJFbvHRyco)
FIRST 2001 DIABOLICAL DYNAMICS™ Match](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsp2LjfJHsA)
FIRST 2002 ZONE ZEAL™ Championship Semi-Finals Match](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAmAnkYDUQM)
Lol no its definitely the glasses:yikes: and when I saw the hair and the glasses together…:ahh: :ahh: :ahh: :ahh:
T’was great before bumpers, but nostalgia patinates the past.
The drivetrains weren’t necessarily more robust, but the Robots were less complex and delicate. Fewer connections to fault. Far lower data rates. No cameras, no autonomous. Not really Robots, Specialized RC cars.
Less teams is really the only significant difference to me.
It’s harder once I get to four digits.
This really hit home this year:
http://imgur.com/a/v9TcU
(Robot Crate pictures)
The overall vibe is intact. It’s like a Grateful Dead concert with Robots.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/supatodd/13541759555/in/set-72157643219020225
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