Posted by michael bastoni. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Other on team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School and Boston Edison Co.
Posted on 10/5/2000 7:42 PM MST
In Reply to: Thanks from Ramtech! posted by Korey R Kline on 10/5/2000 5:19 PM MST:
I arrived home from my evening classes just in time to turn on the TV and there was Ramtech…a FIRST Team on TV…on Battlebots.
WOW!
I think the earth shifted…I think something significant happened. I think a bridge was erected and I hope allot of people walk across it. I hope the traffic is heavy both ways.
It seems, at least to me, that some doors are opening and that the sport of engineered machine contests is being recognized…and I think we all should look very very deep into what we are seeing…and share our thoughts.
On the surface there appears to be some pretty radical differences between the two sports. 'Co-Opertition might appear to be a very different attitude from Mechanized warfare…but is it?
This can be debated without clear resolution for a very long time. And it should be. But while the debate rages we should seize some opportunities…
Wasn’t the purpose of the robots always just a hook? Weren’t they designed to grab the attention of kids and focus it on what is or could be…or should be important in their lives?
I have never lost that child like giddy feeling that always accompanies watching those absurd FIRST machines running willy nilly, bent on their directed tasks…I always disassociated those machines from their operators…I always saw them out there on their own. It is a pleasure to look at them that way. It gives me great joy.
Maybe Korey Kline feels that way when Ramstein and his team are in the battlebox…
I remember when FIRST was emerging…the machines were clever but oh so primitive in comparison to the sophistication of microprocessors, double-digit analog control and gasp!..analog and digital input (feedback).
Praise to Innovation FIRST.
And the mission evolved in purpose and sophistication with the Robots…The FIRST mission is still evolving.
I remember when no one in FIRST was talking about how important the parents and the community was to the success of a FIRST team…I remember when the Nationals took place in a High School Gym in Manchester…(For my money…the final Jabs/Chaos match ranks as the all time greatest final ever…If you can get the tape…watch it.)
Korey suggests there is a place for the FIRST attitude in the battlebox…Maybe there is something for kids there also.
I applaude Korey and the Ramtech team for crossing that bridge…I just know allot of kids will benefit from their effort.
I welcome the opportunity to continue the mission. I am willing to trust that Battlebots is an opportunity to do that. To engage students in the design and construction of something they choose to participate in…
We hope to walk across that bridge this Spring…and I’m going to take the very best of what I learned from FIRST with me. I hope Battlebots wants the support and perspective and moderation that a graying old robot warrior will offer them…
And Damn it…I think FIRST could benefit from the exposure…The PNTA team has always worked to broaden FIRST’s exposure…we always will.
And really, I just can’t resist.
I wonder if the day will come that the Olympics of Smarts has multiple venues? Dean Kamen, Woodie Flowers and Trey Roski could possibly do an awful lot of good for kids if they Co-Operated their Competitions…think about the possibilities, it’s mind boggling. There are dozens of Olympic sports…there are dozens of robotic competitions…I’m betting there is something good for kids in all of them.
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