UFH: Dr. Joseph Johnson

FIRST General Forum
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Thread created automatically to discuss UFH Honoree: Dr. Joseph Johnson.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/ufh/image/1105689501DrJoe_JPG](http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/ufh.php?action=honoreedetail&id=32)

Name: Dr. Joseph Johnson
Date Honored: 01-14-2005
Years involved w/FIRST: 10
FIRST Team(s): Delphi/DaimlerChrysler &, Pontiac Central High School (0047)
Role: Associate Team Leader
Quote: If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Bio: Dr. Joe is a familiar face in the FIRST community. An active voice and and supporter of the ChiefDelphi Forums, Joe is also a common face at competitions, always willing to lend a hand. He is also known for his motor expertise and Chief Delphi’s excellent designs year after year.

Dr. Joe has a long list of accomplishments in his FIRST career: “Helped to shape the direction of the Chief Delphi team. Provided the vision for a serious effort to win the Chairman’s Award. Pushed to establish ChiefDelphi.com (actually coded some of the early message board scripts) and to emphasize team-to-team communication via message boards, IRC chats, etc. Continually pushed to improve the quality of the FIRST kit (played a direct role in significant changes to the kit: Window lift motors and mechanism, Power Sliding Door motors, Keyang seat motors, Globe motors, Fisher Price motors, BEI yaw rate sensor, Skil-Bosch drill motors price reductions, Chiaphua motors, Allegro current sensor, Johnson motors, Mabuchi motors, Taigene motors, Bosch motors, etc.) Played a major role in design teams for all Chief Delphi robots. Helped make “swerve” a common phrase among FIRST teams. Helped to “close the deal” with Delphi management in order to get Delphi to become an official sponsor of FIRST.” Not too shabby.

He also lists his favorite memory, a revelation of sorts. "My first year in FIRST, we had a student on our team that was a great football player, good enough to be recruited by some major colleges including the U.S. Army Academy. He had just come back from a visit of to West Point to check out the school. As I was working with our FIRST team discussing how we were going to have the best robot ever built by a rookie, this student stuck his head into the classroom and sheepishly asked if he could speak to me.

"He explained his dilemma to me, how he was being pulled this way and that, how everyone was giving him advice and that no one in his family (even a distant relative) had gone to college, yet they were telling him which path he should follow. Finally, he asked me, “What do you think I should do, Mr. Johnson?”

"My heart exclaimed as Simeon’s once did, " Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord…” It has been revealed to me that I am destined to make a difference in the lives of young kids (I really believe this). In my student’s question, that destiny began to be fulfilled! My advice to him was beside the point, I WAS BEING ASKED!

“FIRST had provided me the opportunity to have my opinions matter to some young folks. This was a magical moment for me. I will live my life thankful to FIRST for this opportunity and the others that followed.”

Finally, the great Dr. Joe has some dynamite advice for all FIRST participants. "#1 Always keep in mind that robots are the means to an end, not the end in itself. Inspiration is The End we all are work toward.

"Use Inspiration as the standard of measure as you make all decisions about your team. It should inform not only what kind of robot you design and build (a robot that does not work is rarely inspirational), but which Regionals you decide to attend, what awards your team strives for, how your team is organized, who your coaches are, what events you plan in the “off season” (does FIRST really HAVE an off season? :-), etc.

"Time together as a team is sometimes more important than anything related to building a robot.

"#2 FIRST robot design is not an optimization process.

"Actually, FIRST IS about optimization, but it is not the optimization that most folks think about. Many teams ask themselves the wrong question so they end up optimizing (or, more accurately, attempting to optimize) the wrong thing.
Rather than asking themselves, “What is the best robot design possible to play this game?” teams SHOULD be asking themselves, “What is the best robot design my team can design, build, program and complete in time to give my drivers the best chance of doing well playing this game?”

"Constraints are KEY. Trade offs are everything. How much time do I give my programmers? What do I leave for my drivers to learn through practice? What can MY team design & build? Should I spend more time now in design for less assembly work later or vice versa? Etc.

“If you spent too much time optimizing one thing, you will end up with a sub-optimal result.”

Congratulations to the long overdue Dr. Joe Johnson on being honored as our next Unsung FIRST Hero.

Nominated By: Josh Hambright

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I need to give my heartiest congratulations to Dr. Joe. As long as I’ve been a reader of Chief Delphi, he’s always been willing to share his knowledge and experience and offer improvements on ideas. He pushes for things he things believes to be right and isn’t afraid to call things how they are. He’s among the alumni of which Purdue University can truly be proud.

On more than one occasion he’s found sources for highly desirable parts (aluminum sprockets are coming to mind) and not only shares what many would keep secret, but does so with complete contact information, as well as having already pitched FIRST to vendors so they know what to expect.

He’s passionate about FIRST and helping students improve their engineering knowledge. When he was a controls judge at a Michigan regional last year, I remember him taking the time to formally explain closed loop systems with a high school student on our team. It’s that thorough understanding and willingness to take an extra time to share what he knows that makes Dr. Joe such a great contributor to the FIRST community.

It’s a long overdue award, Dr. Joe. Congratulations!

Matt

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I can put this in two words: Well deserved.

Congratulations!

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I have not posted in this continuing thread but I can not restrain myself.

The first time I met Dr. J, he was standing in the bleachers in a Manchester, NH gymnasium, leading a bunch of teenagers in organized cheers, songs and other mayhem.

I was convinced that this was a man possessed. However, I did not call in the white coats.

The next time was in an old town hall in Plymouth, MA. He was doing the same thing…

I still thought he was possessed.

Our next encounter was at Dean’s old house on Kickoff eve.

I have never met someone so possessed!

With the possible exceptions of Dean and Woodie, very few people have done more to make FIRST what it is today.

To you Sir!

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Congratulations to Dr. Joe Johnson for being honored as our next Unsung FIRST Hero.

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Congrats Joe!

Thanks for all the help you have provided to not only myself, but anyone who has the honor of reading your posts on this forum. Ive learned more from them than I have from most of my school teachers! :ahh:

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For a man who I’ve only spoken to in passing a handful of times over the years, it’s amazing how much “Dr. Joe” has shaped my FIRST career. I have many great memories of my first ever FIRST event at GLR in 1998, but two special ones surround Dr. Joe.

The first ever FIRST match I saw featured the fabulous Chief Delphi bot. The match started with the Chief raising it’s elevator to descore a big ball in the 3 pt. position. Then it happened. The robot moved sideways. My jaw hit the floor. “How’d they do that?” I was fascinated by swerve drive. Seeing a robot that cool inspired me to continue in FIRST. I wanted to learn how to make that happen. But moreso, I wanted to be able to make people’s jaws drop. If you take a good look at the 1114 robot from 2004, you’ll notice many similarities to the CD bot from 1998. No coincidence at all.

The other memory of Dr. Joe that sticks out in my mind has to do with his pre and post match rituals. I’ll never forget the FIRST time I saw him do the “ooga chant” as I call it. The whole crowd was pumped up and into it. I’d never seen this kind of energy at an educational event. It was crazy, and I loved it.

Dr. Joe has been a FIRST pioneer in these two major ways. He’s always been a technological innovator, providing inspirational designs for all to see. And on the other side, he has helped create the “rock concert” like atmosphere that sets FIRST apart from any other event of it’s kind. (Yes, from the “ooga chant”. Seeing someone as respected as Dr. Joe show that much enthusiam, makes each of us less self conscious to do the same) The impact of this can’t be overstated. It makes FIRST friendly to all types of young people. This kind of environment that’s exciting for all, can only help us achieve our long term goal of a culture change.

It’s fitting the Dr. Joe and Raul have been honoured consecutively. Dean Kamen has always wanted engineers to havena celebrity like status. Well in my books, these two are the biggest stars we’ve got.

Congratulations Dr. Joe Johnson, and thanks for making my 8 year ride that much more exciting.

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Dr Joe was the first FIRST hero of mine, i can still remeber meeting him and being completely humbled by him, because he is such a legend in the FIRST community, but he is truely one of the nicest, friendliest and funniest people i have met through FIRST.

I know that without him my old team would not be where they are today, and many other teams. He is an amazing asset to the first community. This is so long overdue.

I’m glad the commitee agreed that he is an unsung first hero. Congrats Dr. Joe. You’re truely one of my heros!

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Joe,

Congratulations to you on receiving this well deserved award. You are an absolutely invaluable asset to your students, team, and FIRST in general. Who knows how different things might be without you.

It was a pleasure competing with you at SVR last year. Hope to see you guys again

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Who is John Galt?

Congrats Joe!!! :wink:

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January 2nd, 2001, 10:30PM EST

I was looking around this website of a robotics team call Chief Delphi (what kind of a name is that anyway?!) earlier today. I got the url from a former GRT student who showed it in a team meeting long time ago. This week is winter break, and me and my high school friends just came back from dinner. They don’t understand why I am still around the team even though I am in Berkeley now, but they just don’t know how fun it is. Anyway, I was wandering around this website out of boredom, and noticed this new message called “Misdirected E-mail Unveils 2001 Game 3 days Early…”. I quickly looked at the message and was completely bewildered by its content. I couldn’t believe it was true! I still can’t believe it is true! This must be some kind of a sick joke designed to torture all kinds of people across the country… …right?

January 4th, 2001, 06:00PM EST

I forgot to set my alarm clock this morning and when the door bell rang at 8:30am, I knew I was in trouble. Ken Krieger is at the door, and my mom told him I haven’t wakened up yet. He went, “Uh oh.” I jumped off the bed and quickly pack everything I need for the Manchester trip, and we made it to the airport just in time. After hours of plane ride and layover, we finally reached the Holiday Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire. Jason Morrella was in the lobby greeting some California coaches, and I wandered around. I bump into a small group of engineers, they went around the circle introducing themselves, and there I was, at the end of the line, being stared at by some team 47 coaches and adults, drawing a complete blank in my head, not knowing what to say. So I did what every embarrassed Asian teenager would do, and quickly duck away and listened from far away.

Among the group was this guy talking about this e-mail he showed to everyone, and how he got into so much trouble with his Delphi boss, and how some guy overreacted and accused him of doing something illegal. Then he continued to talk about how late he was to the airport earlier today, and how in the middle of traffic he flagged down this old lady and ask her to park the car for him. He got her contact info, then proceeded to abandon his car and ran for the terminal in a timely manner. After the story, he excused himself and told everyone he got some slices to finish for the workshops.

Who does he think he is anyway?

January 5th, 2001, 10:00AM EST

I was wondering around FIRST place today attending workshops. These are all very cool workshops but I didn’t understand much of anything. During a motor selection workshop, the same guy from last night showed up and introduced himself as Joe Johnson, along with his friend, Mike Ciavaglia from team 47 Chief Delphi. So that’s him! I was kind of nervous at the whole experience, so I quickly settled in a corner and listened the whole time. This is GREAT STUFF!!! Motors, graphs, formulas… I can actually understand what they are talking about! Maybe they aren’t really bad people trying to torture everyone in FIRST after all. I’ve never met anyone so eager to share their knowledge with their competitors. Very strange. Never seen anything like this. For the first time I am completely confused by what I am doing in this program. On the plus side, Dean Kamen’s house was pretty impressive. He must be very rich.

January 7th, 2001, 6:00AM EST

We were waiting in the hotel lobby for our shuttle, and we heard someone running down the lobby from behind. There came Joe J. rushing with his luggage and bags toward the door trying to catch his shuttle. He must’ve missed it because he came back right away. Words were exchanged with the hotel front desk; calls to the shuttle company were made from the courtesy phone, and after a while, a new shuttle arrived. And off he went rushing to the airport, not knowing if he missed his flight, not knowing if his car was still there, and has a robot to build in the next 6 weeks. I hope he don’t get too stressed out.

Since my first close encounter of the third kind with Dr. Joseph M. Johnson, I’ve had many more brief meetings with him at various competitions in the years of my venture in the FIRST wonderland. He has been a teacher, engineer, mentor, cheer leader, role model, family man, hero, coach, gambler, Mountain-Dew-aholic, Ooga man, a giant, and a legend to me. I owe a lot of my knowledge and experience to Joe J. I was inspired by his CD forum posts, his technical white papers, the casual e-mail exchanges, book recommendations, the brief but important chat at IRI 2004, and his talent show performance, plus many more.

Dr. Joe, I can’t thank you enough for all the things you’ve given me in the past. There’s no way I can ever repay you completely, so I will do the only thing I can think of: inspire future students the way you inspired me.

You once told me changing the culture is like fighting a battle. I intend to fight in that battle and make a better future for the generations to come, just like what you’ve been doing since your calling to this program.

Thank you for everything you’ve done.

-Ken Leung

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Joe,

IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! Very well desrved, sir.

Dr. Joe (and the rest of team 47) got our team into this thing called FIRST in 1999. His posts on CD inspired me to start posting. He was the first shining example of outstanding mentorship that I had ever witnessed.

Dr. Joe for WFA 2005!!

You’re Friend,

Paul

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Congrats Mr. Johnson. Thanks for all the help that you give us through this community. you are very well deserved for this award. :slight_smile:

-Arefin.

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What a fantastic man to give the award to. Long before I met him in person, I heard of his legacy on 67. Then I met him in person, and he actually sized up to what was said about him… and that’s something that most people don’t do. Congrats Joe, honor well deserved!

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Congratulations Dr. Johnson! You are a very resourceful and helpful person as far as I have seen on chiefdelphi.com. Very well deserved:)

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Congratulations, Joe.

I’m not sure if Joe realizes it or not, but I wouldn’t know nearly as much as I do about Internet-based programming and websites if it weren’t for some of his e-mails back in the late 1990s. I had just started working on this website, and was teaching myself Perl, better HTML, and programming in general. Joe would send these massive 3-4 page e-mails with suggestions and improvements to the things I was building. The image gallery. The white papers area. The polls (anybody remember that old hunk of junk? hah). The Ventures system. He always had praise to give, but would never hesitate to throw out a crazy idea and additions he would like to see. Nine times out of ten I would look at this e-mail and think ‘What in the world? Thats impossible.’ But, after thinking about it, I would somehow find a way to implement what he wanted; I learned so much from all of the ideas he had.

I didn’t get anything too challenging from my college professors, but Dr Joe always had something to keep me busy. I’m grateful for this. Anybody who likes how this website works, all of the features, its popularity, or anything … you all owe Joe a big thank you. It wouldn’t be anything without his direct (and indirect) influence.

Thank you Joe, and good luck with everything you’re working on.

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There are not many people out there as passionate about FIRST as Dr. Joe is. He lives, breathes, speaks, and is the game. Every year he strives to help CD be the best, and at the same time tries to spread his knowledge around to everyone on these boards.

To another one of the original FIRST-a-holics…

Congrats Dr. Joe…FIRST would not be the same without you!

-Andy Grady

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Most heartfelt Congratulations go to you, Dr. Johnson! I read your bio and I definitely am glad you won this honor. Well done!

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Thank you so much for all your help, support, and advice last year. Congratulations just doesn’t cut it.

-Shyra

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Congrads!!! Great people like you deserve this award!! It’s great to have people to teach us and have fun along side with us crazy kids. Thanks for being a great help in the FIRST community.