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That omni drive seems pretty legit, not sure why it is in TFA's list

I was able to get the proprietary C compiler to run under wine with make files. The school computer I had was way to locked down for development so I got it working under both Ubuntu(4 or 5) and Gentoo along with make files. Theres a number of posts here on how to do it. I also found a GPL compiler but didn't have the time to play around with it. I agree it was very locked down and I hated using it. I would have been very happy running embedded Linux on some low powered chip that had much more/better documentation available. They really control the base code they give you as well. I wanted to release my additions to the first code back into community and released it on a sourceforge page. While I admit I should have asked the NASA engineer(I was going to but I honestly forgot) the way he reacted to it was very surprising. I didn't respond to any posts on chiefdelphi because I was busy but appearntly he wanted me to take the code down. I ended up getting call from someone telling me that if I didn't take the code down within 12 hours my entire team would be banned from first. I took it down and asked why and was told that he didn't want anyone to confuse his code with mine thus forcing any team that wanted to use the base code(which is pretty much mandatory) to keep it closed source. The time I was in FIRST everything was done in C but I know last year they added EasyC. I was told my old team ended up creating a C base and EasyC base and because they split there efforts so much neither code base worked that well. They have thus shifted all there efforts to EasyC(a decision the programming team as well as the mentors were against but the team coach thought it was better). They have told me its much harder and buggier then coding in C but then again they only have one or two programmers and the main focus is on marketing and building the robot not programming it. The complaint you have about mentors building and programming the entire robot has been a complaint that has always been there. Luckily my team did let the students build and program and the three mentors we had were only mentors but I've seen some robots build in a corporate lab by engineers and not the team. Its really sad I think the idea of FIRST is great but the way things are turning out is horrible. Proprietary software chosen by which company donates, programming will soon be no longer needed at all, and mentors build many teams robots with no repercussions.

I personally cant help you, since I'm happily using IFI_Loader and MPLAB (ok, not happily, but I can live with it ), but on the very slim chance you don't know about it, the website Chief Delphi is basically a huge forum dedicated to FIRST, a pillar of FIRST's community, and I guarantee you dozens of people there can help. ;)

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?mode=classic
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
http://www.slashdot.org/
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/

I think you're students will become extremelly enthusiastic towards robotics if they get involved in a program like FIRST robotics. Check out regional event this year and talk to some of the students, a huge majority of them will tell you that because of FIRST they intend to persue a carrer in engineering.
Check what people are working on at chiefdelphi, the environment there is very much like what the students are like at their schools. They ask questions, chat with each other, have fun, and mentors offer guidance for some of the tougher problems.

For a second, I thought that was an FRC kit bot.

It's a basic robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition, made from a kit from IFI Robotics. IFI also does the backstage work for the Vex robotics stuff. FRC kits are sorta like Vex except with beefier motors and on a larger scale. Too bad the sensors in FRC kits are pretty lame (e.g. the kit has hall effect sensors, but no nice shaft encoders).

Check these out http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/ http://www.vexrobotics.com/index.php/posts?thread_ id=5&offset=0

This is NOT a radio shack product, it is a kit robot developed by US F.I.R.S.T. Robotics. They hold competitions every year between teams. If you are interested in the robots, check out Cheif Delphi Fourms. They are a team in pontiac who are rather loud. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/index.php?. (Nobody really likes chief delphi because most people think they have engineers build their robot and not the students.)

They also have VEX Contests.

I've been involved in FIRST since the fall of 1998, and am active on the ChiefDelphi Forums for years. I've been to competitions all over the country. These are my qualifications to speak on this subject.

I agree with you that most FIRST teams are used as marketing devices, but they are used as marketing devices for the enginnering profession. I know many people that have gone on to work for the company that sponsered their team, and know off countless others. NASA is now the largest sponser of teams, with partial funding for over 200 teams. For many of those teams, the NASA funding allows them to afford to compete but they have no NASA enginners or employees involved at all.

The purpouse of FIRST is not to teach kids engineering. It is to Inspire and get kids excited about engineering so as to goto college to learn engineering. It is to provide an alternative role model and idol to Ron Artest.

Here is a little bit from Dean Kamen, the founder of FIRST. In 2000, a VIP inquired him about "students not building the robots, like the Delphi teams". Dean replied, "But, if I walked into the pits of any of those Delphi teams, and asked any of the students about the robot, they could explain every inch of it. Learning is important, not whether they built it or not".

I must say that getting involved in FIRST Robotics is a great way to volunteer your time. FIRST currently has over 900 teams in the US, and there are more every year. The controllers are programmed in C, so there is no lack of programming work, though a team can opt to not program them at all. The first 15 seconds of the two minute competition is completely. If you make it clear that it is not solely a geek thing, but involves tasks that most geeks wouldn't even think about (welding, assembling parts, designing chassis and drivetrain, etc.), you should have no problem getting people involved. Another good resource for FIRST is a forum at ChiefDelphi. If you decide to start a team, post there and see if there are any teams in your area willing to help you.

Your full of shit. I was in FIRST for 4 years. Our Sponsor was Motorola (Team 108 - the SigmaC@Ts if you must know). We built our robot side by side with the engineers. Solely engineer built robots are the extreme exception, as are solely student built robots. The whole idea is you work with and learn from professionals. Teams whose students had nothing to do with their bot are not encouraged, they are reviled, and it is easy to tell when you talk to the team members (as a driver for two years, I've had plenty of opportunities to talk to other teams). You picked NASA as an example, which shows your ignorance. NASA has a grant program where they pay the entry fees for you and thats it. You can only qualify for two years, then your on your own. Most of the teams you saw with Nasa on them were probably rookies. It sounds to me like you tried it once, and when you got beaten by the veteran teams, got bitter and didnt come back. US FIRST is a great education oppourtunity, by the time I graduated I was teaching the engineers things about how to build a robot. Also, although it didnt in 1997, the national competition now has qualifications to attend it. You now must win a regional or regional award, earn a "bye" based on last year's performance to qualify for nationals, or be a rookie team to get in to nationals. It's also worth noting that if the companies just wanted the PR opportunity, theres lots of places they could spend it and get a lot more (PR-wise) for their very large sums of money. Also the engineers and other staff at these companies use their own, unpaid time to work with the teams. Also, student run student built teams can be competitive, bit don't expect to do it in 1 year, against teams that have been around since the program started. finally, some other FIRST related links the story should have mentioned.

Soap 108
A website run by my team that records and digitizes every match for every competition we attend. Go here for video from matches of a real competition.

Chief Delphi forums
The most popular FIRST related message board, and a good place to learn about the attitudes of the students involved.

I've heard rumors out of Manchester that DEKA has been testing a six-wheeled segway that can climb stairs (combining the Segway with Kamen's earlier invention, the iBot wheelchair). Maybe they decided to hold off on the current version until the six wheeler is available. Check out this thread for more info (and pictures).

The control system used is built by InnovationFIRST. It consists of three Basic Stamp 2X controllers where one is user programmable. These are remote controlled robots but sensor input can be taken from the robot and used to preform certain tasks (for instance, several robots could "autobalance" on this year's bridge).

For more information on FIRST, the following websites might be of interest.

• FIRST's web site
• Alstom & RIT & Edison Tech - Team 73 - my team
• Chief Delphi - Delphi & Pontiac High School - Team 47 - the web site for team 47 also provides message boards and photo galleries used by many FIRSTers
• FIRST Robotics.net - provides pictures of many robots
• InnovationFIRST - makers of the control system we use

Matt Leese
Team Leader
Team 73

One of the US FIRST teams maintains a great site to help teams involved in FIRST that includes a huge collection of pictures of robots and regionals starting from last year. Its definitely worth a look if you have some spare time and want to see some of the really cool machines.

One of the US FIRST teams maintains a great site to help teams involved in FIRST that includes a huge collection of pictures of robots and regionals starting from last year. Its definitely worth a look if you have some spare time and want to see some of the really cool machines.

Matt Leese

FIRST is a project started by Dean Kamon (a super cool inventor.) Each year, teams of engineers, students and other interested parties get togethor for a intense six week period. They design, build, and test a robot. Last year they were 30" by 36" by 5'.

I was on a team last year, it was great fun.

If you want to find a team go to these discussion boards. They can point you to a close team.

FIRST is activly working to get kids interested in technology and needs all the help it can get.