FIRST Robotics Competition Starts Today

cscx writes: "Today is the kickoff day of the 2002 FIRST Robotics Competition. For those of you that don't know what FIRST (Dean Kamen, Segway, IT) is, it's an organization meant to interest high-school students in science and engineering by giving them 6 weeks to build a complete functioning robot. (By the way, FIRST is what most likely inspired BattleBots) Teams, although they require funding to pay for the kits, receive many different mechanical and electrical (the programmable control system kicks ass! :) parts in the kits, along with full copies (donated by the companies) of Autodesk Inventor, Character Studio, 3D Studio Max, and Reactor, as well as Microsoft Office XP, Frontpage, and Project. There is a live webcast of the kickoff, with an unveiling of the game at 11:00 EST." Update: 01/05 16:15 GMT by T : Here's a link to the webcast information page; the webcast is available in WMF and RealMedia formats, and will be archived as RealMedia.

Comments

What They Really Learn

[DeadBugs]

My company does this every year. And of course it's supposed to be a few of our employees overseeing the High School students while they build the robot. What actually happens is the Engineers from my company argue over the design and concept until the last minute. Then they work long hours near the end of the deadline to finish it. The kids get bored, the Non-Engineers from my company to most the work and we get our butts whipped at the competition. Although they may not learn much about robotics, they are getting a first rate education in office politics, theory over implementation and other great office battles not taught in any college. Of course they do get a free trip to Disney World.

Re:What They Really Learn

[olin01]

Agreed with the above. Teams get what they want out of it. If they allow a sponsor to take over the program, it'll happen. If they want to get in their and build it themselves, it'll happen. The very first thing on the FIRST website is "FIRST has an imperative, singular focus: to excite more young people about the accessibility, fun, and importance of science and engineering." It accomplishes that. The regional competitions are big productions, and the national competition is amazing. NO WHERE does it say that it's purpose is to educate, and we really should only criticize FIRST if it is failing to achieve it's objectives. if you don't agree with the objective, don't participate. In my experience, my team decided education was one of our priorities. We build just about everything ourselves, and the engineers from the sponor company served as resources. They were there to answer questions, point out where we were going wrong (in six weeks, you don't have time to make too many mistakes), and occassionally contribute suggestions. This was the way our team worked, and in my opinion, it is the best way for a FIRST team to be structured. That said, it's only the way our team did it. Yes, we were frustrated by some of the engineer-led teams. One team revolted us particularly. We were curious about their drive system, so we asked some students how they made it. They didn't know. We found the engineers, and they were able to tell us. Curious, we asked what the students had done. Response: "Oh, we let them try to attach some parts we made, but they made some mistakes, so we took it from there." At the competition, only two students and the engineers were allowed to even touch the robot. This does seem to be an extreme that is to be avoided, but the criticism should not be directed at FIRST, instead, at the engineers that captured the project and at the advisers and students that allowed it to happen.

For the Uninformed and the Nay-Sayers

[LightForce3]

As a former FIRST team member, (Go Team 85! Go BOB!) I can say without reservation that this program is excellent. It does just what it was created to do: it inspires students to pursue careers in science and technology.

As many of you probably realize, there's much, much more that goes into a team's season that simply building the robot. Here's a rough breakdown of the 'season':

-Kickoff: The game, the rules, and the items supplied to the teams are described and distributed.
-Design: Students and corporate engineers work together to design a robot that performs the necessary tasks to play the game with the materials they are allowed to use. Concepts become sketches, sketches become designs, designs become blueprints.
Construction: The robot is put together. Students and engineers fabricate the frame and construct the robot. Control, drive, pneumatic, and sensory systems are installed.
Programming: The electronic control system (based on Parallax's BASIC Stamp) is programmed.
Testing and Practice: The robot is tested, and bugs are worked out. Drivers are selected, and practice playing the game.

The ideal final product is a high-performance robotic athlete. This all happens within 6 weeks. The robot is then shipped to be approved for competition.

There's even more that goes on during the pre-competition season. Funds are raised (this isn't cheap, by any means), and community awareness is promoted. On several occasions, my team has taken robots from previous years and visited local elementary and junior-high schools. There are also several non-game awards, such as the Chairman's Award, awards presented by Autodesk, Judge's award, and awards for sportsmanship and community involvement.

The regional and national competitions are some of the most intense and exciting times any engineering or computer science student will ever experience. Besides controlling the robot for the few brief minutes of actual gameplay, students and engineers repair their robot in the Pit, scope out their competition and potential allies, and support the team from the stands. No two robots are the same; some do one part of the game better, others are good all-around. Each team's robot has a different way of getting the job done, despite the fact that each team received the same materials from the Kickoff.

The competition is fierce. There are stellar victories and crushing defeats. However, the fun and friendliness between opponents is (in most cases) preserved.

This is only a short and rather poor description of FIRST. To get a more whole picture, talk with students and engineers who have participated/are participating in FIRST. There's a very good chance that there's a team at a high school near you!

Now, addressing some of those whose experiences and opinions are not similar to mine (the arguments):

Concerning DeadBugs' "What They Really Learn"

I am sorry to learn that this is how your team works. Your team is missing the point of FIRST by miles. The idea behind FIRST is that the students do most of the designing and creation, and the engineers help and guide them. Some robots in the competition are 75% or more student-built. And yes, these robots can do very well (3rd place nationals). IMHO, your team needs evaluate itself in light of the ideas and purposes of FIRST, and get on the right track.

Concerning cwhittenburg's "Learn more from Junkyard Wars"

First, the teams are most definitely not provided with all the parts they need. Far from it. Teams must purchase much of the items and supplies that are used to construct the robot. The team can also pick and choose which items from the supplied kit they will use on their robot. One of the kit's major purposes is to ensure that robots are not too dissimilar. With the items that are supplied to the teams, the team has several different types of each basic item from which to choose. Continuing with your analogy, this is similar to being provided with several different engines, several different transmissions, several different wheels, etc. It's up to the team to get all these to work together. Also, some items can be significantly modified and customized.

Second, some robots are, very unfortunately, designed, constructed, and programmed mostly by the professional engineers on a team instead of the students. This is contrary to the ideas and purposes behind FIRST. (See above response to "What They Really Learn")

That's my perspective, as a former FIRST Team member and a current senior in high school. The only reason I'm not involved now is the fact that I don't have enough free time to devote myself to extracurricular activities. I'd jump without hesitation at the chance to become involved again.

--LightForce3

Comments/Replies appreciated