On January 5 of this year, FIRST Robotics Competition launch of “Destination: Deep Space” felt like a leap of faith. [1,2]
Field of play was no more than a two-minute animation. Rules for scoring a seeming tossed salad of words in a 129-page instruction manual. Physical robots were not yet to the point where they could be hopefully viewed as vaguely imaginative flights of fancy. [3,4]
They say that high school teams just like ours are gathered in rooms, at this exact time — around the globe — intensely focused on computer monitors set to receive the exact same broadcast reveal.
But is anyone else really out there?
Just under sixteen weeks later came an almost deafening answer of Yes! as the best of the best FIRST Robotics Competition teams congregated at Cobo Center for World Championships. This is the last stop, where final determination will be made in recognizing the best of the best. [5]
Event organizers anticipated over 40,000 attendees, including 15,000 students on 700 teams from thirty-seven countries, with more than 600 robots. They’re supported by 3,000 mentors and 1,200 volunteers who run these playoffs. This is the second of its four-year rotation to Detroit as host city, generating an estimated $30 million annual economic impact.
As with Districts, live streaming is available for those interested in watching live this weekend. [6]
Earlier this week, listeners to The Lucy Ann Lance Show were treated to a succinct, on-point summary of the difference between District and World competitions. This is from her interview with Milan Team 5567, “Code Red Robotics,” which earned its chance to compete at this top level. [7-9]
At earlier competitions, at the district level, a lot of the stuff is ‘What can you do at all?’ Now, at this level, a lot of it is efficiency. Everyone can do the things. The question is, ‘How well can you do it?’ ‘How quickly can you do it?’
This nicely bookends an interview that Lucy Ann Lance did with Saline Singularity Team 5066 on February 27. Their final season standings and those of Code Red Robotics are available online. [10-12]
Not surprisingly, all of this has the attention of our own US Senator Gary Peters as well. Similar to his approach to connecting with the North American International Auto Show, he prefers to attend these events without attracting fanfare to his presence. FIRST Championships was on his agenda for today in his role as fact-finder. [13,14]
He did, however, agree to speak with Saline Journal this morning about the importance of FIRST Robotics Competition.
This is serious competition. You bring your best here. But they also see their part in AI, in mobility: No single company is going to do that on their own; they have to work together. That’s part of this culture. They see a competitor down the aisle run into trouble — something breaks and they give them a part; they need help, and they give them a hand. You don’t see that in other competitions.
We then challenged Senator Peters, asking if he felt any sort of personal “conflict of interest” here. After all, the state he represents is playing host to all competitors, yet teams from his home state are on the field.
He paused before answering. Then he smiled.
Oh, I don’t think there’s any conflict at all. May the best team win.
May the best Michigan team win.
FIRST Robotics Competition Destination: Deep Space and the 2019 season wraps up tomorrow, April 27.
References
- “FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 season officially kicks off Saturday; here’s the background you need to follow it” Dell Deaton (January 3, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “Saline Singularity FIRST Robotics Team week 1 progress report: Here’s what happened after the 2019 game was announced” Dell Deaton (January 9, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “2019 FIRST Robotics Competition: Destination: Deep Space Game Animation” FIRSTRoboticsCompetition (January 5, 2019) YouTube.
- 2019 Game Manual – Destination: Deep Space, Presented by Boing, FIRST Inspires.
- FIRST Championship (April 24-27, 2019) FIRST Inspires.
- “FIRST Championship – Detroit” (April 2019) FIRST Inspires.
- Lucy Ann Lance (Facebook Page).
- The First Responders (Twitter feed).
- “Milan Team 5567: Code Red Robotics” Interview (April 22, 2019) The Lucy Ann Lance Show.
- “With countdown to competition now in single digits, today marked one of the longest days yet for SHS robotics team” Dell Deaton (February 27, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “2019 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “2019 Season: Team 5567 – Code Red Robotics” The Blue Alliance.
- Gary Peters: United States Senator for Michigan (home page).
- “The biggest reveals of the 2019 North American International Auto Show won’t be around when the public gets here” Dell Deaton (January 16, 2019) Saline Journal.
