FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

Teaser Date and Time, Safety Animation Award, and Medals

Aug 29, 2019 Written by Frank Merrick.

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Teaser Date and Time

Excited for the 2020 Teaser FIRST Robotics Competition

The teaser for the 2020 season will be released during a special show on Twitch at 7 PM Eastern Time, Thursday, September 12. If things go as planned, the show will be broadcast from a very special location. I’ve seen a near-final version of the teaser, and I’ve got two words: Wicked. Goosebumps. Start getting those teaser release party plans ready! You know what food goes great with a teaser release party? Pizza!*

 

Safety Animation Award sponsored by UL

Our friends at UL are once again sponsoring the Safety Animation Award. Submissions open on October 24 and close at 3 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, December 5. Late submissions will not be accepted, so be sure to submit on time, or even better, early! The theme this year is environmental sustainability and includes the concepts of responsible production and consumption. It may seem like a stretch to put sustainability under the umbrella of safety but think about this in the very long term. Our current habits of production and consumption will affect the health and safety of future inhabitants of this planet for generations.

 

Speaking of sustainability, the Green Team at FIRST HQ shared with me some interesting stats about the waste we’ll be eliminating by getting rid of the bag and retiring Stop Build Day:

An estimated 8,200 bags would have been ordered for the 2020 season. This translates to:

  • 1 bag = 2.4 lbs (1.09 kg)
    • 8,200 bags = 19,680 lbs (8,926.7 kg)
      • 1 Prius = 2,921 lbs (1,324.9 kg)
        • 8,200 bags = ~6 Prii**
      • 2019 Cargo Ship = ~400 lbs (181.4 kg)
        • 8,200 bags = ~49 Cargo Ships
      • 1 FRC Robot = ~ 125 lbs (56.7 kg)
        • 8,200 lbs = ~157 FRC Robots

We’re not pretending that FIRST Robotics Competition is a model of what it means to be a green organization, but I was happy to see the impact this one change is making.

 

Medals

2020 INFINITE RECHARGE Medals FIRST Robotics Competition

Check out the medals for INFINITE RECHARGE!

 

Frank

 

* Also great for other significant events in your life like birthdays, weddings, and breakfast.

**It’s a thing.

 

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Comments

You forgot to estimate the energy and waste stream that will be created by the elimination of stop build day. Transportation of team members, material waste, energy consumed during the continued build are but a few of the things that will be increased. This is the problem with only a static analysis. It never includes the effect of the change. Less bags, more gasoline consumed. Less bags, more waste from continued building. Less bags, more.....

There are a number of potential additional savings and increased costs which could be attributed to this change. The net impact will be the result of the choices each team makes as they optimize the new normal.  Every team and individual owns the choices they make and the responsibly to be good stewards of their resources.

 

Also must take in to account the lock up tags. Even more so for those on district teams. 

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