Robotics vocabulary

Alliance: The three teams that work cooperatively together during a round. Alliance members are marked with colored flags, usually red or blue. During seeding rounds the teams are selected by the officials. For the elimination rounds, alliances are specially selected (see alliance selection).
Alliance Selection: This is when the final alliances are chosen for the elimination rounds of a competition. The team ranked in 1st place will be the 1st alliance leader. They choose any other team to partner them. That team may either accept or decline. This team keeps choosing until one accepts. Then the selection goes to the next highest ranking, unallied team who becomes the leader of the 2nd alliance. This process is repeated until there are 8 alliances of two teams each. Next the first alliance teams will invite a third team and the process repeats until all eight alliances are filled.
Autodesk: Autodesk is a company that makes and donates computer programs to FIRST teams. Autodesk Inventor is used to create 3D visuals of robot parts for the design phase, Autodesk 3dsMax is used to make safety animations for competition.
Autonomous mode: This is the first few seconds of a round when the robot must perform "hands free" using programs that are initiated by a remote control used by the robocoach (see robocoach).
Branding: Branding is all the things that make people recognize your team. This includes things like logos, posters, t-shirts, buttons, team yells, mascots, flags, robot nicknames, etc.
The Build: This is the six week period for designing, making, programming and shipping the robot. It is very high-pressure. Team members and mentors meet nearly daily during this time for several hours each day in order to meet the deadline.
Chairman's Award: This is the top honor at any competition. It is given to the team that best represents 'Gracious Professionalism' and displays the qualities that FIRST seeks as an example for all teams. (see Partners/FIRST section for requirements)
Challenge: This is the "problem" or "test" that FIRST designs for the teams to design a robot to solve. The 2009 challenge was to put balls in the opponents trailer while not getting any in yours. The 2008 challenge was to knock down a 4 foot ball and move it around the track, then place it back. The 2007 challenge was to put innertubes on a rack. while the other team tries to knock yours down.
Coach: This can be two things. First it is the main adult mentor affiliated with the host organization that represents the team and does paperwork and other organization duties. Second, it is a competition job. The coach watches the game play and advises the driver and operator on strategy options.
CompactRIO or cRIO: This is the new control system for the 2009 season. It is built by National Instruments and is programmable using Labview or C.
Coopertition: This is a word coined by Dean Kamen to describe his vision of teams working together, so all succeed. It is a combination of 'cooperation' and 'competition'.
Driver: This is a competition job. A team member uses radio controls to move the robot around the playing field during competition heats.
Elimination rounds: These are the rounds that determine who wins the competition and which alliance will go on to national competition.
FIRST: FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization that promotes Robotics competitions and teams. They have several different leagues. Their logo is the interlinked triangle, circle and square seen at every competition. (see Partners/FIRST section for more info)
FIRSTbase: FIRSTbase is a website that Autodesk sponsors for FIRST teams to get training, downloads and information about Autodesk software and competitions. Team members need to create a log-in then be listed as part of the team by the coach.
FLL: FLL or FIRST Lego League is a FIRST robotics league that builds and competes using Lego Robotics kits.
FRC: FRC or FIRST Robotics Competition is a FIRST robotics league that builds and competes with the large 5-foot robots.
FTC: FTC or FIRST Tech Competition is a FIRST robotics league that builds and competes with the small 18-inch robots.
Gracious Professionalism: This is a motto of FIRST Robotics. All teams are expected to show behaviors consistent with being both gracious and professional during a competition. Such as being helpful to other teams, good sportsmanship, cooperative with volunteers/officials, etc.
Kick-off: This is a presentation made by FIRST robotics to announce that year's challenge. All teams are invited to a kick-off near their home location, or can look up the same presentation on the internet.
LabView: This is one of the programs recommended for programming the robotic computer that controls the robot's actions during the hand-off part of a round.
Mentor: A mentor is an adult volunteer who helps the team. They may have special knowledge of engineering, programming, advertising, web page building, animation, administration, etc. that they share.
Nationals: This is the top competition, usually held in Atlanta which is where the FIRST Robotics organization is located.
Operator: This is a competition job. A team member uses radio controls to control the robot's task parts during competition heats. This may be using lifters,dumpers or grippers or other parts that achieve the game challenge.
The Pit: This is the area where the teams work on their robots between rounds. They usually consist of rows of small team areas where tools and supplies are kept, along with some displays of awards or other team information. Many teams decorate their pit with lights, banners, buttons, garland, etc.
Regionals: This is a local competition, usually held near a major city. The winning alliances of the regional competitions are invited to go to the National competition.
Robocoach: This is a team member that controls the robot during the first 15 seconds of a round. They use the remote control to send commands to the robot during the hands-off period.
Rookie: This is a new team, one that is competing for the first time.
Round: The period of time when two alliances compete at a competition. Rounds are of two kinds: Seeding and Elimination. Rounds have two parts. the first part is the Autonomous mode (see autonomous mode). The Second part is when the robots are controlled by drivers (see driver).
Safety Award: This is an honor earned by your team showing they follow all safety rules during competition and by doing some kind of a presentation about safety to other teams. Each team member is given tokens to give out to other teams when they see good safety practices being demonstrated. The team with the most tokens wins.
Seeding rounds: These are the rounds that determine your overall ranking going into the Final rounds of the competition. The top 8 teams are guaranteed a place in the final rounds.
Specialist: This is a competition job. A Specialist does a specific task during the competition, that is related to the game play, but does not include running the robot. In 2009 there was a 'payload specialist' position that tossed the balls onto the playing field.
Sponsor: A sponsor is an organization, individual or company that provides money and/or materials for the team.
TIMS: An acronym meaning "Team Information Management System". This is where teams enter their contact and registration information with FIRST each year.