Avni - Week 12: The Power of Perception
This past weekend, my robotics team competed at the FTC States Championship (a robotics competition). With our 15 dedicated members, we were excited to compete and potentially make the World’s Competition too. But things didn’t go as planned. Not only did we fall short, but we performed worse than usual. It was crushing. A team that has become like family was left feeling like all our hard work this season meant nothing.
The problem was that we in fact were world-class level. Our engineering, outreach, and strategy were solid. But in FTC, its not just about what you do, its about how well you tell the judges what you did. And that’s where we struggled. The judging process, mean to evaluate forty-eight teams in a single day, has major flaws. It rewards those who know how to frame their achievements in the best light, sometimes even stretching the truth. Some teams took advantage of this, inflating their impact and making their work seem bigger than it really was. Meanwhile, we focused on doing the actual work but didn’t sell our story well enough.
Honestly, it stings. Our team with high standards of making it to Worlds was missed. And missed this not because we lacked skill, but because we didn’t present ourselves the right way, it’s truly frustrating. Was this a robotics competition or an English competition?
Power in FTC is not just about coding, building, or strategy. It’s about controlling the narrative. The teams that succeed aren’t always the ones that have the most, but the ones that can make their work sound the most impressive. It’s a tough lesson to learn, but next season, we’ll bring more than just our efforts and robot, we’ll bring our story and voice.
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Hello Avni! I am so sorry to hear that your competition did not go the way as planned, and I am also impressed with how fast your team acknowledged the different strategies they would need to use in the future. I believe that perspective is key to all aspects of life, and viewing things in a different way can be both beneficial and detrimental to individuals. I think it is beneficial because it allows humans to acknowledge a problem and figure out different solutions or ways of solving it. On the contrary, it is harmful due to the excessive changes and dilemmas individuals may face, bouncing from one point of view to another, unable to make a concrete decision. This ties down with the experience you faced in the competition, as the judges were met with a multitude of stories and had to choose the best one. Even though it could be a tough task for the judges, it is even tougher for the teams as they need to ensure their accomplishments are portrayed in a captivating way.
ReplyDeleteHey Avni, first off, I am sorry that your FTC competition did not go as planned. I know that Ink and Metal have amazing robots every year, which highlights your point about the power of marketing to judges. I also struggled with this last year in the science fair since judges only visit your poster board for a couple of minutes, which is not enough to fully explain your work, making projects that pitch their research clearly and concisely the winners. This system is highly flawed since the purpose of FTC and science fairs is to encourage students to work on a product and compete against others. Hard work and dedication to a project may not be the only factors for a successful project since judges do not know how much work you put in compared to someone else. This is why it is important to pitch a project so that judges can clearly understand the problem you are trying to address, your solution, and your project’s real-world impact. Luckily, my losses at last year’s fair have given me valuable insight that it is more about the presentation and appearance of a poster than the actual content. Reading a judge and marketing are important skills to have, which is the silver lining in the whole judging process. Thanks for sharing Avni!
ReplyDeleteHey Avni! I’m really sorry that your team’s competition didn’t go as expected. It’s clear that you all put in an incredible amount of effort, and it’s frustrating when the results don’t reflect the work you actually did. Your insight about storytelling being just as important as technical skill in FTC really stood out to me—it’s a tough reality in competitions where perception plays such a big role. Perspective holds so much power in all parts of life and it was nice to hear you talk about that. It’s inspiring to see how you and your team are already thinking ahead to next season with a plan to refine not just your engineering, but also how you present your accomplishments. That level of reflection and adaptability is what makes a team truly strong. Thanks for sharing and great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Avni! I am sorry that your competition did not go the way you hoped, but I think it is really incredible how your engineering team was able to go to the state championship. That is such an amazing accomplishment, and I hope you recognize how impressive that is. Your frustration is so valid—I would feel the same way if I was in your position. Knowing that you did everything right except for the fact you did not sell it well enough for the judges must be so frustruating. I am happy that you and your team were able to reflect on this and are now ready for anything that you face next. You did a great job and I hope next time you will be even greater.
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