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aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
I am one of the technical mentors for the local ~FIRST~ Robotics Team #11
My team has been building their 'bot for the last six weeks, mostly in the evenings and often past midnight (last Sunday night, we finally quit at 3 AM).
The team went to our local, regional competition yesterday and will be there today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday). Since I work on Thurs and Fri, I can't go down those days, but I'll be at our ~NJ REGIONAL~ FIRST Competition tomorrow. I'm bringing two Deans and two college administrators from my school with me, along with some friends and relatives.
Typical FIRST opening ceremony
This year, our team has around 80 active members and, at last count, we're raised about $40,000 for this years effort. This money is partly used to buy robot parts, but mostly, it is used to offset travel costs, so that more students can go to various events. Last year we went to Atlanta and South Carolina as well as our local (NJ) event. This year we'll go to the NJ event, the NY event (in Javits Center) and Atlanta). In past years we've been to Toronto, Orlando, Houston, Virginia Beach and so forth.
The competition changes every year, and the "game" is kept secret until early January. The "build season" (6 weeks) is a furious effort to design and put together a robot. During the build season, the students learn that, in FIRST, you don't have infinite time to "mull over" the design....you have to be focused and ready to work hard for the full six weeks or you won't have a robot that works. It encourages hard work, motivation, and resourcefulness and punishes "foot dragging", "time wasters" and "daydreaming". Just like real life.
The point of my post here is to point out that over the last nine years, I have worked with some of the greatest kids (high school and college age). It has been a privilege for me to work with some of these kids and teachers. Two of my teacher friends on the team are the most hard working, honest, caring individuals I have ever met. And their enthusiasm for FIRST Robotics has affected me and many others.
For those people who think that education doesn't work, join your local FIRST Robotics team and *then* see if you still feel that way.
For those people who think "kids today" are hopeless, join your local FIRST Robotics team and *then* see if you still feel that way.
For those people who really care about schools and education, but don't know how they can make a true, useful contribution to their local school, join your local FIRST Robotics team.
Not all our team members are mechanical or electronic wizards. We have Moms and Dads who bring food, a web page team, an accounting group (to manage our money), a marketing team (to get us in the newspaper) and so forth.
If you are willing to work, your local FIRST team will find a spot for you. And you’d be surprised who you may meet as a result. In the past nine years I’ve met many interesting and important people (including the Director of NASA, the former president of Chrysler, several state governors, etc).
This year, I worked on the drive train team. My students helped build part of the chassis and gearboxes (on our CNC machine in my lab).
And if you do join a team, prepare for hard work and lots of late nights. All this fun doesn't come without a price.
FIRST Robotics has four types of competitions, starting with kids as young as 10 and going up to college age kids. The categories are (by age), "Junior Lego League", "Lego League", "Vex" and "The FIRST Robotics Competition".
For more info go ~HERE~ and be sure to check out Dean Kamen's Vision Statement
And if you're crazy enough to want to get involved, go~HERE~
And yes, FIRST has a forum. Several, in fact. ~THIS~ is my favorite
Our '07 'bot during a "show off' session a few weeks ago for our local community
Two of my kids who built and designed part of the main chassis rails
At Rutgers a few years ago
The motto for FIRST is “Gracious Professionalism”
My team has been building their 'bot for the last six weeks, mostly in the evenings and often past midnight (last Sunday night, we finally quit at 3 AM).
The team went to our local, regional competition yesterday and will be there today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday). Since I work on Thurs and Fri, I can't go down those days, but I'll be at our ~NJ REGIONAL~ FIRST Competition tomorrow. I'm bringing two Deans and two college administrators from my school with me, along with some friends and relatives.
Typical FIRST opening ceremony
This year, our team has around 80 active members and, at last count, we're raised about $40,000 for this years effort. This money is partly used to buy robot parts, but mostly, it is used to offset travel costs, so that more students can go to various events. Last year we went to Atlanta and South Carolina as well as our local (NJ) event. This year we'll go to the NJ event, the NY event (in Javits Center) and Atlanta). In past years we've been to Toronto, Orlando, Houston, Virginia Beach and so forth.
The competition changes every year, and the "game" is kept secret until early January. The "build season" (6 weeks) is a furious effort to design and put together a robot. During the build season, the students learn that, in FIRST, you don't have infinite time to "mull over" the design....you have to be focused and ready to work hard for the full six weeks or you won't have a robot that works. It encourages hard work, motivation, and resourcefulness and punishes "foot dragging", "time wasters" and "daydreaming". Just like real life.
The point of my post here is to point out that over the last nine years, I have worked with some of the greatest kids (high school and college age). It has been a privilege for me to work with some of these kids and teachers. Two of my teacher friends on the team are the most hard working, honest, caring individuals I have ever met. And their enthusiasm for FIRST Robotics has affected me and many others.
For those people who think that education doesn't work, join your local FIRST Robotics team and *then* see if you still feel that way.
For those people who think "kids today" are hopeless, join your local FIRST Robotics team and *then* see if you still feel that way.
For those people who really care about schools and education, but don't know how they can make a true, useful contribution to their local school, join your local FIRST Robotics team.
Not all our team members are mechanical or electronic wizards. We have Moms and Dads who bring food, a web page team, an accounting group (to manage our money), a marketing team (to get us in the newspaper) and so forth.
If you are willing to work, your local FIRST team will find a spot for you. And you’d be surprised who you may meet as a result. In the past nine years I’ve met many interesting and important people (including the Director of NASA, the former president of Chrysler, several state governors, etc).
This year, I worked on the drive train team. My students helped build part of the chassis and gearboxes (on our CNC machine in my lab).
And if you do join a team, prepare for hard work and lots of late nights. All this fun doesn't come without a price.
FIRST Robotics has four types of competitions, starting with kids as young as 10 and going up to college age kids. The categories are (by age), "Junior Lego League", "Lego League", "Vex" and "The FIRST Robotics Competition".
For more info go ~HERE~ and be sure to check out Dean Kamen's Vision Statement
And if you're crazy enough to want to get involved, go~HERE~
And yes, FIRST has a forum. Several, in fact. ~THIS~ is my favorite
Our '07 'bot during a "show off' session a few weeks ago for our local community
Two of my kids who built and designed part of the main chassis rails
At Rutgers a few years ago
The motto for FIRST is “Gracious Professionalism”