Any veterans of FIRST here?

Totally off topic (and maybe too long) but I went to my first FIRST Robotics Competition - http://www.ilfirst.org/frc.html
What a great program! My son is a junior in high school and is interested in going into some type of engineering but doesn’t know what area most interests him (EE, ME, CS). He has played soccer since he was very young and last fall tried out for the soccer team and made the team. I planted the seed in his head that he might think about joining the robotics team at school … but he couldn’t do both. To my surprise he declined the soccer position and joined the robotics club. At his school it is a very small club (8-10 kids) and the science teacher oversees it but has a very hands off involvement. He is mainly a facilitator. This last weekend was the area competition – deciding who goes to state. Thirty-six schools participated.

We have seen (on TV) the robot cage matches and they are super fun to watch but the structure of the FIRST program is brilliant. Instead of being destructive it is all constructive. Competitors are held to a very high standard of “gracious” competitiveness. That word (gracious) is used in verbally selecting and accepting alliances with other teams and in their general competitive behavior. There point scoring is spun such that purposeful violations by one team reward the opposing teams points. There is no offensive behavior against another team allowed. You have set tasks to accomplish and that is where the focus is. I think this model of competition also makes it easier for girls to feel comfortable participating.

So my son’s team got an overall rank of 7th place and got 2nd place in the final alliance and is not advancing to state. Given the small participation numbers from his school and no adult assistance, I think they did a fantastic job. My son was the driver. He has always liked RC cars and quad-copters and spends way too much time on the first shooter games – so that all did play into his success. When he tells me that he wants to wake up at 5:30 AM on a Saturday – to be at school at 6:00 AM to get in a little more practice (say what! – from the guy that can sleep till noon) …

For the veterans of FIRST – what is your take on adult involvement in the design and implementation? I was really impressed that these kids were so successful without any adult input. I am not sure how some of the other teams might have utilized adults.

Any ideas to further encourage his interest during the “off season”? He has said he wants to work on an arduino or raspberry pi project. Any suggestions?

We are starting to visit colleges in the Midwest – any shout-outs for good engineering programs?

Here is a pic of the team’s bot hanging onto a bar (couldn’t make the complete pull-up) at the end.

FIRST_DSC08315_(resized).JPG

Wow - that is an amazing light show! We'll have to look into that more. Maybe a project pin is on the horizon. I have to be careful to not let my interests overshadow his though. Thanks!