Team Leadership

Today I read this article that I found on mlive.com from the Grand Rapids Press.

Apparently the FIRST team at Grandville High School (RoboDawgs, Team #288) in Grandville Michigan is having an issue with leadership of their team. The article makes the claim that certain people feel the need to have Team 288 directed by administrators, their team boosters and corporate sponsors. Apparently a group of people feel that because the RoboDawgs didn't have a winning season, they need to change their leadership...

This is interesting to me since my team (904) worked closely all of this season with the Grandville team. The RoboDawgs are such a great group of people and the parents, mentors and students were all incredibly helpful to our team. They worked great together and I was very thankful that they allowed us to work with them and test our machine at their facility.

It is simply astounding to me to think that someone wants to change their leadership simply based on their performance this year. That is NOT what FIRST is about. It's NOT about winning and it’s NOT even about building robots... It is about giving students the opportunity to solve unique and interesting problems in a short amount of time while keeping within a limited budget. These are experiences that professional engineers face every day.

The companies that sponsor FIRST teams do NOT do it because they want "air time" with their logo in people's faces while their robot is winning. They do it because they value our young people, and hope that given the right circumstances, they'll go to college to study engineering, science and technology and be able to return to the community to help these companies grow.

The article also claims that Grandville's Robotics Team Booster Organization was formed to help the team through tough times. Running a FIRST robotics team is a lot like running a business. There is ALWAYS money problems and lack of adults that provide the guidance every team needs. I find it appalling that the RoboDawgs are chasing away a good group of caring adults that have provided leadership to their team for several years. I sincerely hope they can work through their differences and return as a whole cohesive team for 2009.

Fourth of July Fund Raising

Wednesday July 2, 2008 we had some strong storms pass through our area which knocked out the power to most of the region. We were without power for almost 2 full days, but did get it back just before lunch-time on Friday the Fourth.

Our FIRST team usually helps out at a carnival style event that we use as a fund raiser. Students from the team help set up, run and take down those large inflatable bouncy things that kids like to jump on and twist their ankles. It's typically a very safe time; every once in a while someone gets an owwie, but after a minute or two they're usually back at it.

The Fourth of July fund raiser is usually a very long and hot day, as it was again this year. By the end of the day when all the equipment needs to be packed up, everyone is pretty tired.

We'll be doing something similar in a few weeks, however this will be a volunteer event that our team will be doing for the community.

If you're team does anything like this, leave me a comment. Thanks!

IRI 2008

IRI - (Indiana Robotics Invitational) will be July 18 & 19. IRI is probably the largest off-season event and is larger than most regional competitions. This year will be the sixth year it will be hosted by the McKenzie Career Center and held at Lawrence North High School in the Lawrence North Gym. Lawrence North High School is located on the North side of Indianapolis, Indiana.

There are tons of heavy hitters attending this event, which should make it one of the most entertaining off-season events this year. If you are in the area and are interested in learning more about FIRST, you should definitely check this event out. It is open to the public and admission is free.

If you or your team is planning on going, leave me a comment and let me know. I'll not be attending, but planning on helping host the first ever West Michigan Regional Invitational that will happen early this fall.

2008 / 2009 President's Circle

I've been patiently waiting for something new on the FIRST World Tube YouTube site that would indicate the beginning of the 2008 President's Circle. As you may recall, my daughter and I made a video for the 2007 President's Circle, and we were initially invited to be part of their group, however I guess since we did it independent of our FRC team we were not eligible.

No worries, we'll do it again this year, 'cause you know that I am hugely into promoting FIRST.

Well, just for the heck of it, yesterday I went to the US FIRST website, to see what was new. It looks like they've posted the particulars for the new President's Circle, but didn't post it on YouTube. So, if you're waiting for a video on YouTube describing the President's Circle, the details are on the FIRST website.

Here's the details:

This year’s challenge asks you to put the power of advertising to work for FIRST. Here’s how it works:

Develop an Internet Ad

• Teams should develop a 30 or 60-second video/TV ad that will persuade students to start a FIRST team. What do you think is the right message to convince students to start FIRST teams?
• Your ad should be targeted to the audience you’re trying to persuade to start a FIRST team. For example, if you’re an FLL team, target your ad to FLL-age kids; FRC teams target their ad towards high-school students, etc.

Post Your Ad on the FIRST You Tube Channel by November 1, 2008

• Please title it “ Team 2008 President’s Circle” (please include your program and team number in the title of the ad, e.g. "FRC Team 5017 2008 President’s Circle").

Get Your Ad Placed Everywhere

• Work with local broadcast media to get your ad placed as Public Service Announcements (PSAs).
• Be creative in getting your ad as much exposure and visibility as possible.
• More visibility means more new FIRST teams.
• A panel of FIRST judges will decide the best video/TV ads.

The winning videos will be announced and shown at the 2009 FRC Kickoff on Saturday, January 3.

And it doesn't look like the winners get to go to Dean's house this year... Oh well, maybe next year.

Just Science

Okay, since I veered off topic with my last post I'm going to go even further off topic but to something that I think is very import. Today one of my favorite authors, Brian Greene, had an Op-Ed in the New York Times. Brian is the author of 2 excellent books, "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos". I have been a fan for many years and I did have the opportunity to see Brian give a speech a few years ago.

Today, Brian's Op-Ed is about the state of science in our country / culture. I could try to give an overview, but he is such an eloquent writer, just go read it. <- that was the link, now go read it!

Robots not FIRST

I've been faithful to only blogging about FIRST related robotics, however since FIRST is in a slow period right now, I'll blog about something a little different.

This past weekend NASA landed Phoenix on Mars. If you are not aware, Phoenix is on a mission to discover water ice on Mars and maybe any evidence of life or that life may have existed there at one time.

Phoenix landed near Mars' north pole on Sunday May 25 and I watched NASA TV for all the coverage. There weren't any immediate video signals, the only way they knew what Phoenix was doing was based on radio signals received at JPL. It was awesome when they had confirmed Phoenix had safely landed. During EDL, (Entry, Descent and Landing) NASA TV played lots of animations of what the spacecraft was going through and what it needed to do to land. This was great, but it still left me wondering what it was really like. I wanted real pictures. It took an hour or so and a few black and white pictures began to come back from Phoenix. The pictures showed that the spacecraft had opened it's solar panels properly and showed the horizon. They were beautiful; simply stunning!

Today, even more spectacular images came back, but not from Phoenix. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) which is orbiting the red planet snapping pictures of everything it sees, saw the landing site for Phoenix. Check out this picture. It clearly shows the landing site / Phoenix, the parachute and backshell and the discarded heat shield. If you think about the image a little, it looks like Phoenix approached from the lower left side of the image (maybe about 4:00 or 5:00). It dropped it's heat shield and let go from the parachute. A wind directly from the top of the picture blew the chute down and even dragged the backshell through the Martian soil. At the top of the image is Phoenix with a small blast area surrounding it from it's retro rockets that gave it a soft landing.

Lastly, an image came back from Phoenix that is very cool. Check out this picture. This is the Phoenix lander, you can see one of it's solar panels, an American flag, and what looks like an audio CD. It's actually a DVD, and inscribed on this DVD are the names of people that visited the Phoenix website before it launched. You could sign up and have your name burned onto this DVD, which is exactly what I did for myself and my kids. Our names are on this DVD and will be on Mars for a long time. If you look carefully, the title is "Messages from Earth - 2007".

If nothing FIRST related happens soon, I may write more about cool robot stuff happening elsewhere.

Memorial Day

Since it has been a month from my last post, I'll take a few minutes today to write a brief update.

First off, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day. If you haven't already, please take a moment and remember someone who bravely served our country so that we could be free.

Over the last month our robotics team had a few meetings and we wrapped up the season with a potluck dinner a couple weeks ago. Our potluck dinner was very nice; we awarded and thanked a ton of people.

Today our team marched in the Memorial Day Parade, however I didn't attend. It was a beautiful day and I hope those that did attend had a great time.

I've been monitoring the FIRST YouTube website, waiting for the announcement for this year's President's Circle contest. I haven't seen anything posted yet, but when I do I'll be writing about it.