At our first Robotics meeting on Thursday, October 6, 2018, we discussed the chain of command and were reintroduced to our new and returning mentors, leads and captains. After introductions, we talked about the core values of FIRST such as coopertition and gracious professionalism. We were notified that this year, FIRST updated the core values and now there are more!
Near the end of the meeting, we took a tour of the classroom and analyzed robots build for previous competitions. These robots were shown to help the rookies and the younger veterans refresh themselves with the important aspects of robotics. For example, there was the Frisbee bot which allowed us to look at the control system.There was also a driving demonstration in the hallway by last year’s robot. It displayed grace, precision, and a high display of effectiveness to boldly go where no robot has gone before, to pick up a cube and almost hit a wall. Keyword, almost.
Since we learned how powerful communication can be for a team all of the rookies had to sign up for Slack and Schoology. Students and mentors can stay up to date on announcements, meetings, and other information using the two platforms. On Slack, we have many channels which allow us to sort what information is sent where. For example, we have channels like “random”, for all posts and comments about things that are not related to robotics. We also have a “deep space” channel where the team can put any speculations they have about this year’s teaser.
So far our team building meeting has been successful in bringing the team closer as a family and to the ideologies of FIRST and robotics. We can’t wait for build season!!