<p>So, our fantastic son coordinated his schools entry into a robotics competition at UCB which they won the prior year. Not knowing much I encouraged him to apply to FIRST robotics but he was discouraged by the costs. He eventually got support from the other local school which provided advice and how they came up with a business plan.</p>
<p>Fast forward 2 months, none of the grants were won. They had no way of making the $6,500 entry fee. I was a littel saddened, but perfectly okay. They would do the Berkeley one again which was very inexpensive. So a week later FIRST contacts them and states do not worry about the entry we'll take care of it. Now they're back in it. I drove the kids to a workshop in Santa Clara University. I did some research and am overwhelmed on how they can possibly afford anything beyond the kit. Who would cut metal and do welding. I mean some schools had custom machined parts. I watched a youtube video about a farming community that for their first year used wood and they were ridiculed. Sigh I'm afraid that my son might embarass himself. On top of that it seems like me and two teachers are the only supporters. I haven't heard anything from any of the other parents. It is an urban school in a unaffluent neighborhood. Most parents are not native speakers.</p>
<p>By no means are we wealthy. I borrow my mom's (his grandma's) larger SUV to drive as many kids as possible. But it seems like for debate, Berkeley Robotics, and this one I'm like the only parent. I feel like I should learn to drive a bus or something. Theres 33 kids on the team, I can only drive 6 since I'm the driver. IS it wrong for me to feel they might fail? Should I let it happen? I offered to buy certain tools for them that could cut metal, or I could cut it at home for them so there would be less liability.</p>
<p>No shop classes or classrooms at the high school?</p>
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<p>Some of the best engineers can design the most amazing stuff with the fewest resources available in design and construction. Indeed, if his team builds a robot that is better and cheaper than everyone else’s robot, that is likely to be doubly impressive.</p>
<p>As far as driving the kids around goes, note that Santa Clara University is right next to a Caltrain station. Surely a group of smart budding engineers can figure out how to take the train there.</p>
<p>Building a robot for the FIRST competition is a huge undertaking. It requires a variety of skills, including design, programming, construction, plus adult mentoring. The mentoring can come from the school and parents, but it can also come from the larger community. It’s a fantastic experience but an enormous amount of work. You’re smart to hesitate taking it on if there is little other support. </p>
<p>The Silicon Valley regional tournament is the first week of April, is that the one you’d enter? That gives you 3 months to design, build and test your robot. Very tight but doable if you’re very very organized and have support from industry.</p>
<p>Are there local businesses who would be willing to donate time/equipment/materials to the team?</p>
<p>Is there another team in your area that could possibly give you advice and serve as mentors? My son’s team worked closely with another local team, sharing practice fields and technical advice.</p>
<p>ucb - haha I’ve actually considered multiple ways to cut costs. I’m even willing to pay for there hotel if everyone squeezed one or two rooms.</p>
<p>vball - no there is a waiting list to join that one. They joined the Nor Cal one that takes place in Sacramento. But the workshops and kickoff they attend is the San Jose one. Yeah they originally were going to take train from SF, but there wasn’t one at the appropriate time on the weekend. So I drove them, then drove back to the city did some errands and drove back and picked them up, so about four hours of driving and waiting for them. They’re working on local sponsors and more mentors. I have a business degree so not very helpful on engineering side. But I can build quite a few things from instructions and self taught a decent amount. If my father lived locally he could probably help. He’s a retired engineer.</p>
<p>Yes, in our community the FIRST teams are sponsored by the area manaufacturing businesses. This is Michigan and there is manufacturing everywhere, so perhaps not where you are? Are there no manufacturing companies with staff that would like to volunteer? Tool and die shops?</p>
<p>Just spoke to my son who is very active in FIRST. He said you are going to need hexkeys which are cheap (less then $10). Read up on electric safety, make sure you have safety glasses. You need to go to Andy Mark . com and using the password you can find out on TIMS sign up for FIRST choice and use those credits to get additional parts. Also, on FIRST site is a fundraiser selling light bulbs.</p>
<p>Biggest piece of advice - get an established team to mentor yours. FIRST teams are always willing to help out. He was astonished any team would be made fun of. My son’s team is only it’s its 3rd yr and they have gotten a lot of help and support from other teams. He wanted to go on and on and offered his team in Maryland to help with advice, but said a closer team would be more useful.</p>
<p>Contact your FIRST regional director and ask for help and guidance from another team in your area. Go to chiefdelphi.com to ask questions about FIRST. It’s a very active community.</p>
<p>My son was involved for a few years before the time commitment kept him from pursuing other ecs and he made the decision to quit. Our local university was the source of all our mentors. We didn’t have any corporate sponsorship either and had to fund raise quite a bit, but the college mentors were invaluable. Great program and great experience but very time consuming.</p>
<p>If you are near an engineering college, they might provide some mentors or grants.
FIRST robotics is a much more intense, competitive and expensive competition than some others. It takes a huge commitment from adults helping the kids. Around here, I believe many teams are often sponsored by high tech companies that provide funding and expertise. My family has more experience with the Botball competition.</p>
<p>As has been suggested; contact local teams in your area and ask them to mentor you. Part of the FIRST philosophy is gracious professionalism. To win the chairman’s award (which is a big deal) teams have to mentor what they call “rookie teams”. Your son’s team would be considered a rookie team and in fact one way to get to the world championship is by being named “rookie of the year” at your regional competition. FIRST teams always want to help other teams out so look up who won the regional in your area and contact them for help. With my DD’s team they always are passing along parts they no longer need. Also contact engineering organizations in your area like Society of Women Engineers or Society of Hispanic Engineers and ask if any of them would be interested in mentoring. We get many of our mentors that way. Also ask if there are any parents at the high school who are engineers which are another source of help. For welding my DD’s team borrows a welder. A lot of our expenses are paid for through sponsorships through local companies (J.C Penny sponsors a lot of teams.) Look who where some of the sponsors of last year’s team and ask them if they would sponsor your team. </p>
<p>Just so you know the building season for FIRST is only six weeks long. The launch is January 5 where everyone attends a local launch site to get the “problem”. Team then have until Feb. 19/20 where you then have to bag and tag your robot and can do no further work on it. Our teams has “lock-ins” where the kids stay overnight at the school working on building the robot a couple of times during the season. </p>
<p>Contact the regional director of FIRST. They can give you a lot of ideas.</p>
<p>itsv - some great ideas. Actually the other school in the city actually sort has mentored our S’s team. They are having their own seperate kickoff that our school can attend locally after the main kickoff in San Jose. They have been helping a lot.</p>
<p>moms4 - Yes we do know about Andymark. But from what I understand they’ll have the login a little late sigh. So lots of the stuff will be missing. Since they had originally thought they could not participate. Plus at the same time the andymark thing starts at 9 AM while all the kids are in class.</p>
<p>3t - Thats what I’ve thought. Man even getting this thing rolling has been super time consuming. S has been working on dividing the people into groups to work on specific tasks etc. It’s very time consuming.</p>
<p>They have had problems finding sponsors. Sigh even though we are in SF. They’re currently debating walking around the neighborhood.</p>
<p>One of the biggest principles instilled in FIRST is gracious professionalism. There are teams who have totally rebuilt another team’s robot at competition, who have lent them essential parts to get them off the ground. Not knowing what you’re doing is ok, but reach out for help. If you are in SF area, I agree with the idea of contacting engineering programs at colleges. Many of those kids participated in similar projects. My son got ours started his senior year and with the help of one teacher who knew about FIRST, a physics teacher who didn’t and three parents,(one who never had a kid at the school) the kids got a robot built. They were proud of it. It was nothing like the ones at competition, especially some of those from Michigan, but there was a heck of a lot of pride and enthusiasm. FIRST is an overwhelming project but the kids love it.
Does your school district have professional partners? Can the district level or principal help? Maybe a teacher is married to someone who could help
It’s an exciting but expensive project to take part in and the competitions are something else. I hope you get it off the ground. On FIRST website too, they offer help. Reach out and touch someone!</p>
<p>Your son and his friends should reach out to other teams and local colleges to get mentors, as others have suggested. But here is another idea… if this year seems too overwhelming for a small team with little funding, consider the FIRST FTC program. A few kids with much less funding can build a fantastic robot. A “bare bones” team can be funded for less than $2000-3000 total. It will still be a great learning experience but the costs are much lower and a team can be successful with many fewer members. I know a team with 4 members! You will still benefit from reaching out to the community for engineering help.</p>
<p>Good Luck! FIRST is a wonderful program and your son and his friends are bound to learn a great deal.</p>