Corporate Campus Sponsored Teams.

[xitaqua]

Hello All,

I was wondering if there is any teams that have their workshop where they build their robot inside a corporate campus ?

What is that experience like, such as the cons and pro versus a more traditional team that meets at a high school campus ?.

Cheers,
Marcos.

[Akash Rastogi]

although I'm not from one of such teams, i know a few common pro's to this situation.

-Direct onsite mentor support
-Not limited by school time/holiday restrictions
-Better learning environment for the kids if the mentor is in his/her "element"

Just a couple.

[GaryVoshol]

Another pro often is better facility/equipment/tools, depending on what the sponsor's business is.

A con is transportation of students to the site.

[fuzzy1718]

MY team builds at a local Ford plant, one huge con is the amount of room. My team and a few others that I have talked to who build at their sponsor's location have very little build space; we are cramped into a room that is about the size of a bedroom. Another con is dealing with security. The only benefit we actually have by working there, is they give us space for a full sized field and normally build some of it for us... free of charge! If you think machining is easier, make sure you don't work in a place with a union, they expect overtime for any parts that are for you. As far as tools go, we aren't allowed to use any of Ford's stuff due to liability.::ouch::

Hope this helps

[Carol]

We also build at a DuPont site. Besides the pros/cons already mentioned, hours are both a pro/con. Pro because you don't have to deal with school schedules and closings (businesses close much less often for weather than schools!). Con is we can't start work until 5:30 at night, and that early only because we provide dinner (paid for monthly by students and delievered by parents). Space is a con - our main workshop is in one building on site, dinner is eaten in another, and playing field and storage in another on a different site. Pro is that we can work on weekends - our usual schedule during build season is Mon, Wed, Thurs 5:30-8:30, and Sundays 1:00-5:00.

About half of our mentors work for DuPont and there is an advantage being on or near our work site.

[James Tonthat]

Wildstang builds at Motorola.

[Chris is me]

1714 works out of our head mentor's plastic fabrication shop, American Acrylics. This gives us some of the advantages of working on a corporate campus. Mainly, school schedules. Since Wisconsin schools close all the time, working in a shop outside of a school means that snow days turn into 8 hour longer build days. Since the business is relatively small, during build season with prior approval team members can work every day after their other commitments are done. We also can work on weekends (and do frequently).

I don't actually know of many cons to the arrangement at all.

[xitaqua]

Hello All,

Thanks for all the comments.

From the previous postings, I gathered the following team build on corporate campuses :

Team #1718 (The Fighting Pi) Ford Plant
Team#0365 (MOE) Dupont
Team#XXX (Wildstang) Motorola
Team#1714 (More Robotics) American Acrylics

And the PRO/CONS might be summarized as follows :

PRO
- Better access to Industry Mentors.
- Less “site closing” due to weather or “school day off”.
- Access to tools / facility and materials.

CON
- Access to students to site. (eg. Transportation, site security process)
- Student may not be able to use tool himself/herself due to liability.
- Company Policies / Union Policies may limit “build process”.
- Availability after business hours (5PM>). School maybe out 3 hours earlier.


Let me know what you guys think !.

Cheers,
Marcos.

[Trying to Help]

We built at a sponsor's site last year.

More things to consider - who cleans up? what are the pre-build expectations? and what happens if your sponsor doesn't have interest for a following year?

[xitaqua]

Hello Trying to Help,

Good questions !.

More things to consider - who cleans up?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : I would think teams would follow the same concept as the one that build in school classrooms. I mentored a team in Wentzville, MO where at the end of the day they would put everything back to a "closet". Unless the company is giving the team a dedicated space, the team should clean up themselves.

what are the pre-build expectations?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : A best way to set expectations is to set a "kick-off" meeting a couple months before the build season, have the company representative (usually a manager or a leader that is supporting the activity), talk to the team and give the pep-talk.


and what happens if your sponsor doesn't have interest for a following year?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : As in the "real world of engineering", the environment change, the key is to keep the "program sold", ensuring that the company sees the value to it's employee for sponsoring an activity like this. I think many companies sees this as a great opportunity to get engineers to keep their skills current : develop mentoring skills, technical skills and also communications skills.

[Carol]

and what happens if your sponsor doesn't have interest for a following year?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : As in the "real world of engineering", the environment change, the key is to keep the "program sold", ensuring that the company sees the value to it's employee for sponsoring an activity like this. I think many companies sees this as a great opportunity to get engineers to keep their skills current : develop mentoring skills, technical skills and also communications skills.

This is important. You HAVE to make sure that your sponsor sees the value of the team, sees the importance of what you do. Out of sight, out of mind, and the company may then look at their donations as a good place to cut back. We always invite our sponsors to our end of the year picnic, and do demos at the end of the year at corporates site(s), emphasizing the benefits to the students (how many scholarships won, stories of students who have graduated college and gone in engineering, etc.)