Commitment
 

Many of the members on our team are really concerned about the commitment required during the 6-week build season, and don't think that they would be able to meet more than twice a week.
Part of my job as "leadership" is to give the rest of the team a clear idea of what the build season is going to look like commitment-wise.
Therefore,
How much individual commitment is required to be on your FRC team?

I know commitment is really relative, so if you'd rather say how many hours are spent each week during build season, that works too

thanks a whole bunch!

Re: Commitment
 

The CyberCards meet six days a week (we take Sundays off or my wife would shoot me). School gets out at 2:30; we usually leave between 6-7. On Saturdays, we're here from 10:30-5ish.
We expect the veteran members to be here at least 80% of the time; JV members at least 60%. We realize there are other taxing issues for high school students (academics, sports, jobs, other clubs & organizations).

Re: Commitment
 

4 or 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, is about right for the first few weeks, then when you see how far behind you are it might go up to 7 hours a day.....or more.....

Re: Commitment
 

Usually about one-two hours per night for the first several weeks, with 8AM-5PM on Saturdays and then Sunday afternoons. Let's see now: 5 hours + 9 hours (with lunch) + 5 hours or so= minimum 19 hours per week. Not everyone shows up every night though; the only required meetings are Friday night and Saturday.

The later we get, the longer we go. I'd say as many as 25 hours or more per week during the last two weeks.

Then again, crunch time practically starts during Week 1.

I'd say that every team has their own time requirement/constraint. If you can only meet as a team twice a week, great. Use those times to update the entire team on what is happening. Smaller groups can meet more often and work on their portion of the robot.

Re: Commitment
 

Our team works similarly to Eric's. We meet 6 days a week for the first 3 weeks, and 7 days a week for the remaining 3 weeks. Different sub-teams meet on different sets of nights (ex: electrical meets T-TH, manipulator M-W, etc.) This works in the beginning while concepts and prototypes are being built.

After the first 3 weeks, people start showing up quite a bit more. Integration between teams starts to happen, and people are there as much as they can be. All team members are required to be there every Saturday during the entire build season.

Personally, I am there every day/night that we open the shop. So thats:

3-8 (5 hours) weekdays
9-5 (8 hours) weekends

5*5*6 (weekdays) + 8*6 (saturdays) + 8*3 (sundays) = 222 hours.

I am also there for the 72 hours before and during the UTC scrimmage, take 6 hours sleep, and then work on the bot for 48 hours. This adds an additional 120 hours, for a total of 342 hours.

So I guess for our team, the maximum number of hours that can be put in are 342 hours. For the past 3 years I haven't missed a day (perfect attendance!!)

We typically expect students to be there 2 nights a week plus saturdays, totaling 18 hours a week * 6 weeks = 108 hours.

108/222 regular build hours is 48% of the time. Thats approximately the expectation.

Keep in mind that we have a large team with 30+ students and this time does not include fundraising time. While 48% of the time doesn't sound like much, we are open an awful lot.

Jacob

Re: Commitment
 

Lets see... 973 does this:

Weekdays:
Shop opens at about 4pm, closes at about 10pm. Might go later on some days later in the season... All-nighters are nothing new.

Weekends:
Saturday: 10am to 5pm. Can go much later.
We don't often work Sunday, thats when we get our schoolwork done. However, those last few weeks...

Re: Commitment
 

Our team doesn't meet at a school because we're two schools combined, and our shop is between 10 minutes and 45 minutes driving for every member. During build season our entire team only meets twice a week, with subteam meetings whenever necessary (usually an additional meeting or two per subteam). Each meeting is between four and eight hours long, with an additional hour driving each (for me), so around 14 hours a week for me, plus extra time for subteam meetings, brainstorming, and anything else I take home to work on. Plus, once the end of the build season gets close, Chairman's Award committee meetings eat up a LOT of time.

Re: Commitment
 

We do Saturday-Thursday with the amount of time/night varying depending on what is getting done and how much needs to be done. I don't think we actually have a hard minimum attendance, but if you never show up and never do any work, you don't get to go to the competition.

Re: Commitment
 

Normally, we meet Mondays ("optional"), Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 3-5.

During build, we meet every day but Sunday until 6-7 on weekdays and from 9-4 on Saturdays.

Of course, as mentioned, there are some things that prevent people from coming every day. We have some people on the badminton and mock trial teams, for example, both of which take coincide with build.

Leads are expected to attend basically every meeting, and for other members, we use attendance (recorded) and efficiency to determine who can come when we travel when school transportation and hotels are needed.

Re: Commitment
 

During our "offseason" period, (September-December, May-June), we meet regularly once a week for two hours, with extra events like fundraisers, offseason competitions, and community activities.

During our "main season", we hold meetings six days a week regularly, with some Fridays (the seventh day). Monday through Thursday are 3-4 hours each, Saturday is 8 hours, Sunday is 5 hours, and the some Fridays are usually 5 hours. This is a total of up to 34 hours a week, not including fundraisers, competitions, and other events.

However, we only require 60% attendance to go to competitions, and we offer opportunities to receive what is, in effect, "extra credit", for attending specific meetings to clean up our workshop, etc. (We try to be flexible, and there are exceptions in extenuating circumstances, such as one kid whose mom died of cancer.)

Despite the attendance requirement, you see the dedicated members at robotics nightly, often with >100% attendance because of our "extra credit" opportunities. I've seen as low as 3% attendance, as well, with the people who you wonder why they stick around on the team.

Re: Commitment
 

As mentioned earlier, our team is moving to a new schedule this year (which still has yet to be determined). There will be mandatory meetings for the whole team about twice a week, and then sub-team meetings different nights.

Last season we did Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays. Weekdays from 2:20 - 5-ish and weekends from 7a - 2. Of course when crunch time comes around it'll be modified, believe me.

Yeah, there are things that prevent some students from attending. We had a member last year who was also in band, and it conflicted big time. But like smurfgirl and lukevanoort said, there will probably be some people whose motives have to be questioned. They show up, you set a mandatory attendance, then they disappear into the mist. Try to see what's up, but if they're just whatever, then forget about it.

Re: Commitment
 

During the 45 day build season our schedule is:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - 4-7pm
Saturday 9am - 4pm plus or minus an hour

We want each student there 2 weekday afternoons or 1 Saturday during any given week. There will be a few students there every session and a few that will make it only once a week, for good cause.

If someone thinks that they can show up for a couple of sessions and then go on a trip, nope, it ain't gonna happen.

We work two major objectives - make sure the student gets some quality hours during the week, and make sure the student can get their other non-robotics bases covered.

Re: Commitment
 

Team 1676 generally meets weekdays 3:15 - 9 pm, Saturday 9 am to 7 pm-ish, Sundays off. This year we're probably going to take a day off during the week, too.

Some kids take their homework to meetings and they get it (or much of it) out of the way in a larger group, things go faster when people can explain it, then they put the saw to the metal.

2 days a week really isn't enough, unless you make 2 shifts (total time is 4 days a week), vbut there are other problems with that, as in how to hand off work from one shift to the next...

Don

Re: Commitment
 

6 days a week
6-9 (vets stay from 3-9) Mon, Wed, Fri
3-6 Tues, Thurs
8-8 Sat
+SRT (study hall every other day) 1.5 hours

Re: Commitment
 

We run three hours a day 6-9 on weekdays
Saturdays can very usually 9-5.
Sundays are reserved for emergencies

These are the set times there are members who arrive early and leave late

One weekend in 2004 we worked 5 hours Friday night, 15 hours Saturday, then another 9 on Sunday, so you can never really plan exactly how much time yours going to need. If your design & build run smoothly you might not need to meet everyday or if something goes wrong you could end up working extra long hours.

If you have members who can only meet a few times a week try setting a schedule up so they are spread out throughout the week, that way you can remain productive every day instead of having tons of people there one day then nobody show up the next. Either way make sure there is communication between everybody so you know who will be there when and what was accomplished the previous few days, We have learned from past experience that if only one person know whats going on with a certain design/device then they don't show up alot of efforts end up getting duplicated.

Re: Commitment
 

We always struggle with a similar problem because we never seem to have enough members. Our solution is to make it so that the team meets every night for two hours. Not everyone has to show up every night. Some only make one every other week. Instead of using excess hours in the shop, we are always thinking about it. I was the rules person and carried the manual with me everywhere. I couldn't even sleep for a few days after kickoff because I had numbers, rules, and designs running through my head. When we do see someone in the halls, who hasn't been to the meetings, we find out where they have been and ask what ideas they have for the robot. Sometimes, they will get the grunt work because they do not have the time to choose, but they keep coming back.

Re: Commitment
 

269 has generally been every week night for the first two or three weeks from 5pm and most people stay until at least 9. Some nights it goes to 10:30 or 11.

Once you the second half of the build season starts, we start meeting on Saturdays and Sundays. If I remember correctly it was about 9am till the late afternoon.

Every team is different, and every student on every team is different. You are going to see a solid group of a couple kids who get really into it and are there every hour they can, and then there will be the kids who are there 2 or 3 nights a week and tend to make less of a commitment.

If this is your first year, it could be tough and you may lose some attraction between now and January but you just need to hang in there. Rookie years can be bad, but going into next year, if you can get a group of a students who are coming back and can serve as veterans on the team, you should be ok.

Robotics will draw attention to new students. I have no doubt that your first meeting probably had a significant turnout. The key is to keep interest.

Re: Commitment
 

For this season, 1618 will be meeting three days during the week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) after school, and Saturdays. To qualify to travel to Chesapeake, our sole regional this year, students have to make a percentage of both sets of meetings (the exact figures escape me; I think it's around 60%), and chip in $100 towards the trip (which, we hope, will be offset at least partially by fundraising events).

We're going great lengths to make the kids and their parents aware of the requirements this year, as a little less awareness last season left us with seven kids that traveled to Palmetto. The addition of a travel money requirement also necessitates more awareness, since the team hasn't needed it before (compare our 2007 travel to our 2008 travel).

Re: Commitment
 

Team 1675 worked every day after school except Thursdays until 8, 'til 9 on Fridays.

Saturdays we work 8 to 4. Any off school days where teachers are still expected to show up we also work from approximately 8 to 4.

Near the end of the season the schedule sometimes differs.

Re: Commitment
 

It is a big commitment. But it's worth it. Hopefully as the build progresses, the rest of the team will see that and want to come more often. Perhaps you could start with something like having 1/2 the team meet on Mon & Wed, and the other 1/2 on Tue & Thu, and everyone on Sat. That's only three times per week, which is not much more than the twice per week that people wanted, but allows for people who want to put in more time to easily start showing up more often.

There's been times I've put in an average of over 40 hours per week. Other years I've done less.

As "leadership" try to figure out early on how much time you will actually have people putting in (not what they say they'll put in, but what they'll actually do). Make sure you plan your design accordingly. Say you have 10 people meeting twice a week for 4 hours per session over 6 weeks. That's 480 man-hours of work. Say you have 10 people meeting for 40 hours per week over 6 weeks; that's 2400 man-hours of work. 480 man-hours spent on a simple design which requires only 450 man-hours to complete is going to perform much better than 2400 man-hours spent on a design which requires 3000 man-hours to complete.

Re: Commitment
 

Off season in the fall we meet on Thurdays for 2 hours, but the lego team meets Wednesday and Saturday. During build season we meet Tuesday, Wedesday, Thursday for two hours and on Satureday for 6 to 7 hours. All students don't show up every meeting but every meeting we have enough students and mentors to effectivly build. Me and My wife never stop with FIRST, we go from FLL to FTC to FRC to helping with Kettering fall event, Kettering Game Kick off, FTC event, help form Mid Michigan Robotics Alliance, team comunity events, Lego work shops, and much much more. If your mind is always working you will never stop. Oh and the FRC students showed me how to work the web sit so that never ends too.

Re: Commitment
 

At 395, we meet 6 days a week. Sundays are off so that team members can rest up/do work. However, since our shops are so far from the school/student's homes, on weekdays we start at 4, and run until 8:30-9. Sometimes those of us who live closer to the shop will stay until 10 or 11. On weekends, we work from 10 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon, and occasionally until 8.
However, nobody can be expected to commit to such a rigorous schedule, so I'd say your students should be required to attend at least 3 days per work week.