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Unread 23-01-2003, 16:24
kmcclary's Avatar
kmcclary kmcclary is offline
Founder 830/1015;Mentor 66/470/1502
FRC #0470 (Alpha Omega Robotics)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Rookie Year: 1994
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 491
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Quote:
Originally posted by johnscans
We wanted team S.L.U.T(Students Loving and Understanding Technology) but it was turned down for obvious reasons.
john scans
team 1019
TEAM DECEPTICON
LOL!!!

You know, choosing a name can be HARD... The high school is simply "The Pioneers", with a complex Conestoga Wagon logo, and most of the sports teams go with that. The students however weren't crazy about being yet ANOTHER team at the school with the same name.

So the names started coming, and coming, and COMING... We had a HUGE number of random ideas for a team name, but a LOT of them were presented in jest.

At one point during the naming process our team thought about being the "Cow Pi's" with turd hats and a cow's profile logo that looked like the mathematical Pi symbol. Needless to say though, of ALL the ideas, the school administration was NOT pleased with being associated with THAT concept. The admin said they didn't care if it was an animal or other choice, but they didn't want to be the "butt" of jokes... We didn't want a fight with them. When we thought about it, we felt we might have a hard time recruiting SPONSORS to that name as well. So we found something else. (We also thought we may not appreciate comments from other teams like "they make crappy robots"... )

After MANY waves of ideas though, we obviously weren't getting anywhere, and were running out of time to decide. I finally simply said to focus everyone: "OK, these are ALL cool ideas, but we now need to choose ONE. So, to show everyone you're SERIOUS about your idea, and present a logo concept as well. You don't have to be an artist, just show us the CONCEPT, and we'll FIND a student with art skills to draw it for you. We'll then choose from THOSE."

Oh boy, THAT quickly separated the REAL suggestions from random prank offerings! To our amazement though, SEVERAL students showed up the next week with EXCELLENT presentations and artwork, and we got down to some SERIOUS name selection! We still had lots of animal or machine/tech thematic items to choose from, but now we could SEE them.

I think the term "Pi High Samurai" was originally forwarded as a gag. However, Jeffrey Nao, a Sophomore with EXCELLENT art skills, ran with it. Jeffrey came up with our incredible Samurai Warrior logo (which you'll see in the Yearbook this year), and it took the student's votes hands down. EVERYONE, students, mentors, teachers, and sponsors alike were pleased with the name. "Pi High" is something the students all call the school anyway, and we all thought Pi High Samurai rolled off the tongue fairly easily. It also had a LOT of interesting thematic opportunities for development of a "team personality" and swap items. Our robot is named Shogun, for "leader of the army".

Now if anyone has a lead of where we can get ahold of a good Samurai Armor suit for our mascot, please email me privately! REAL ones are thousands of dollars, so we're now trying to figure out how to have a costume one made cheaply.

- Keith
__________________
Keith McClary - Organizer/Mentor/Sponsor - Ann Arbor MI area FIRST teams
ACTI - Automation Computer Technologies, Inc. (Sponsoring FIRST teams since 2001!)
MI Robot Club (Trainer) / GO-Tech Maker's Club / RepRap-Michigan) / SEMI CNC Club
"Certifiably Insane": Started FIVE FRC teams & many robot clubs (so far)!
2002: 830 "Rat Pack" | 2003-5;14: 1015;1076 "Pi Hi Samurai" | 2005-6: 1549 "Washtenuts"/"Fire Traxx"
2005-(on): 1502 "Technical Difficulties" | 2006-(on): FIRST Volunteer!
2009-(on): 470 "Alpha Omega" | WAFL | Sponsor & "Floating Engineer" for MI Dist 13 (Washtenaw Cnty)
2011: 3638 "Tigertrons" | 2013-(on): 4395 "ViBots" | 2014-(on) 66 "Grizzlies"
"Home" Teams: 66, 470, 1076, 1502, 4395
Local FIRST alumni at or coming to Ann Arbor (UM/EMU/WCC/Cleary)?
...We Want YOU as a Mentor! Please email me for info!
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