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Unread 19-12-2005, 16:26
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Martinez Martinez is offline
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AKA: Jeff Martinez
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Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Rookie Year: 2002
Location: Apalachin, NY
Posts: 144
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Re: Need Help Creating a Binghamton Robotics Team

Things continue to go well in Owego. I’ve developed a sixteen page power point presentation on FIRST Robotics and the common team organization to be used as a business proposal. Last week I had a meeting with my manager to discuss the proposal and he’s given me my support. Honestly, I think he is a bit surprised from such initiative from a new hire just out of college, but hey I want to see this happen. Next step is a presentation in front of Communications and Human Resources, which will be scheduled some time after New Years. Then there will be another presentation in front of Frank Meyers, the Site President, and hopefully after that we will be off and running.

On the High School front, working through the Explorer Post has fallen through. I do not believe the group has the ambition or drive to become a FIRST Robotics team. They are very good at what they do, and I just do not want to push too hard for a project they are nether prepared nor excited to dive head into. For instance, the teams have now spent four meetings trying to get their Lego Mindstorms to travel an elliptical black track. By no means do I mean to knock them for they are truly a good group of people with the students both excited and inspired by engineering. Combined with the possible logistics of working with six schools, having the Explorer Post as their own existing team just doesn’t feel doable. So my thinking is to have the Explorer Post and a Robotics team as two separate entities both supported by Lockheed Martin Owego. We may or may not be working together during the six weeks having people involved with both groups and will have to wait to see how things progress.

At Owego Free Academy, progress is going quite well. I’ve met with the Tech Teacher mentioned before. He thinks its very “doable” with he and the high school are now on board. In fact we are planning a kickoff meeting in the computer lab to watch the Manchester web cast. Who to invite is a bit up in the air right now, since clearly we will not be participating and are more than a year out. My thinking is to have a meeting with folks interested in starting a team, discuss the proposal and how we want to organize while watching the broadcast. The only real question is financing. Owego is in a budget crisis and will likely not be able to provide any revenue. That’s perfectly fine in my mind with Lockheed Martin and possibly other local companies helping out, but I was wondering if anyone here knew of any NY State aid such as BOCES who might be able to help out.

Thanks to everyone here for their support and input. I got the Team in a Box this weekend, you guys did a great job and I’ll be passing it around so people can get a better idea about the competition. Further more I’ve now spoken with two leaders of other Lockheed Martin teams, with one being an hour and half away near Clarks Summit PA, and it’s been really helpful knowing how the company works with them. Have a great holiday and wish everyone the best of luck next season.

Oh, and does anyone know how to Edit posts? I would like to update the front page so it better reflects where we are at and what needs we are looking for.
__________________
Jeff "Martinez" Martinez
Mechanical Engineer with JH Robotics
Clarkson University and Division by Zero Alumni
Former 2053 Tigertronics Mentor and Engineer
Former Chuck 84 Mentor and Engineer
Former Lockheed Martin, VH-71 Program Employee.
Let us never rest till every student has FIRST Rate Opportunities!
Program Proposal: FRC
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