Just got back from our team's practice kickoff and we had a blast, learned a lot, and have a bunch to think about for the real Kickoff.
We tried to simulate the kickoff as close as possible, created a little game called
Baton Blitz, and then after the presentation we broke out into small design groups. Each small group came up with aspects of the robot that they believed was important to play the game with, and then all the student VPs (one was in each group) got together in the back room and picked out the best features that would be worth focusing on. We then presented the final design list to the team and pointed out how everyone had made an impact on the design.
It was pretty cool because we got the whole team to actively participate in the design process (not an easy thing with some 60 team members), and yet we were able to get the focus and speed of a small group with the VPs. So everyone contributed something and we could still stay focused. The night was a success and so we'll be using a very similar design process for the real Kickoff.
Here's a few pictures from tonight's meetings to munch on...
Cheers!
-Chris