[rees2001]

This year we set out to do things a little differently than the usual collaboration. What we wanted to do was form an independent collaboration where each team worked on their own robot but we all worked together to help one-another. The plan was to have the 2 teams work independently to build 2 different robots but share the same resources, tools, & equipment. As the season progressed team 73 joined us more frequently and further contributed to design ideas. The nice thing about creating different robots was we could look at each others plans and help critique the designs. We made sure that communication between teams was open and allowed everyone to speak their minds. I would think that if all 3 teams set out to build the same robot we could have designed & built a better robot quicker but that is not why WE do FIRST. (not saying this is right or wrong, it’s just the way we do it.

Things we discovered as the season progressed.
There was a lot of sharing of ideas
The Bridgeport was very busy.
The welding machine was very busy.
We used a lot of aluminum, welding rod, and argon.
Everyone was VERY busy.
We (including our friends on 73) were able to build 3 competitive robots (plus we are almost finished with 2 practice bots)
We can eat a lot of food
There are some great people out there willing to mentor kids
We have good friends at 73
I must be nuts for taking this project on