[draconar]

I've been in FIRST for three years and IB for two, and I think the majority of my CAS hours have come from robotics-related activities. I've used fundraisers for Service, fabrication for Action, and programming/website design for Creativity. It is a struggle during build season between the robot and homework (January/February are when a lot of the major assignments are due), but aside from some late nights/early mornings, I've gotten it all done. IB is all about balancing time, so it ties in with FIRST pretty well. Getting CAS hours without using FIRST would be tough, but combining the two works out well. Realistically, I see a lot more benefit from FIRST than spending a couple hours cleaning the school. Looking at the previous posts, I would stress working around IB deadlines. If you force too many things on them, robotics will be first to go.

To specifically address your questions:
If you stress the right points, you shouldn't have any problem getting IB students on the team. Make allowances for their amount of work, but generally IB students are highly dedicated, and that's what you want on a team. Plus you learn applied math and physics which is helpful for classes.

We have a handful of IBers on the team that are active, and I tend to pull in a bunch more for grants, artistic design, competitions (Spirit Award = action hours!), etc. We're considering starting an IB Engineering class next year, which I'm sure will draw more people in.

While the IB students do sometimes have to leave workdays early in order to get work done, in general they are also among the most dedicated members of the team. They are often leaders and are willing to take responsibility, and they are familiar with deadlines.

Best of luck getting this team off the ground. I've found that FIRST really goes well with IB both to distract from the academics and as a source of CAS. If you or anybody involved would like detailed information, please contact me.