Wrap Up of Chicago Pack Expo

[MrBydlon]

Hey CD!

I put up a post about a week ago talking about the Pack Expo in Chicago. It's convention with over 1,900 companies showing off their packaging machine products.

Team 3313 Mechatronics was lucky enough to have some of our sponsors arrange and pay for us to go visit. It was a great experience!! The students had a fantastic time presenting our robot, Murphy, for a morning and then exploring and talking with engineers from all over the country.

Not only did we talk to manufacturers from all over the country, we also talked to FRC Robotics teams from all over the country. So a shout out to Team 384 Sparky from Richmond, VA, Team 2949 Pwnage from Chicago, IL, and Team 2115 Nightmare from Chicago, IL.

If you would like to check out some of our experiences, see the 9 min. YouTube playlist we created.

Or you can visit our Facebook page and scroll down to see all the pictures.

Or you can visit our website in a couple days and read about our experiences.

Sorry for the overload. It was just a fantastic opportunity to see robotic design and manufacturing in action and Team 3313 wanted to share that with the CD community.

Thank you to Massman Automation Designs, PMMC, and PMMI for sponsoring the trip.

[valeriemoore]

Hi there,
I am from team 2022 (Aurora IL). We also went to Pack fest, but unfortunately had to leave early. It was definitely an amazing experience.

Out of curiosity, how long was the trip for you and how many people went?

[MrBydlon]

Hi Valerie!

It's too bad we missed each other. Talking to the other FIRST teams was definitely one of my highlights.

We are originally from MN and this is the first time we have ever visited the Pack Expo. We took a sponsor company minivan which, after putting in our robot and supplies, left room for myself and 3 team members. I took a senior, junior, and sophomore.

It is a 8-9 hour drive from where we live in Minnesota. We drove down super early on Sunday morning and visited Chicago Sunday night. On Monday, we presented and toured the Expo. Tuesday morning, we visited the Expo in the morning and then drove back late Tuesday night. So only 3 days total with about 20 hours of driving included. Haha. Kind of crazy...

Did you guys enjoy your time there? The students and I all had a blast.