Question of the Week [05-02-04]: The Very Merry Month of May

[EddieMcD]

With M.Krass's permission, we get to pull a sweeps rating stunt! For one night only, EddieMcD brings back the Question of the Week.

Alright, let's get it underway. We all know it's here. May brings flowers, love, graduations, and the most important of all: off-season competitions. The first of which is next weekend in Pennsylvania. No doubt about it, the off season is here, and there are plenty to choose from. In fact, there's at least a half-dozen in the New England area alone. Which brings me to the question:

Question of the Week-05/02/2004: What do you do during the off-season? Does your team attend any competitions? If they do, do you personally go for the competition, or to meet your friends from around the area? If they don't, do you go on your own? If that's the case, do you go just to enjoy yourself, or do you go for some other reason? Now on to part two: if you're not on a team, off-season competitions are probably the best way to catch up with the FIRST community. For the orphans out there, what are your experiences with off season competitions? And finally, part three: do any of you do anything else robotics related that isn't an off-season competition?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Chief Delphi programming. Keep flying.
-Eddie

[ebmonon36]

During the off-season, I go back home and work with 1018. We have great times. I will be going to IRI again this year. While I do enjoy the competition, I'm going this year to hang out with old friends from my team. I don't know too many other FIRSTers on other teams but look forward to meeting them.
Eric

[811SmallFry]

Off-season? Ha! We have no offseason. After the main competitions, however, we usually go to some local competitions, such as Mayhem on the Merrimack. Also, we have workshops and such, learning programming, machine shop lessons, the works.

[jpsaul7usa]

Hopefully with the rest of 1212 this year we will have our first ever off season activities. We took lots of pictures in Atlanta and we hope that over the summer we can work on several types of robot arms (like ones that use motors to move...), drive trains, and hopefully a transmission.

Also I'll be trying to start a team up in Flagstaff so I'll be working on presentations for high schools and whatnot.

[ngreen]

Transmissions, Programming, and the like. And some other things like moving, maybe a summer lego camp, and fundraising. Other things too but we'll see.

[Christina]

Hmm...in the off season, it's usually a time for me to make up the work that I didn't get done during the season. This year, there is going to be a Finger Lakes Regional Exposition of sorts next week that will have a sort of mini competition with 8 teams from around Rochester. It's also a way to advertise for our regional. This is the first off season competition I've gone to since BattleCry in...oh goodness...2001? That was a lot of fun since I met up with a bunch of FIRSTers and then we went to Six Flags: New England. I would love to get to more off season competitions but I find that a lot of time my coops get in the way. I wish I could've been at Nats the past couple of years but RIT has been sucking all my time away and I'm lucky that I still make it to the Long Island Regional. I do miss everyone...if you guys even still remember me. It has been a while, I know...but I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...I've kind of taken a "out of the spotlight" role in FIRST.

[Sean Schuff]

What do you do during the off-season?

What off-season? You mean there’s an off-season to FIRST??!! According to the Huskie Brigade, “it’s a year-round thing!” Seriously, our team does the following:

Team banquet – May
Appleton Flag Day Parade – June
Team party – July
IRI - July
OcTOBORfest – September (figure THAT date out!)
Super Science Sunday at the Children’s Museum of the Fox Cities - October
Playing and prototyping – Fall

Does your team attend any competitions?

Yup – IRI.

If they do, do you personally go for the competition, or to meet your friends from around the area?

Both. It’s an opportunity for other members of our team who have not been selected as driver/operator/human player to try their hand behind the glass. The mentors go only to chaperone – the students take the lead on EVERYTHING. And, it is an opportunity for both students and mentors to reconnect with old friends.

And finally, part three: do any of you do anything else robotics related that isn't an off-season competition?

See the list above. We will also be running summer robotics camps for elementary and middle school students beginning in the summer of 2005.

Sean

[Joe3]

We on MOE have done things the same way for a few years now, and this is how we do it...

In the spring, after nationals are over, everyone basicly takes a breather for a week or two, while waiting for our tools and robot to arrive back to our shop in the crate. When we get everything back, we prepare for our first offseason competition of the year, PARC. Also, since we are a team made up of students from many schools in the area (14 different schools this year), we bring MOE on tour. Basicly, we set up demos at all of the local high schools, and go do demonstrations to try to recruit people for next year. That keeps us busy until school lets out in June.

Over the summer, we have a few subteams with set tasks to work toward. For instance, this past summer we had a team working towards community outreach, trying to find new ways that we could get in touch with the community, a segway team, which was working towards a working self balancing scooter, and a top secret "superdrive" team (sorry, can't give any details). Since these were simply subteams, it allows for those who want to keep going to do so, and those who need a month or two break to get what they want too. Also taking place during the summer are numerous demos at museums, tech summits, etc.

Then, when school starts up in late August, we begin our season too. MOE University is in session. We have undergraduate level courses for the new students such as machine shop training, drive train basics, sheetmetal shop, pneumatics, animation, web team, electrical, programming, mechanical design. Basicly, it gets the new students aclimated to what we're doing, and exposes them to all of the different aspects of the team that they can get involved in. These undergraduate courses are taught by a combination of mentors and returning students. There also also graduate level courses that the returning students sign up for. Some are continuations of summer projects, and others are further developments for the robot, web or animation. Once the new students get their machine shop training, they can also join in on the maintence of the past season's robot for the offseason competitions to come, since the demos really take a toll on the robot. Once the offseason competitions and classes conclude at MOE U, it's mid December, and it's everyones last chance to rest up before it all starts again.

[Adam Y.]

and a top secret "superdrive" team (sorry, can't give any details).

I know I am collecting super secrets for my college team Im mentoring next year. I gaurentee that there will be things on that robot that no one will know what purpose they serve or how they work. That is unless First decides to either change the rules or give it to us the sensors themselves.

[crazyone]

Originally Posted by EddieMcD

Question of the Week-05/02/2004: What do you do during the off-season? Does your team attend any competitions?
-Eddie

My team kicks off our "off-season" ( if such a thing exists) with our very own MINI REGIONAL aka PARC the PA Robot Challenge in fact it is this weekend (May 9) from there we have our team party, go to other mini regoinals such as IRI. Then on to prototyping and expirimenting for next year's challenge. In august or so we recruit and fund-raise which takes into build season.

[Katie Reynolds]

Wow, Eddie -- you're just doing everything!!

Like Schuff said, 93 does a lot in the off season ... we've spent the "off-season doing all that, plus car washes, camping with the team (our unofficial camping trip), demonstrations at businesses and colleges, and just having a blast!!

In the past, I've attended IRI for both the competition and to meet up with friends. I've heard rumors that 93 is going to IRI this year, but I'll be heading down there by myself (well, not totally alone - just teamless) to volunteer and meet up with people.

Last year, besides going to IRI, I spent the summer trying to get another team started but the lack of teacher interest made it next to impossible to do. :-\ Hopefully, it'll happen this summer!