2005 FIRST Robotics Conference: BRAINSTORM

[Erin Rapacki]

The FIRST Robotics Conferences may have a lot more space to work with inside the Wold Congress Center next year. If this is the case, what kind of exhibits/workshops/activities would you like to see? The sky is the limit on ideas, and make sure to mention what material it is that you would like to learn more about.

Keep in mind, one of the main objectives for the FIRST Robotics Conferences is to attract people to travel to Atlanta, even if they aren't affiliated with a Championship competing team.

In addition, if you feel you could facilitate/run a uniquely subjected workshop, contact me. This is all about learning...


ByE

erin

[Anne Shade]

What a great question . I've actually been thinking about this for a while. With a smaller and smaller percentage of teams being able to compete at Championships, I think that the Convention will allow more teams to attend Championships without having to compete. Other organizations do this and I'm sure that we can come up with a good way to make it work for FIRST.

One of the things that could be done is to have booths for companies around the nation to set up displays and demos. FIRST national sponsors would get a booth, others would pay for the opportunity. Companies have asked for this opportunity for years at Champs and most have not been able to. These companies may include engineering, technology, education, and others. Colleges and universities could also get booths. These are already available to those who give large scholarships but others would be willing to pay a smaller amount for a booth.

These companies could even have recruiters there for summer internships as well as full time positions for those looking for a career change or the start of their career .

The Hall of Fame could be moved into this convention setting to bring a bit of FIRST into the convention which would free up some space in the pits area.

As for the meetings and lectures of sorts, more guest lecturers could be brought in to include more topics on a larger scale. The FIRST topics are important and should be expanded, maybe one on pneumatics, more on sensors and programming, etc. Some on awards like WFA, Chairman's, and on fundraising and such. I think it would also be good to have some outside speakers on topics important to the FIRST community. Maybe some college acceptance counselors to talk about getting into college or guest speakers from industry talking about what they do for a living. Some examples from different engineering, technology, and business fields who can talk about their jobs and the things they work on.

I think that would give a well rounded conference that would improve not only the quality of FIRST teams but would also give some good information to all attending. This would draw a bigger crowd at the Championship event and be able to get more people to see what FIRST is all about.

I hope this made some kind of sense . These are a few ideas i've come up, probably with more to come.

[petek]

Let's add professional organizations to the list of potential participants, too. I'm working with some groups (the Society for Biomolecular Screening, the Laboratory Robotics Interest Group and the Association for Laboratory Automation) who are either starting or interested in doing outreach to high school students to inform them of career opportunities in science and laboratory automation. We're just getting off the ground right now, and I think it would be easy to sell them on a FIRST Robotics Conference as an ideal forum for getting them together with FIRSTers. I would think that the "mainstream" organizations (IEEE, ASME, et al) would be up for it, too.

[KathieK]

If the concept of the Convention expands, please hold it on Wednesday before team matches begin on Thursday. We had a lot of interest in attending this year's conference sessions, but found it difficult to get to them on time if our team was on the floor competing.

One of the goals for the newly formed FIRST NEMO (non-engineering mentor organization) group is to hold workshops on non-technical issues at the various Regional events. Some of these could be repeated at the Championships as well.

[jpsaul7usa]

At the AZ Regional team forum the idea to host the conferences the day before practice begins was brought up met with an air of approval from most everyone. Also, I'd like to see a workshop on how to create team spirit among students and mentors. I loved hearing SPAM's parents and students shouting cheers in the stands @ Newton, but I don't remember many other schools getting all that loud and excited.

[Adam Y.]

The FIRST topics are important and should be expanded, maybe one on pneumatics, more on sensors and programming, etc.

I had an idea on creating a workshop on sensors. The only problem being that I need access to a bunch of supplies that a person going to college does not have the funds for.

[RoboMom]

Hi Erin. It was good meeting you in NH.
I love all of Anne's ideas above. Maybe you could get 103 to tie into BeyondFIRST, with the speakers on careers.
As a NEMO, I would like to see more on the "business" side of maintaining a FIRST team. I think that this is an area that is going to grow in importance within FIRST and I think that more information on the business-side of running the team will attract even more students.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

As a highschool student, I will have to honestly admit I didn't know ANYTHING about these conferences until I went to nationals with my team, and that's only when I saw signs. I would recommend getting a memo out to teams about this opportunity and giving people a better idea about what options they have.

I really like all these ideas. I think conferences either on the day before practice or the day of would be nice for me because that's when our team usually goes down anyway, but remember that it can be difficult for college/highschool students to get out of that much of classes (loss of credit, projects, etc.). Something that may be effective is programs after the playing day, or maybe doing lunch programs where individuals can go to purchase lunch and attend a talk. Though you might get people who are just interested in the food, they will become interested in the conference if you make it fascinating and fun. Food is always always always effective.

As far as programs go, I would imagine you should throw in a bit of everything. What about medicine? I know many friends in robotics who are only doing engineering for undergrad. Info on how this applies to med school would be fantastic. Also, this is a good time to make contacts. Do presentations that involve the students doing things. Give them opportunities to go see the championship competitions during the day, but give them something to come back to and be interested in. Word of mouth spreads, and if this year's group enjoy it, they spread it around cause they want their friends to come.

Good luck! I definitly plan to attend if my team doesn't make nationals.

[Ken Patton]

How about a section that is open to presenters of important new technical papers from the previous 12 months? Preferred authors would be students (high school or college), but adults would be allowed too. Choose five great papers based on clarity, relevance, technical content. Maybe even recognize the importance of these papers by giving awards for the best paper by a student.

Ken