Who Builds your teams Robot?

[thedillybar]

Our entire team is run by students. Myself and another student started the team and the fundraising last year and didn't find a mentor until the beginning of this year.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find a corporate sponsor that could help us with the majority of the finances or help us by providing manpower. We are still looking.

We have a retired engineer that helped out somewhat (once or twice a week) and 3 parents that helped out as much as possible. Everything was designed, drawn on CAD, machined, built, redesigned, rebuilt, etc. by students. Much of the building and machining actually happened at a student's house, often without an adult present, because his garage had better machining facilities than our school (our school is a private school and doesn't have a shop), and we were unable to find a sponsor that would provide us with machining facilities.

Everything was done by the students (electrical, pneumatics, mechanical (gear ratios, drivetrain, pinning gears, etc.), control system, programming).

We are desperately searching for a sponsor for next year so that our team can fulfill the purpose of FIRST: for students to work beside professionals. The experience is still excellent but learning takes a great initiative on the part of the students and often requires a lot of searching without a professional on the team.

Matt Cuttitta
Team Founder & Student Leader
Team 894 - Powers Catholic High School
Flint, Michigan