Questions at demos

[Marc P.]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

At the JPL Open House, we were asked a (in my opinion) really dumb question:

"What is it?" Just plain "what is it?", not "what does it do?" or "what is it for?"

And we were asked this several times by several different people. And this was at a place (JPL) where technically inclined people go! That day my overall view of the general public really went down on the technical competancy meter. It's like, the big sign says "FIRST ROBOTICS" and you got here using your map that lead you to the "FIRST Robotics Demonstration" and you are inside an institute that is famous for building robots! How can you ask "what is it?" !!!!!

This very question is exactly what giving demos is all about. It's hard to believe, but the people involved with FIRST are a very small fraction of the general population of the world. It's only natural that the majority of people have no idea what FIRST is or what it stands for, or what's involved. By providing demonstrations and explanations for what these "things" are, and what the intention of the program is, people can walk away more informed and potentially start new teams and help FIRST grow. People asking "what is it" probably have no idea what those mechanical contraptions are for, or why they are picking up relatively large triangular shaped doohickeys. In other words, they don't see what the practical purpose is, and so ask "what is it." It's your job as a FIRST participant to inform people what FRC is all about, not just on the game level (scoring, time limits, etc), but on the program level (6 weeks of design, teaching engineering and project managing skills to students, inspiring students to pursue engineering/technology/science careers).

The other big questions are the Battle bot questions. It's easy to chastise the question at first, but think about it for a minute. The only major robotics competition nationally televised is what? Battle bots. People have the most exposure to robots chopping, hacking, and burning each other, and so make that connection when looking at FRC robots (which do often look very similar in appearance). And again, it's your job as a FIRST participant to explain what's really happening. I know it can get repetitive explaining things multiple times a day, but remember not everyone knows what you know, and the best way to help that is to be patient and spread the word.