boardom

[KyleGilbert45]

There should always be something to do, whether it be working on the robot or just sweeping the floors around the shop.

[nehalita]

If you find yourself doing nothing
-a- see if there is any cleaning
-b- organize something
-c- see if your team needs something not related to building
-1- fundraising? need ideas? contacts?
-2- maybe you could help the webmaster with a new icon or writing up an update
-3- make a video of your team and put it together on your own
-4- make a presentation for your team on ppt or something to show people
-d- work on something that might be useful during the competition like scouting forms
-e- learn autodesk on your own, or 3dsmax, or C/C++, or frontpage, html...

just a few ideas. if you have said no to all of the above then there is STILL something you can do, just look around

[Jen1370]

You know it. i mean i'm new to the team and the team is full of guys. there are about 5 girls and 15 guys but ALL the girls get cast out and we get stuck doing fundraising.

[nehalita]

not to get off topic jen but if you want to do something, be pushy about it. talk to the team mentor. if all fails, start flirting with the guys and get your way in. or you could play stupid and say "what's that" until you gather enough information that they HAVE to let you join.

if confronting them personally doesn't help, maybe the girls could put something together on paper reflecting your opinion in a calm manner.

don't give up!
fundraising is important but if it's not what you want to do, make sure your team knows it.

trust me, you're not alone. i used to get some sexist jokes my way when i worked on the robot but when i let them know how serious and dedicated i was, they stopped. respect is earned. =)

[neo]

ya got time to lean, ya got time to clean.

[KenWittlief]

Practice soldering wire (make a silver tree out of a heavy cable wire, or little wire spiders)

practice drilling holes in soft metal

read the pneumatics manual or tinker with the leftover pneumatics cylinders (ever tried hooking two cylinders together, cross connected?)

make a cart for the robot, or mod the cart to fit this years bot better

when all else fails, paint the crate :^)