Why are you in Robotics?

[EHaskins]

Where else can a high school student get to use 3Ds, Inventor, and play with expensive robots?

[Ben Piecuch]

I'll be the first non-student mentor to chime in here. As a professional engineer, I don't get the chance to flex my engineering brain all that much. Rarely do we (engineers) design from a blank sheet of paper, build the hardware ourselves, or test the design iterations we come up, all in a 6 week period. To be able to teach a talented group of students, and then to work with them through the robot design/development/build is a very rewarding experience. FIRST allows me to teach, interact, play, and compete with a wide range of students, mentors, and engineers. If that doesn't bring a huge smile to your face, I'm not sure what will...

BEN

[Peter Matteson]

I completely agree with what Ben said. Additionally I think that working with FIRST makes me a better engineer. It forces me to look not only at what I think is a good design, but how to make it, what parts are most likely to fail, how do I assemble it, and how do I service it. These items can frequently get lost along the way of making a "perfect" or idealized design. FIRST keeps me grounded in reality.

Pete