|
|
|
![]() |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
Thread Tools | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: my comments
Posted by Ken Patton, Engineer on team #65, The Huskie Brigade, from Pontiac Northern High School and GM Powertrain.
Posted on 5/17/99 3:01 PM MST In Reply to: Ken Patton's comments posted by michael bastoni on 5/13/99 7:11 PM MST: Mike- I'm glad you saw my comments - they were getting near the bottom of the page, and they might be archive status by now... Sorry I've been slow the last few weeks. We were talking about keeping the game the same vs. changing it every year. I'm for changing it, you are for keeping it the same for 2-4-8 or so years. We are in agreement that the biggest challenge we have as FIRST supporters is the sustainability of a large number of teams in the competition. You listed the following key elements for FIRST teams: 1)organize classes/meetings/curriculum in Sept-Dec 2)brainstorm/design/build robots in Jan-Mar 3)produce Chairman's Award entry year round 4)produce 30 sec animation in Sept-Mar 5)attend FIRST competitions Mar-Apr 6)start/mentor Lego League teams Sept-Dec 7)start/maintain off-season robot events May-July 8)develop/produce local/state/national PR events year round You then asked me what is most important in advancing the mission statement of FIRST. I would answer #5, attending the competitions. If we did not attend the competitions, there would be nothing to talk about, no PR needed, no cool TV shows to get the attention of kids who now watch pro wrestling (not that theres anything wrong with that...), no Chairman's Award. I know, the competitions are not the 'end' we are looking for; thats #1, the improved math/science/technology curriculums that these enlightened students will be demanding. But you won't have enlightened students without the events that get their attention. Oh, and by the way, you won't have an event without #2, building the robots. I think everything else grows out of #2 and #5, so they are the most important. You also asked me what the mission statement of FIRST is. I listen to Dean on this one: 'The goal of FIRST is that, after kids see this stuff, particularly kids that might have never met an engineer, walk out of this saying, and if you interview the thousands of kids here you'll see its working, that they walk out of here saying 'I could do that. This is fun. Now I know why you have to learn algebra. Because you can't figure out power without multiplying volts times amps. You can't figure out torque without multiplying a force times a distance. You can't figure out whether the arm on that robot is going to get there or not unless you know how to figure out the sine of thirty degrees, and do some trigonometry. And wow, these engineers can do powerful things, because they have an education. And they also look like they're having a lot of fun doing it. And there's only a few hundred jobs every year made in the NFL, and right now we're 560,000 people short for open technical jobs in the United States. And by the year 2000 it will be a couple of million.'' [for full text of the interview this came from, see the HB website] You asked me which is more useful, building or playing with the robot. I think it's building it. First of all, you can't play with it if you don't build it. Second, and most important in my opinion, the true demonstration of what engineers/scientists/technicians do with their minds/tools is: the strategy definition when you don't know the true requirements, the brainstorming when you don't know the answer, the designing from a clean sheet of paper, the machining, and the building/modifying/rebuilding as you learn what you did wrong. Something from nothing. This is, I think, the phase of the program where students who didn't know about technical professionals find out what technical professionals really can do. This is where they can look out 5-10 years and say 'what if I were an engineer...' And simply playing with the robot, even though it builds close relationships and is fun, is not a good substitute for it. And simply rehashing an old design won't do it, because the answers are pretty much known by anyone who watches the video. I still don't see how the proposal to keep the game the same helps us. You make the argument that not building a robot every year will free us up to do the six other things *necessary* to make FIRST what we want it to be. As you now know, I think the *necessary* thing is the one you want to eliminate. The others are all support functions (important ones, absolutely) for the main events. As to the sustainability of superhuman efforts like those of your team: I agree, they are not sustainable over the long term. Maybe the team members have to take it upon themselves if they want to do that, rather than have it be *expected* of all teams. After all, we agree that the most important thing is sustainability. It probably depends on where the community is at in terms of awareness of technical professionals, economics, school curriculum, etc. Ken |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|
Similar Threads
|
||||
| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| Ken Leung, LA, Pit Stops, Cheering Squads | archiver | 2001 | 0 | 24-06-2002 02:13 |
| Ken Leung and LA | archiver | 2001 | 1 | 24-06-2002 02:10 |
| Hey, Hey, Ken Leung | archiver | 2001 | 0 | 24-06-2002 00:28 |
| Another idea looking for comments | archiver | 1999 | 16 | 23-06-2002 22:01 |
| Happy birthday, Ken! | Dan 550 | Chit-Chat | 1 | 11-11-2001 20:46 |