What was your role each year on your team?

[1612Nick]

Title is self explanatory. I'm curious to see the paths of other members on their respective teams throughout the years, as well as why you joined initially, how you feel now after having been part of a FIRST team, and your future plans for involvement. (Also, for consistency, please try use a format roughly similar to what I have.)

I joined The Robo-Sharks as a high school sophomore after a couple of my engineering classmates joined the team, and my engineering teacher suggested I join. The previous year as a freshman, I got to see bits and pieces of the robot from the previous year during class, but I was shy and still not sure about a future as an engineer.

2007- I took up recording and archiving tons of footage, and was pretty much a cameraman/photographer the entire season and never really touched the robot.
2008- Started CAD/CAM work and made several parts for our robot. During a driving test to find good drivers I also did pretty well, and was a driver that season.
2009- Was the team leader along with another member (we split the work evenly), and still did quite a bit of CAD/CAM work.
2010- Having graduated high school and not being able to commit %100 of my time to the team, I classify myself as a mentor.

Looking back, I can't imagine not having been part of something that was so incredible and beneficial for me. I think high school would've been a boring blur otherwise.

Realistically, I'll be involved with my team for as long as I can until I'm too far away to feasibly help them directly. When the day comes that I no can no longer directly help my team, I see myself volunteering at an event or helping out another team. In one way or another, I'll be involved with FIRST for life.

[HashemReza]

2008 offseason- Was roped into helping with the Website for the upcoming 2009 season, and dragged to a few events in the summer...as soon as school rolled around, I dedicated any available free time to robotics. It was my 3rd year on my school's baseball team.

2009 - In charge of the website for the whole season, as well as human player at 3 of the 5 events we attended (including IRI and the Fall Classic). I also graduated to Varsity on my baseball team this year, and went to my first Prom with a girl on the team

2010 - I quit the baseball team after 11 years of playing, marking my first year in recent memory without it. I moved to a leadership position, heading up our Scouting and Game Strategy department. Still headed up the website. Played a large role in the conceptual design, strategic design, and fabrication of our 2010 robot, Daisy Bell.

2011+ - I plan on mentoring team 1538 at any given opportunity, returning to do as much work as feasible, or mentoring a team near my college (*Fingers crossed for Stanford, I find out next week!*).

[hyperdude]

I joined Warrior Robotics as a sophomore, only after one of my classmates came up to me one day and asked if I wanted to do the website for the robotics team (This was when the team was only just getting started, and when my only applicable experience in web design was a less-than-great graphics program and enough HTML experience to get by well). I agreed. Of course, at that time I had NO idea what the robotics team was, nor any clue about FIRST.

2008 - Webmaster (not all that great of a job), team paparazzi (I had just gotten my digital camera, and so I took pictures of EVERYTHING that went on).
2009 - Webmaster again, but now I was slightly more involved with the robot design, but being a junior under the shadow of some of the smartest seniors I've known, most of my potential contributions were shot down.
2010 - Webmaster, nearly the most robot-design-involved member of the team, rules/manual guru, fundraiser marketing leader, and finally, team driver and Co-Captain.

As a senior, I think I will be a little sad to leave my high-school team behind, although I know I will stay in touch with the younger team members and our coach. Luckily, there is the "GO FIRST" student organization at the University of Minnesota, and I plan to join up and help out with the metropolitan FIRST teams with whatever I can. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget or ignore the kind of impact FIRST has had on me.

[Andrew Schreiber]

2004 - Animation/Scouting
2005 - Electrical/Animation/Scouting (Driver and Drive Coach for a match at IRI)
2006 - Electrical/Programming/Scouting/Judges
2007 - Electrical/Programming/Judges
--Graduated--
2008 - Mentor - Electrical/Programming/Animation
2009 - Mentor - Electrical/Programming/Animation/College Rep
2010 - Mentor - Electrical/Programming/Mechanical/Strategy/Rules/College Rep (For 2 different teams)

I've been doing this a while...

[BrendanB]

FLL 2003-2006
2007- joined in the fall and did various stuff before kickoff.
2008- mechanical, mainly the drivebase. scout at tournaments and drove at an off-season tournament.
2009-mechanical, drivebase again , and helped out with controls team. Pit crew at competitions and drove at several off-seasons.
2010- mechanical, drivebase again , and helped out controls team, field assembly, and any other team who needed help but mostly the controls team.


Now that I am graduating I plan to volunteer at events and mentor a team. I don't think I'll stay with 1519 (45 minutes away+traffic) as that might interfere with college and work schedule, but will look to help a more local team.

[Bethie42]

My dad is the 'official robotics teacher' at our school.....ever since our team started in 2002, our family has been peripherally influenced by robotics.
In 2008, about a week before ship date, he randomly asked if I wanted to come to the regional as a scout. I believe I made the 5th person on the team that year.....we have a really small school....

I'd never been mechanically inclined in the least, but I do love to organize/talk to people.....I got hooked on FIRST that year. Being the sole scout on the team was insane....

In 2009 I was scouting captain, really was only involved at competition though. I somehow kept notes on all the teams: no laptop that year, all the data was in a big thick notebook--now I wonder how I did it.

2010: our team's best year in a long time. We got a NASA sustaining grant and I <i>was</i> the Chairman's Team...wrote the essays, filmed and edited the video, etc. We had a scouting Team this year, which was epic....two people but we had it under control, with the help of the laptop, and some really late nights.....ever notice how the (serious) scouts work all day, go back to the hotel room, have a team meeting, and then work most of the night to collate the data?
I do my best to dispel the idea that scouts are the people who can't/won't do anything else....my scouts were dedicated hardworking people....all two of us, hehe.

Now I'm headed to Atlanta with another local team, as Team Videographer....amazing what a training in professional video camera use can do.

I think one of the best parts of FIRST is that you don't >have< to be a mechanical genius to be able to help...I had my wrench-turning days, but the biggest way I helped was organization/facilitation/PR.
Go FIRST!

[Kims Robot]

Oh I like this thread How fun! Funny that my memory of awesome things like FIRST is so vivid, yet it can fail elsewhere!!

1996 (FRC176) - student leader, mechanical robot work (designer of the Magic Bean!), Team MVP
1997 (FRC176) - student leader, patron drive coordinator, mechanical & electrical robot work, pit crew, scouting lead, Team MVP
1998 (FRC176) - student leader, patron drive coordinator, machining, electrical & programming robot work, pit crew, student coach, Team MVP
1999 (FRC229) - Founder & Team Leader of 229, College Mentor, fundraising coordinator, robot design, electrical work, Drive Team Coach
2000 (FRC229) - College Mentor, Founder & Team Leader of 229, fundraising coordinator, robot design, electrical work, Drive Team Coach, Volunteer Inspector - Lead Inspections at Championships
2001 (FRC229) - College Mentor, electrical lead, Volunteer Inspector
2002 (FRC229) - participated preseason only
2003 - Volunteered at events
2004 (FRC1511) - Founded 1511 with Harris & PHS, worked to get school support, recruiting, team organization, coordinate other teams to do training.
2005 (FRC1511) - Team Leader, student leadership team, fundraising coordinator, program management, Initiated the Rochester Rally & RahChaCha Ruckus, FLL Volunteer
2006 (FRC1511) - Team Leader, student leadership team, fundraising coordinator, program management, Rally Leader, Ruckus Leader, Professional World of Business Series, chairmans, FRC Event Volunteer, FLL Judge, etc.
2007 (FRC1511) - Team Leader, student leadership team, fundraising coordinator, program management, Rally Leader, Ruckus Leader, chairmans, marketing, FLL/FVC Head Ref Clarkson Tournaments
2008 (FRC1511) - Team Leader, student leadership team, fundraising coordinator, program management, mentor coordination, Ruckus Leader, chairmans, website content, FLL/FVC Head Ref Clarkson Tournaments, Champ Conference Presenter
2009 (FRC1511) - Team Leader, student leadership team, fundraising coordinator, program management, Ruckus Committee, chairmans, FLL/FVC Head Ref Clarkson Tournaments, Champ Conference Presenter
2010 (FRC1511) - Distance mentor, website help, Champ Conference Presenter

Something like that...

FIRST for Life.... catchy

[kjolana1124]

2007/2008: As a freshmen, I was new not only to FIRST and what it had to offer, but to high school, the people I was seeing, and even fairly new to the town of Avon. As a result, I used this year more to introduce myself to the program. Because I had friends on the spirit team, I kind of stuck with that at first. I did try programming once, but that failed. I did scout, but I learned quick I wasn't much of a stand scouter because I had a habit of watching the entire field in general as opposed to my assigned robot. I always liked mechanical, but in the end I did most of my work with community stuff (which, for the sake of being honest, I could have done a lot more on. Freshmen forgiveness?)

2008/2009: Now that I had an idea of what I wanted going in, I became more focused. I did a lot more with mechanical, as well as talking to judges in the pits. I was our team's second driver in Hartford, as well as a Chairman's presenter. While I wasn't as heavily involved in the community stuff last year, I did Chairman's because I took it upon myself to be in charge of media and film. I did our Chairman's video, a video for our mentors, and a couple of other projects along the way. While I didn't drive in Atlanta, I became really focused on the strategic side of scouting, using the methods I picked up from listening to our coach talk in Atlanta. I also began to go back to my roots and talk more for our team.

2009/2010: My first year on management for my team. As Community Liaison, it's my job to handle things like grants, press releases, fundraisers, t-shirts, ordering food, Chairman's, etc. What I like about being on management is that you can be less hands on about things. You're now teaching others the things you did the past two years. At competitions, I still do strategy for my team. However, I didn't do the Chairman's video this year for our team (which is available on Youtube if people are interested) or write a good amount of the essays, rather I oversaw a lot of the process and just inserted input when necessary.

2010/2011: The final unknown chapter. I don't know, but I hope it's as awesome as these years.

[Karibou]

I joined because I heard that it was fun, and because I liked the shirts. I ended up staying because I went to a work session, and realized that playing with nuts and bolts and metal was something that I liked to do.

2008 - I dove in headfirst, memorized the manual, got cookies for giving the rule number regarding duct tape usage, and was a member of the CAD team. Once most of the CAD work was finished, I began working with the build team on the robot, and I learned how to lathe. I also spent some time learning how to change content on the team website. During the competitions, I was the pit monkey who knew where EVERYTHING was, enjoyed talking to judges, and spent the elimination matches in Pittsburgh running batteries to and from the field, and riveting new treads on wheels when they popped off.

2009 - Pretty much the same as the year before, with the addition of the "Website group leader" title. I did a lot more CAD work, was the main operator for the lathe, and was still the go-to person with game manual/legality questions.

2010 - This year, my role on the team totally changed after being made a co-captain. Due to several personal reasons, I dropped the CAD team (I think I'm going back to them next year, I miss it >.<), but I sat in and contributed to a few of the Strategy team's meetings. I also had a lot of late nights spent working on team organization/managerial items. We overhauled the website this year, so I spent a lot of time in the computer lab, and whatever time wasn't spent in there was spent working in the shop doing whatever needed to be done. I also did an immense portion of our Chairman's submission. There were a lot of days when I simply could not get everything done without cloning myself. During Traverse City, I spent most of the competition as a mascot, dancing and cheering. During Detroit, I spent the entire competition in the pit, and wore the mascot capes during the elimination matches while cheering and dancing for other teams. This year, as a co-captain, I also helped lead meetings, serve as a liaison between the adults and students, order pizza on the days that we needed to eat in the shop, attempt to help smooth over arguments and qualm, and organize work sessions and the team schedule.

2011 - This is going to be a teaching year for me...passing down everything that I know to eager freshmen and sophomores.

One thing that I cannot do: type concisely

[sashboy226]

Freshman: Told my friend she was a nerd and refused to join because I didnt want people to think I was a nerd to (still in that middle-school mindset)

Sophmore: Finally joined. Worked in anything management that needed editing and proofreading (honors english). I "Secretly" aspired to getting on the build team. Only attended nationals and was anti-scouting, but did what I had to.

Junior: Under our new rotating build schedule, I worked on both management and build. I did both well, though focused most of my energy on build. Later in the build season I was officially placed on the pit-crew and attended all competitions, tweaking and fixing anything I could, which wasn't much because our robot worked fairly well. (I also decided I wanted to be an engineer this year)

Senior: Was given a permanent position on the build team and pit crew (finally shaking those management shackles ). I'm co-human player with another member of the build team, and am anxiously awaiting our next three competitions (mildly presumptious I know, but we're a very overconfident bunch)

College: Might* take a break from FIRST

Beyond: Will return as a mentor to my team, as long as I'm in the area. If not, I'll find a team nearby to mentor, whether they need more mentors or not.

*unlikely

[alicen]

2002-2006 -- volunteering at the local regional and sometimes championships

2007 -- freshman, basically learned everything about mechanical, cut, drilled, tapped, did everything that they could think of. Was he 2nd driver at the regional. volunteered at champs

2008 -- Chief Engineer (in training) did soe of the CAD work, built a lot of the robot, did lots of the manufacturing, was the driver at the two regionals and champs

2009 -- Chief Engineer, did all of the CAD work, most of build, manufacture and so on. Just hung arond in the pits and fixed the robot at the regional. Also, volunteered at our local regional and champs

2010 -- Chief Engineer, did all of the CAD work, almost all of the build, wrote some essays for people, did a lot of the organizing, andposted the robot picture on CD (that might be a first...). I was driver at our first regional, will take up scouting for our second regional, and either drive or coach at champs.

2011+ volunteer, and then when i get outo f college and can be closer to a team, mentor

FIRST is the best, and most fun life commitment ever.

[Chris is me]

2007 (2006 FVC season): Programmer, Scouting, PR - 3305 Conserve Steelers - First year in FIRST for any of us, I had about a week with the completed robot to code limiting functions for arm movement, plus a complete autonomous code. It worked eventually, and considering I had to completely unfold a double jointed arm, I say it wasn't bad.

2008 (2007 FTC season): Everything - 63 The Rebels - I founded the team and eventually had to rebuild and reprogram the entire robot in about an hour's time, alone. Then I won the event. Yeah, a lot of luck there... Joined 1714 soon after and built a new robot that could score rings.

2009: Strategist - 1714 More Robotics - Much less accomplished here than before. Finally participating on a large team meant I did less (fabricated a lot of the hopper as well), but at the events I had a bit more of an impact. The team managed to grab a blue banner with me behind the glass, so 1714's drivers are clearly pretty good at ignoring me.

This year I kinda do a little of everything, but I'm primarily a tactician at competitions. I come up with plays and consult with the best drive coach in the world about them.

[Jared Russell]

2001: Joined Team 341 in the Post-Season. Honestly can't remember what I did on the team at first - mostly odd jobs while I learned.

2002: Team webmaster and designed our multimedia CD-ROM (remember those?). Miscellaneous odd jobs, too. Had an interest in programming that began to blossom, especially in the following off-season.

2003: Senior year of high school. Head of programming and electrical subteams. Wrote our Chairman's Award essay (the first time we won at a Regional!). Human player.

2004: Freshman year at college (RIT). Only loosely involved with Team 341 during build/competition season. Worked briefly with local teams 73/340 mentored by RIT, but in general I took the year off to focus on my studies. Got more involved with 341 as a college mentor during the summer and offseason events.

2005: Began full-time mentoring of 341 from afar. Focused on electrical/programming aspects. I would make the round trip drive from Rochester to Ambler, PA (about 341 miles ) 5 times during build season, plus the actual competitions.

2006: This time, I planned ahead and got a co-op in the Philadelphia area during the winter so I could mentor full time. Still mostly an electrical/programming mentor, but I began expanding into overall machine design and strategy.

2007: As 2006, but this time from afar again. 4 more round trips, plus competitions.

2008: Even more involved as a mechanical/game strategy mentor (plus electrical...plus programming). I began doing CAD and physics simulations in Rochester and spending more than an hour a night communicating with the rest of the team down in Ambler. 5 round trips.

2009: After graduating college, I got a job in the Philadelphia area, so once again I could be there on a daily basis. I focused primarily on overall machine design mentorship (by this time one of our seniors was an expert with electronics and programming and he hardly needed me anymore!)

2010: Still there on a daily basis. I'm all over the map by now.


....

And that is how a geeky kid who wanted to make a website became a professional engineer who now mentors in all aspects of design and construction.

[thefro526]

Hmm... this is a fun thread.

2005-2006: This was my Freshman Year of High School. I got involved in Robotics early on and was the Captain of FVC #68. FVC was where I got my first true taste of competition. That year I was also an alternate Driver and one of the Mechanical Guys on 816.

2006-2007: I did FVC once again, this time as FVC #816 due to re-numbering, and I was still the Captain/Driver/Head Mechanical Guy/Sometimes Programmer. On FRC 816 I was a "Sometimes Programmer" (Did all of our Auto Routines and some Drive Code) a Mechanical/Design person, and then I was a Driver. (then demoted to Human Player because I was an underclassman)

2007-2008: This year we stopped FVC so that we wouldn't be pulling Human Resources from the FRC Program. That year I stepped up to become the lead Designer/Mechanical Person/Pseudo-Captain. This was the first year that 816 had a robot with a Winning Record, and also the first time 816 played in the Eliminations at the Championship. I was the Operator that year (Though, the Driver and I were fully capable of doing each others job but I chose to let him drive because it was his Senior year)

2008-2009: This was my Favorite year in FIRST, but also my most Difficult. I was the Lead Designer/Mechanical/Captain. I spent the first week of build designing our robot in CAD, which hadn't been done before or since, and then supervised the building of it. That year I was the Driver too.

2009-2010: Currently, I'm a College Freshman with a Full-Time job doing Design work. I'm a Mechanical/Strategy mentor for 816, in addition to being the Coach.

[delsaner]

2008: Vex. Our team had an FTC team, which helped eased our way into FRC. That year was the last year for private reasons. After the FTC season, we helped out with whatever was needed within the FRC team.

2009: Integration and Testing. I was in charge of the I&T team. I and the team built the game pieces and and a trailer. After that, I trained the human players to shoot baskets into the trailer behind the trailer, and found out which one was the best.

2010: CAD. Self-explanatory. I am also being trained to be the drive-team coach for future years. I was the human player in NJ, and then I was drive-team coach for VA. Atlanta situation is still being decided (aka, who is going to be the coach in ATL).

Future: Still doing what I am doing in 2010. When I am in college, I'll be helping out another team in the area and/or coming back to 1676 to help out when I can. Once a pioneer, always a pioneer.