pic: We left the boys at home

[MrForbes]

will your Vex team have one running on DaVinci?

(I'm going to Championships with FVC 3495)

[Ahernandez]

Hi my name is Mabel Munoz and i am one of the lucky girls that got to participate in the San Diego Regional. Before the competition i didn't find anything strange with the "all girls team". We just wanted to do the same jobs as the guys. Not that we don't have the same opportunities but we tend to let the guys do "the man jobs". Once we got there we started to notice that people looked at us like outsiders. It was uncomfortable but we didn't care because we were enjoying working with the robot and doing the jobs we thought were hard. After the regional our team learned a lot. We learned that people aren't used to seeing girls doing what guys normally do, they just needed to be exposed to the "change". We are more united in the way that now we, the girls, step up to help the guys do the job. After all it wasn't as hard as we thought we just needed that little push to help us see that.

[falconmaster]

Answering Squirrel
I don't know what field, how can you find out?

By the way,thanks for your support of our team!

[ChrisSanborn]

Here is an online article where an all-girls team made the news.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/apr07/5029

Life is not fair, but these girls are proving that someday it might be.

[falconmaster]

Very cool article. It talks about teams that were always all-girls. What our team did was an interesting variation. We now have comparisons between co-ed and all girls. We were at the regional talked about in the article. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[AdamHeard]

I believe in equality overall. I don't think boys are girls are better overall than each other; Sure each can be better at individual tasks, but few of those are intellectual. When it comes to intellectual tasks such as robotics, any difference between boys and girls in ability has nothing to do with gender. Well, I guess in some cases the gender could lead to discrimination and/or segregation resulting in lowered abilities...

If team 842 wants to do this, let them do it. They went to 3 regionals and I don't see any of 842's guys complaining. Knowing them, I bet they would've let a guy go if he was really adamant about it.

Letting the girls have a regional to themselves isn't that big of a deal, just stop riding them for it.

[falconmaster]

woops!! We were in San Diego, not LA, I saw the picture of the beach bots and assumed...................

[EricH]

Originally Posted by falconmaster

woops!! We were in San Diego, not LA, I saw the picture of the beach bots and assumed...................

And we were in San Diego as well...(L.A. is our home regional; San Diego was our "away" regional this year.)

[Ahernandez]

Hello we are the San Diego drive team for Team 842: Angelica Hernandez (driver), Yvette Torres (second driver), and Cynthia Botello (human player). At the San Diego Regional we were pretty confident that our robot was going to do good after seeing what it was capable of doing in Arizona . Although we would be an all-girls team, we still believed that the trip was going to be quite a success. And then it hit us.

Angelica: We arrived at the San Diego Regional and started building our pit as usual. Everything went well until the practice rounds started. As the driver, I was filled with an intense nervousness and anxiety stepping onto the field for the very first time. The bell rang and I managed to go forward with shaky legs. What was a practice round, seemed more of a final round. As I tried to score, the opposing robots aggressively attacked me. This seemed very awkward to me since I had not seen robots act this defensive in practice rounds. At the end of the practice round, I stood in awe at what we were going up against. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated and scared by what was happening.

Taking the robot through inspection was quite a learning experience as well. It seemed like the tech inspectors were trying to make us feel stupid or simply embarrass us by asking us questions that we couldn’t thoroughly answer. As Cynthia said, “ the inspection made me feel stupid, stupid, stupid, more than I already felt!” We knew for a fact that this hadn’t happened in Arizona. It got to a point where Angelica couldn’t take it anymore and had to step out.


Yvette: Having gone to three regional competitions I was able to observe how it was so much different at the San Diego Regional. I had done most of the electrical on the robot so I was at all three inspections to answer any questions. I was nervous about the inspection, scared that I wasn’t going to be able to answer the inspector’s questions but the inspection at Arizona went smoothly and pretty quick. The same went for Las Vegas it had been through inspection two times already so there was not much to change or alter. At the San Diego Regional I expected much of the same but that was not the case. I felt as though the inspectors were quizzing all the girls about the robot, what everything was, where it was connected, etc.. Quite a few girls were involved with the construction of the robot as I had done the electrical but we were not as knowledgeable as the guys in that area of the robot. After all it was our first year, we were practically a rookie team.

Angelica: Also, during the qualifying matches, as the driver I felt like the other drivers in our alliance wouldn’t really communicate with me, or if they did, it was very minimal. I found myself asking many questions to which I received a short response. This was also true during the actual matches as well.


While a lot of the males on other teams were very polite to us, there were also some that just liked to pick on us. For example, there was one guy that started hanging out in our pit to just talk about how his team was going to beat us “so bad” and warning us to watch out. We knew he was saying these things to try to intimidate us but his comments were very irritating. This same male said a comment that simply shocked Angelica. While she was looking at the team rankings on the monitor, he was standing right behind her and right when our team number appeared he blurted out “ ouch, 43, that’s harsh!” with a big smile on his face. This made her so angry but she simply turned around and said, “You shouldn’t be making those comments because they’re not graciously professional!” and walked away.

It may have just been us, but we felt kind of ignored by the judges. Having experienced the attention we received in Arizona made us wonder why we didn’t have more judges asking us questions about what we did outside of FIRST. As we remember, all the questions they asked were about our robot and not about anything else we did. It didn’t seem like the judges took enough time to talk to us. Again, these are only observations.

Angelica: One thing I did learn was how stressing it is to be the driver. If the match goes wrong everyone immediately turns to the driver for answers. I never thought how difficult it would be to drive knowing that all of the pressure is on you. I learned to appreciate how well drivers operate because now I know that it isn’t as easy as it appears.

Cynthia: This regional wasn't just a FIRST Robotics Competion. For me it was a life changing experience. I have built more confidence and discovered a potential that I didn't think I had. I have learned that we can all try new things becuase if you don't try you won't know what you're capable of. I am also glad that there were people encouraging and telling us how great it was that we were doing such thing.

Perhaps the most important thing that we learned was to overcome our fear. Coming from a Hispanic family where women are always put down contributed to us always having to step out whenever something had to be fixed on the robot. Now, we have more confidence about our selves and have realized that we can do anything we set our minds to. We will never forget the San Diego Regional becuase it has certainly changed our culture.

[7.62x39_AvToMaT]

As the president of team 842, I just want to say that I think it was a wonderful experience for the girls who went. It allowed them to experience what its like to have all the responsibility of keeping to pit and competing with the robot. It has also made our team, as a whole, stronger. On top of that, there were a couple new team members who got to "get it" and are now true FIRSTers.

my $0.02

[falconmaster]

Observations of Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi, co-mentor of team 842

On the topic of “what we learned,” and without intent to cause offense, here are my observations. I am by no means an expert on these matters, and I don’t claim to know all the solutions.

First, some background information is appropriate. Twelve female students from co-ed team 842 attended the San Diego Regional event. They were accompanied by four adult males and two adult females including mentor and physicist Karen Suhm, Ph.D. Normally, Dr. Karen Suhm is the lead mentor of programming for the co-ed version of team 842. In San Diego, Karen was in charge of most aspects of the girls’ team as the adult mentor of the drive team, and lead strategist along with the lead student driver. The men on the trip played support roles for Karen and helped manage the scoring in the stands with our new Digitally Enhanced Scoring System.

Observations:

1. Males from other teams that seemed to have little or no role on their own team tended to “hang out” in our pit area. Interference and interruptions by these males adversely affected Karen’s ability to work with her team. I (male mentor) was asked to “make the guy go away.” Versions of this scenario recurred throughout the three days of the regional event.
2. (I hope I don’t burn in FIRST hell for this one) Tech inspection lasted longer than in any other regional event in my six years of being in FIRST. It lasted about an hour. The robot had already been through a technical inspection at the Arizona Regional and placed 2nd in the finals. The girls received an inordinate amount of attention. They were quizzed on various parts of the robot followed by a mini lecture on the operations of the components in question. While this was great for the girls in that it gave them the opportunity to demonstrate how much they know and become more aware of what still needs to be mastered, it wasn’t typical of any inspection that I have observed. Along the same lines, the inspectors allowed the lead female mentor, Karen, to help with the student’s responses. The male mentors have never been allowed to participate in the past. I have never seen this level of attention paid to the co-ed tech inspection team (typically 3 males, 1 female) when they take the robot through inspection. It could just be a fluke, but it is what I observed. The following week at the Vegas Regional with our co-ed tech team, tech inspection only took about ten minutes.
3. We have been the Arizona Regional Chairman’s Award winner for the past three years now: 2005, 06, 07. Before that, we won the Engineering Inspiration, 2004, and in Los Angeles we won the Chief Delphi Driving Tomorrow’s Technology Award, 2003. More recently, we won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Las Vegas Regional, 2007. At the national level, we have won the Engineering Inspiration and Honorable Mention for Chairman’s in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Yet in San Diego the girls were essentially ignored. The team had the same pit set up, the same scrapbook, the same video DVD playing, the same robot. The only difference at this particular regional event among the students who speak to the judges when they come by is the absence of one male student. Sour grapes on my part? Maybe. Is this mere coincidence? Perhaps. Nonetheless, these are my observations.
4. After Karen, along with her students, completed the strategy agreements with their alliance teams with whom they were about to enter a match, the male members of the alliance teams flagged down Dr. Cameron’s and my attention as we were walking to the stands to watch the next match. They wanted to change the strategy that Karen and her team had already negotiated. Karen became aware of this and had to intervene and reestablished the agreement on strategy.
5. While our driver was looking at the team rankings on the monitor, a male participant of another team made a derogatory remark to her about how poorly her team was performing. Our driver pointed out his lack of gracious professionalism. Additional derogatory remarks by other male participants were reported to us by our team members.
6. The girls were able to do all the pit activities and have the robot make every match on time. They made all the repairs and maintenance tasks including changing out the batteries as well as the guys.
7. The girls’ driving skills were not as advanced as the male drivers; however, their inexperience helped to identify two flaws in the robot that were not evident with the more experienced male drivers. This same robot with these same flaws made it to the final rounds at the AZ Regional event and the team finished second. Apparently, the males had been compensating for the minor drive train problem that existed. This also resulted in an inaccurate autonomous mode. Furthermore, the robot was intended to have the code in its programming that kept the robot at 40% maximum power to allow the driver to have more finesse with the robot and then, when a trigger is pulled, the robot was supposed to have full power to push other robots around for a defensive mode. Again, the boys’ higher driving skills masked this inability to achieve 100% driving power. The female driver was able to experience and identify these problems. Upon investigation, the team found that the drive train had one bolt missing from a mount that made the transmissions loose. The team fixed that. Karen also found that the code in the program did not allow for the robot to ever get 100% to the robot motors when the right trigger was pulled. Karen fixed the code and the robot had access to full power when the driver demanded it. The robot now had an upgraded autonomous mode, and it was now able to push any other robot in the tournament, which the robot was designed to do. Beginners tend to bring fewer preconceptions. We benefited from the perspectives of our less experienced drivers.
8. At the team social, two gentlemen wearing official FIRST shirts came over to the area where we were eating. One of the men was Jim Beck, Western Regional Director. Both men expressed curiosity about team 842 based on the reputation we have been building over the past four years. The two gentlemen then noticed that we had only girls on the team and proceeded to inquire as to why that was so, since they never heard that we were an all girls team. We then explained that we were indeed a co-ed team and that we wanted to give the girls on the team the full experience of what it was like to compete in a regional without the boys on the team. They were very excited about the concept and were pleased that we were willing to experiment with new ideas. They told us that this is what they had heard about our team; that we are always testing out new territory. It was at this point that we realized that this endeavor was more consequential than we ever imagined.



Purely subjective personal opinions:

1. While the original intent was to try something different in an effort to empower the female team members, every member of the team – mentors, teachers, male and female students – learned something.
2. In some circumstances, to provide a genuine equal opportunity may require more than just opening a door.
3. Many males on the team learned that what is often perceived as female passivity is not completely independent of male behaviors – behaviors that can be intentional or unintentional.
4. The females on our team clearly benefited from direct, unobstructed, undiluted participation. Such experience fosters the development of skills and self-confidence.


A final note:

Team 842, by consensus of all members, is a stronger team as the result of this experience.

[Leidy Robledo]

I am one of the girls that went to San Diego. I am grateful to guys that let us go to this regional. It wasn't an easy decision because the team had just won chairman's award and second place at the AZ regionals and sending only girl could've made the team look bad out of home. They allowed us to experience something that really changed our thoughts and our roles on the team. I know that next year I'm going to learn as much as possible and like Marco said try to spend as much time working on the robot as the guys.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Leidy Robledo

I It wasn't an easy decision because the team had just won chairman's award and second place at the AZ regionals and sending only girl could've made the team look bad out of home.

Taking chances, experiencing risk - can be very well thought out - weighing actions, outcomes with the safety of the known and making a decision to go for it. To experience the risk together as team and to be in support of each other as team, creates the safety net.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by falconmaster

2. (I hope I don’t burn in FIRST hell for this one) Tech inspection lasted longer than in any other regional event in my six years of being in FIRST. It lasted about an hour. The robot had already been through a technical inspection at the Arizona Regional and placed 2nd in the finals. The girls received an inordinate amount of attention. They were quizzed on various parts of the robot followed by a mini lecture on the operations of the components in question. While this was great for the girls in that it gave them the opportunity to demonstrate how much they know and become more aware of what still needs to be mastered, it wasn’t typical of any inspection that I have observed. Along the same lines, the inspectors allowed the lead female mentor, Karen, to help with the student’s responses. The male mentors have never been allowed to participate in the past. I have never seen this level of attention paid to the co-ed tech inspection team (typically 3 males, 1 female) when they take the robot through inspection. It could just be a fluke, but it is what I observed. The following week at the Vegas Regional with our co-ed tech team, tech inspection only took about ten minutes.

Fredi,

Kudos to your team for doing this. I truly feel that you are "blazing a trail" with some of the things your team has accomplished.

As for your example in the inspection process at San Diego...

I really think that this was most likely a case of a new inspector at a new regional just trying to do a good job. In doing so, they took too long. I truly hope that it was not because of the gender of the team they were inspecting. Sometimes one-hour inspections take place. They are not the norm, but I've seen it happen to various types of teams.

Andy B.

[falconmaster]

Thanks Andy

I suppose that is probably the case. I think it was probably a new judge. It was probably just mere coincidence, however, I did observe the inspection. I was trapped in the pit behind the robot and actually had to watch the whole ordeal. Again, I am not making any conclusions, just observations.

Thanks again and hope to see you at the Championships! Take care!