Against all odds...

[ForgottenSalad]

I have started attending school in a boarding school in northern New Hampshire. My school is a small school, around 100 kids enrolled, and I would like to get a FRC team together to compete in the 2008 season. However, the odds in this are against me, and I would like some input and advice on how to make this happen of if it's even possible to pull off at all. I will list some of the odds against to sort of give an idea.

1. We currently do not have power tools or machines, or even a 'shop'.
2. Finding a mentor. I can't think of a single teacher at our school with the kind of background needed. I could provide much mentorship, but I would need help.
3. Funding. Small school, small endowment. We would have to be entirely sponsored and/or out-of-pocket.
4. Time. During build season we would have short of 2 hours a day on weekdays, 3 if we worked through dinner, with MAYBE one day of the week where we would do FIRST instead of sports and could get 5 hours in. We would have 5 hours Friday 12-16 hours on Saturday and 1 or 2 hours on Sunday. Is it possible to build a robot in this timeframe?
5. People. We would have a small team. It's seen as 'nerdy' so the interest for something like FIRST here is low and I'd be lucky to get 6-10 people.
6. Parental support. Many students board and are not local. It'd be hard to get local support from the parents because of this.

The few things I see going for this is FIRST provides huge scholarship opportunities and I see that as a huge selling point for the program to a boarding school. Also, I've matured a lot in my leadership through FIRST... I think having FIRST at a school is a huge bonus and is a great idea for this reason. All advice, input, etc, about this situation and starting a team is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Mike Wessler, Former 810 Team Member

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ForgottenSalad

1. We currently do not have power tools or machines, or even a 'shop'.
2. Finding a mentor. I can't think of a single teacher at our school with the kind of background needed. I could provide much mentorship, but I would need help.
3. Funding. Small school, small endowment. We would have to be entirely sponsored and/or out-of-pocket.
4. Time. During build season we would have short of 2 hours a day on weekdays, 3 if we worked through dinner, with MAYBE one day of the week where we would do FIRST instead of sports and could get 5 hours in. We would have 5 hours Friday 12-16 hours on Saturday and 1 or 2 hours on Sunday. Is it possible to build a robot in this timeframe?
5. People. We would have a small team. It's seen as 'nerdy' so the interest for something like FIRST here is low and I'd be lucky to get 6-10 people.
6. Parental support. Many students board and are not local. It'd be hard to get local support from the parents because of this.

The few things I see going for this is FIRST provides huge scholarship opportunities and I see that as a huge selling point for the program to a boarding school. Also, I've matured a lot in my leadership through FIRST... I think having FIRST at a school is a huge bonus and is a great idea for this reason. All advice, input, etc, about this situation and starting a team is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You've got time enough, if you manage it right. We've got 10 on our team and we run a similar schedule for six weeks.
As for mentoring, if you can do the more technical aspects and get help from a nearby team, you would pretty much just need someone to handle the administrative stuff (aka a NEM).
Space is one of the big hinderances, but I have heard of teams building in a classroom. Theoretically, you only need hand tools.
Your biggest problems are going to be funding and parental support. Try to get the school's head people on your side and you have a better chance of getting both.

[ForgottenSalad]

Is there any convenient way to locate any teams that are in my area?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ForgottenSalad

Is there any convenient way to locate any teams that are in my area?

The FIRST website has a team locator up at the top.

[GaryVoshol]

The other thing you could do is consider starting with VEX. Once you have a team going for a year or two, you will generate more interest, both in the school and community. Then you could get sponsors and mentors to move to FRC.

[Zyik]

I think my district started with Lego league, so if you don't have enough money for Vex, yes I know it isnt much but sometimes every penny counts. Our district is up to 4 lego teams and 1 FRC team, it can work out.

[ForgottenSalad]

What's hard is what I feel will generate the most interest and what I am rooting for is FRC, not FVC or FLL... As far as other teams, the nearest team is 90 miles away in Lebanon, NH.

[John Gutmann]

OK here are my thoughts,

1 Start a VEX team, I know, I know, don't say it. I know it isn't as fun, etc, especially since you can't ride a VEX robot (Lets just Hope JVN doesn't prove me wrong on this one)

2 Yes you can certainly build a robot in that time frame. You could ship you robot the day of build if you wanted to. They have ktibots for a reason.

3 For power tools, the least you need is a drill and hacksaw. For other tools, just get a screwdriver, socket, and allen wrench kit.

4 For a teacher, try a science teacher, and sit him down and say look all i need is your signature, well you know what I mean, he needs to be the school person involved you really have all the brains about how everything is run etc.

5 For money do can drives, etc other small things. You should beable to pull up enough money. WIth a good can drive or just going from nieghborhood to neighborhood you should be able to get a couple thousand dollars. From just half my neighborhood me and my friend got like 130$ for our team.

Anything else just shoot me a PM and I can try to find people to give you more ideas to help

-John

[CJV648]

Don't assume that because you are in a small town that there is no one interested and capable of mentoring. I do environmental engineering projects in out of the way places and I am frequently in awe of the breadth of knowledge of small town mechanics, plumbers and electricians. NH has a reputation for Yankee ingenuity, right? Locating the right person might be a problem though since the best of these guys are insanely busy (but not as much in the winter). The local hardware or plumbing supply store might be willing tell someone who in town could be help. Alternately you might look for a nearby retired mechanical engineer looking to get involved in a new activity. I don't know if your regional chapter of SME would be willing to put a call out for volunteers.

[vivek16]

try to call a meeting to get a bunch of people together. about 5 very dedicated people should to the trick. but try to start with a base group of about 20 kids who show interest.

then try to contact some of first's major sponsors for a donation, boston scientific is our main sponsor and we got 8000 dollars from them if our school agreed to pay 2000.

ask for about 7000 dollars to start with.

try to ask your local companies for help, maybe machining or donations of about 100-500 dollars.

i think 10 hours a person for a team of 5 people each week throughout the build sseason is more that enough.
we got the work done with about 250 man hours (had around 5/6 dedicated people putting in about 6 hours a week)and we had absolutely no idea what we were doing.

i would say get a very skilled programmer if you and make that the main priority because he/'she could practically build the robot with the kit bot chassis and mount the motors and stuff all by themselves.

it is definitely possible to start a team i would say with your resources.

we worked at a parents house and they were very helpful.
try to contact all of your local engineering companies for a room if tehy can spare it.

vivek.

[MasterChief 573]

Originally Posted by ForgottenSalad

I have started attending school in a boarding school in northern New Hampshire. My school is a small school, around 100 kids enrolled, and I would like to get a FRC team together to compete in the 2008 season. However, the odds in this are against me, and I would like some input and advice on how to make this happen of if it's even possible to pull off at all. I will list some of the odds against to sort of give an idea.

1. We currently do not have power tools or machines, or even a 'shop'.
2. Finding a mentor. I can't think of a single teacher at our school with the kind of background needed. I could provide much mentorship, but I would need help.
3. Funding. Small school, small endowment. We would have to be entirely sponsored and/or out-of-pocket.
4. Time. During build season we would have short of 2 hours a day on weekdays, 3 if we worked through dinner, with MAYBE one day of the week where we would do FIRST instead of sports and could get 5 hours in. We would have 5 hours Friday 12-16 hours on Saturday and 1 or 2 hours on Sunday. Is it possible to build a robot in this timeframe?
5. People. We would have a small team. It's seen as 'nerdy' so the interest for something like FIRST here is low and I'd be lucky to get 6-10 people.
6. Parental support. Many students board and are not local. It'd be hard to get local support from the parents because of this.

The few things I see going for this is FIRST provides huge scholarship opportunities and I see that as a huge selling point for the program to a boarding school. Also, I've matured a lot in my leadership through FIRST... I think having FIRST at a school is a huge bonus and is a great idea for this reason. All advice, input, etc, about this situation and starting a team is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Mike Wessler, Former 810 Team Member

In order

1. You don't need a shop to build a robot, our team doesn't have one. We just build it in a class room. However you will need to buy tools and the members might have to find a way to do that.

2. As far as mentors are concerned around half of ours (2 out of 4) are parents of a member. As long as you know someone with engineering knowledge willing to dedicate time you have a mentor.

3. NASA provides sponsorship to all rookie teams in need of money for their first year.

4. I don't know how to address time but I will say this, if you can dedicate 2 to 4 hour every other weekday and 4 to 6 hours on Saturday or Sunday you have plenty of time.

5. You don't need a big team, I would say that 15 people would be bare minimum but if you can get that many your in business.

6. I don't know exactly what you mean by parent support but I would say that if you mean what I think you mean that it doesn't take more than 3 to 5 parents max to do that.

[David Brinza]

The FIRST KOP and the documentation available makes building a drivable robot pretty straightforward. Teams (rookies and veterans) run into trouble when they get too ambitious. Build the basic drive-train and chassis early (this is a good week #1 project) - get students to practice driving around obstacle courses while the design team develops a simple mechanism to handle the game piece or some other aspect of the game. Make sure your frame is almost an inch shorter than the max allowed dimensions - I've seen too many teams in panic mode at regionals because they didn't account for bolt heads, bumper brackets, signage, etc. and their robot wouldn't fit in the box!

Read the game manual and especially robot rules carefully - the inspectors will try to be helpful, but don't have leeway in making sure the robots are compliant.

A really valuable reference is the Guidelines, Tips and Good Practices Manual. Almost everything you need to know about building a compliant, reliable robot is contained in that document. Of course, you've got the CD community to call on if you have questions or problems.

[Taylor]

Step 1: Move the school to Rhode Island
Step 2: Get in contact with a local machinist/fabricator/mechanic and see if you can use his/her shop
Step 3: Try to incorporate other area schools - there's no rule that says a FIRST team must all be students from one school. Don't fret over numbers - last year there was a 4 member team at WMR that did fantastically well.
Step 4: Talk to area universities & students, drive interest. Saying you've partnered with a local college will impress the devil out of people.
Step 5: Get as much exposure as possible. Pester the local media. Print brochures (or steal some from CD-Media - that thing rocks!)
Step 6: Get as many people as possible to go to an offseason event - fellow students, teachers, administrators, board members, local business owners (prospective sponsors), university reps, the guy that made your burrito at Taco Bell, you get the point
Step 7: Write DK and WF and they'll talk up your team next time they're on Colbert or Mythbusters
Step 8: If you need a mentor team in Indy, let us know.

[ForgottenSalad]

Thanks for all the advice and responses... School will be back in session this week and when I get a chance and work up a plan in my mind of how I am going to do this I will begin steps needed to plan this out.

[Akash Rastogi]

I think someone said it before but NASA does offer start up money for rookie teams. It will be helpfull and once you can show your school and the parents that NASA will be helping you guys out, this will generate interest amongst them.
Also, go around your community and nearby towns in search of mechanics or anyone with engineering and programming experience to mentor and coach the team.
Hope you can pull this off.
Idea for a name- "Miracle Robotics"