Hello,
Since the submission period is over, I would like to share the team’s essay with all of you. This is only our second year that we have entered a Chairman’s submission, so all criticism is welcomed.
Dean Kamen said, “Everybody has to be able to participate in a future that they want to live for. That’s what technology can do.” A byline in one of the RoboLancers’ communications to parents this year was, “We don’t just build robots. We build the future.” It appears Dean Kamen and the RoboLancers essentially agree.
From the first time a prospective freshman experiences Central High School at orientation and is exposed to its robotics team, the RoboLancers, the student’s interest is roused. By October, at Central’s Club Fair, the student can’t wait to sign on, marking the beginning of a journey which spans years of learning, growing, preparing and competing. By graduation, the veteran RoboLancer is prepared for enrollment in university, transformed with a positive self-image, leadership skills, and a professed interest in obtaining engineering, computer science and/or another STEAM-related degree.
The rookie RoboLancer experiences tool training and workshops on mechanical, measurement, electrical, programming and marketing, so he or she is ready to fully engage when the competition season begins. The concept of gracious professionalism is a constant part of the new member’s training. Part of the application process requests each new member’s interests and perceived skills, which are tabulated and the member is placed appropriately within the team.
Because membership significantly increased for the 2012/2013 academic year (from 30 in 2011/2012 to 99 in 2012/2013), rookie members were assigned to FTC Teams #5320 and #6676, parented by the RoboLancers. Veteran members of the team mentor the fledgling RoboLancers for one year until they join the FRC team.
At Back-to-School Night, parents were presented with a tri-fold board presented by the team, which illustrates some of the items a robotics team needs to function throughout the season alongside of the cost. Not only did this presentation create interest in the RoboLancers, but it resulted in the donation of several hundred dollars.
Once kick-off of FTC took place at West Philadelphia High School in late September 2012, the rookie RoboLancers and team veterans joined forces to design and build the FTC robots for Ring It Up!
This year, the RoboLancers have had experiences as never before.
In early October 2012, the RoboLancers hosted their first-ever Flapjack Fundraiser at Applebee’s in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Over 120 people attended, bringing word to that community of FIRST, STEAM and the antics of the RoboLancers, which included a special performance by the team’s mascot, the red Rock’em-Sock’em robot.
Steven Choe, the team’s electrical lead, fractured his heel in mid-October, requiring surgery, a hospital stay, and period of rest and recuperation. The team frequently reached out to Steven, by Facebook, email, phone and personal visits, welcoming him back when he returned in a wheelchair after being away for about three weeks.
In late October, the RoboLancers hosted an FTC practice scrimmage/workshops for the second straight year, including a team-operated canteen. The team and several alumni mentors served as instructors. The reaction by other robotics teams which attended was heartwarming. The fire was lit and the spirit which moves a robotics team member was fanned by their exposure to the RoboLancers as instructors, mentors, tour guides and role models.
Throughout the course of this year, as every year, the RoboLancers consistently support other robotics teams through mentoring, volunteering, hosting, acting as spokespeople, connecting mentors to teams, as well as providing parts to needy teams. In the past two years, the RoboLancers have mentored FTC Team #5506 at University City H.S., FTC Team #5513 at Martin Luther King H.S., FTC Team #5323 at Philadelphia High School for Girls, and FRC Team #4454 at Science Leadership Academy. In contrast to other years, we have had communications with other FIRST teams from across the country, including FIRST Team 525, the Swartdogs, from Iowa, and St. Paul High School Robotics Team 4549, from Minnesota. We also involve other FIRST teams in our Philly Robotics Expo.
At the beginning of this year, our very existence and ability to compete seemed at stake with all financial support being withdrawn by the School District. The RoboLancers applied for and received several grants as well as other donations and an increase in parental support. This makes it possible for the RoboLancers to do what they do best – develop into a cohesive unit and shining example for other students in a city rife with poverty and crime.
Due to meetings with FIRST and School District representatives, the RoboLancers decided to create a non-profit that would support robotics education in Philadelphia. Head Coach Daniel Ueda and members of the University of Pennsylvania and the School District of Philadelphia created the Philadelphia Robotics Education Alliance (“PREA”) to this end. Working with PREA, the RoboLancers will be able to support the message of FIRST and robotics education in urban environments.
The team was invited to represent FIRST at the Rockwell Automation Fair in November. Approximately 35 RoboLancers worked at the Philadelphia Convention Center, engaging exhibitors and visitors from across the United States and other countries. All who visited FIRST Booth 950 expressed interest in FIRST, the RoboLancers and the performance of their basketball-tossing robot.
One event which affected every member of the RoboLancers is the tragic fire which resulted from a lightning strike to a rookie member’s home due to Hurricane Sandy. The family, which includes five children ranging in age from 14 months to 15 years, lost everything. The RoboLancers reached out to the family, organizing a fund drive in conjunction with the school and spearheading a clothing drive within the Central High School community for which the family was profoundly grateful.
There is more parental involvement this year, with six adult mentors – one parent as Assistant Coach, two as mechanical and electrical mentors, the fourth as the team’s Meal Planning Coordinator, a student-teacher mechanical mentor, and a non-parent corporate mentor. In addition, seven alumni RoboLancers consistently return to the team as mentors. Every Friday, after their meeting and robot construction, the team enjoys a home-cooked meal donated by various parents immediately before leaving for the day at about 7 p.m. This activity permits friendships to flourish in a more relaxed atmosphere, which also is full of fun and goodwill.
In February 2013, as they did in 2012, members of the RoboLancers volunteered at the FLL qualifier and championship matches held at the University of Pennsylvania. The RoboLancers thoroughly enjoyed their roles as timekeepers, judges, pit administration, and photographer for the FLL competitions.
The common thread through all of these events is the cohesiveness of the team in stepping up to both the challenges and opportunities presented within the team, the school and the greater community in an effort to spread the resounding need for STEAM education and the overwhelming response to that need by the FIRST RoboLancers’ team.
In addition to building their FRC robot and fine-tuning their FTC robots, the RoboLancers are in the midst of planning the Third Annual Philly Robotics Expo, which welcomed over 1,000 visitors last year, triple the number from the First Annual Philly Robotics Expo, and was featured on NBC News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Technically Philly, and WHYY. Hosted at Drexel University, the event holds FLL and FTC scrimmages; electrical, programming, and mechanical workshops; tech exhibitors like Boeing and PTC; and keynote speakers. The event will act as a fundraiser for PREA.
The RoboLancers also have the privilege this year of being featured as part of a documentary about robotics by Academy Award nominee and Sundance Film Festival winner, Fiona Otway. Filming has taken place during several RoboLancers’ meetings.
On February 13, the RoboLancers were privileged to attend the State of STEM Speech at the White House after being invited by UPenn’s GRASP lab.
The final event of the robotics season is “Senior Send Off,” a dinner which celebrates all members of the team but in particular represents the final official event for graduating seniors. The Head Coach “roasts” team seniors, creating laughter and fond memories. The evening serves as a reminder by the presence of many alumni members of the team, who return every year for this event, that life with the RoboLancers goes on and thrives both in its former, returning and new members.
The RoboLancer who walked through the doors of Central High School as a freshman, continued through sophomore and junior years, and is preparing for graduation as a senior is drastically different from the young woman or man who joined the team four years before. Skills have been learned; friendships made; robots planned, designed and built; competitions won and lost; and most importantly, the member’s character has been molded, honed and developed. He or she has become the quintessential “gracious professional.” Not only has the Central student met all of the rigorous academic requirements of school, but indeed, has become a leader, mentor, teacher – an inspiration to future generations of Central High School students and RoboLancers. This individual will go on to greet life head on, full of wit and wisdom, skills and knowledge, and a profound sense of self.
FIRST is an awe-inspiring organization which permits the unfolding of youth into the scientists and engineers of tomorrow. The RoboLancers recognize and embrace that they are a FIRST robotics team. Dean Kamen’s statement, “Everybody has to be able to participate in a future that they want to live for,” gives a reason for a future. The road to that future is defined by membership in the RoboLancers.
We are the RoboLancers. We are the future.