Gearing Up! (FIRST documentary)

FIRST General Forum
#1

Hi guys,

Just wanted to give you guys an update on the FIRST documentary mentioned here a couple of years ago. The documentary was filmed during the 2008 season and features four teams: Team #341 “Miss Daisy”, Team #2528 the “Robodoves”, Team #1706 the “Ratchet Rockers”, and Team #1583, the “Rambotics”. It will be aired on PBS channels this coming fall and will hopefully garner a lot of interest in FIRST for the upcoming 2010 season.

We (KETC Channel 9 in St. Louis, MO) are working on getting a website for the documentary up, but in the meantime if you’d like a more constant stream of updates, you can check out the facebook fan page here. There is a promo video for the documentary up there already. If you would like, I can also keep you updated through this thread.

#2

Just out of curiosity, were you conducting interviews with people from different teams (Other Than The Teams you Mentioned) at the Championship in 2008 for this Documentary? I remember being interviewed for what I believe is this documentary at the Championship in 2008 in one of the small rooms under the Georgia Dome.

#3

The documentary really only focuses on those four teams, and as far as I remember (I could be wrong) it only goes up to the state regionals. I’m told we did shoot some at the Championships, so that may or may not have been us. However, not everything that was recorded is being used in the documentary. It has been edited down a lot. Sorry I can’t give you any more of a conclusive answer!

#4

Looking forward to the release! It seems like a long time ago now…
Nice promo, and nice snaps. The photo of the Robodoves talking with a man in a blue blazer- he is the Governor of Maryland.

#5

They were filming for this documentary at the 2008 Championship. We were also provided footage to the production company but will not be featured in the final product, to my understanding.

#6

What you are thinking of was a partnership between PBS and FIRST to do personal interviews for promotional videos. You can find an example on this FRC Media page. http://www.usfirst.org/community/resourcecenter.aspx?id=652
There is a video which is called “FRC Student Voices” which is an example of this work. Its a great video.

“Gearing Up” is strictly about the 4 teams involved, although they did often film other action.

#7

Very cool !.

I like the Facebook Gearing-Up page, you can upload fan videos to it and stuff…

Cheers,
Marcos.

#8

Hello All,

I was wondering for the teams filmed for the documentary, what type of industries the mentors come from :
Team #341 “Miss Daisy”,
Team #2528 the “Robodoves”
Team #1583, the “Rambotics”

For Team #1706 the “Ratchet Rockers”, I know there were at least three mentors from aerospace industry, one of them a retiree.

#9

For 341:

One of our mentors is a physics teacher at Wissahickon High School
One of our mentors is a machine trades teacher at North Montco Technical Career Center (county technical school)
One of our mentors works for Lockheed Martin
One of our mentors is a US Army retiree
One of our mentors is a professional web designer/multimedia designer with a small firm in Philadelphia
One of our mentors works for an HVAC company
Four of our mentors are currently college students studying engineering-related fields

And several other teachers and parents help out in some capacity during the year.

#10

I haven’t met the other three teams, but I had the privilege of inspecting the Robodoves’ VRC robot at the World Championships in Dallas. On their Website they say their VEX robot managed 29 points in the Programming Skills Challenge at a regional event, which is the second-highest score I heard of last season in VRC. That’s some good programming. I’m looking forward to seeing the documentary.

#11

I don’t have a complete mentor list for 2528 but one male mentor (featured at the end of the promo) is a retired engineer from Bethlehem Steel (a longtime FIRST mentor and event volunteer), and other mentors (female) were from a small local company in Baltimore - Key Tech - which does product development. They are amazing role models for this all-female team.

#12

Very cool !!!.

Here is what I have so far :

Team #1706 the “Ratchet Rockers”
Three mentors from aerospace industry, one of them a retiree.

Team #341 “Miss Daisy”
One of our mentors is a physics teacher at Wissahickon High School
One of our mentors is a machine trades teacher at North Montco Technical Career Center (county technical school)
One of our mentors works for Lockheed Martin
One of our mentors is a US Army retiree
One of our mentors is a professional web designer/multimedia designer with a small firm in Philadelphia
One of our mentors works for an HVAC company
Four of our mentors are currently college students studying engineering-related fields.

Team #2528 the “Robodoves”
One male mentor (featured at the end of the promo) is a retired engineer from Bethlehem Steel (a longtime FIRST mentor and event volunteer).
One other mentors (female) were from a small local company in Baltimore - Key Tech - which does product development. They are amazing role models for this all-female team.

#13

I have been instructed that FIRST will be sending the procedures to the Regional Directors for the process to be followed for contacting local PBS stations (to ask to show the documentary). The RD’s will distribute to their local areas.

#14

Anyone that follows this thread lives in Alabama ?
If so, contact me on private message on chief delphi.

Cheers,
Marcos.
:cool:

#15

Just an FYI that the Physics teacher for team 341 is also a Master prepared Mechanical Engineer (retired) with 10 years in the packaging and food industry. :slight_smile:

#16

Definitely wait for direction from FIRST before contacting a PBS station. There is some serious protocol to follow there.

However, we have been working closely with the folks at KETC St. Louis and it is OK to use your social networking skills to contact friends, family, other FIRST teams, sponsors, and others to let them know about the upcoming release. They are definitely at a point where they want the general public to know about the Facebook site and the upcoming Gearing Up website.

#17

New link for “FRC Student Voices” is http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/resourcecenter.aspx?id=652 . Unfortunately, since I am not a student, even though I was interviewed, I must have ended up on the cutting room floor. Oh, well! :stuck_out_tongue:

#18

Hello All,

It is very cool on the documentary facebook we can post videos.
There is a video of one of the teams filmed for the documentary (Team 1706 ) past robots displayed at the school district office, does other teams have footage of their robots been displayed on the school district office ?

Cheers,
Marcos

#19

Times and media markets so far:

http://www.gearingupproject.org/where-to-watch/

#20

@CoachNorm on Twitter posted some information about Gearing Up on his blog: http://coachnorm.posterous.com/gearing-up-documentary-on-first-robotics