Hello,
I have been wondering something for a long time. I want to ask people how Robotics has affected their lives. Thanks everyone and I can’t wait until competition.
Oh wow. We could all probably go one forever about how FIRST has changed our lives.
I’ll share just a little bit of my story. A little background first;
Im an architecture student, and for those of you that don’t know about architecture school, we have to build and draw alot of complex models and designs. This often leads to alot of sleepless nights. I pride myself in getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night while my classmates can be up for almost 72 hours straight, all while still having every ounce of my work done and stress free. A large majority of my class is openly jealous of how calm and in control I am during the hectic critique (presentation) weeks.
I attribute all of my time and stress managment as well as my fabrication and public speaking skills to the experiences Ive had in FIRST.
I’ve managed to convince my wife that Valentine’s Day is February 24th. 
Jason
First off I had to spotlight what dtengineering said, but on with what you’ve asked. This is my third year in FIRST FRC and throughout the previous years I’ve worked mainly on mechanical, but have knowledge in electrical and programming work as well, which has caused me to already start becoming multi-disciplined in engineering. Where this has probably the greatest effect is that, after hearing that this existed, I would like to pursue a career as a Mechatronic engineer. In addition to this if anyone has any information on becoming a Mechatronic engineer, or recommendations of good schools, feel free to email me.
FIRST has transformed my life. Through both FLL and FRC, I have gone from a shy little girl, to a confident young lady. I can now speak in front of 100s or 1,000s of people without any problem. While I have always been “geeky,” FIRST has shown me that geeks can be cool, and that all geeks will go on to rule the world. (There is a quote out there, “Be nice to geeks in school, cause someday they are going to be your boss” I now believe it to be true.) I feel confident in my leadership, wiring, programming, writing, communicating, graphic design, public speaking, safety, and blogging skills. I know that with a good amount of hard work, there is almost nothing I can’t do!!!
Go FIRST!!!
i fractured my spine last last fall, but luckily i came across robotics. now im co-captain, with another year to go, and it was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me :yikes:
robotics has affected my life in a big way… learning new things is probably the biggest thing… i have learned so much about drive trains, pneumatics, gear ratios, and meeing new friends… and also another big thing is that i met my girlfriend on the team…
i used to be the nerd of my grade with the good grades and the person who got no sleep. now with FRC i got people who understand me and 4 hours of sleep works for all of us
Strangely, FLL had a significantly larger impact on my life than FRC did. 
The Maine School of Science and Math (Maine’s Magnet School) runs a summer camp for middle school kids and they gave a summer camp scholarship to the team that won the Director’s award (which combines your scores from all other areas). We won the award, but I had no interest in going to camp (for reasons I know can’t remember). My sister went though, and loved it, and through a long silly story, I ended up in Limestone Maine for the last 3 years of high school. I loved it, and I got far more out of it than I ever would’ve at my original high school.
Conveniently, we also got a 2 week “January Term” that we could spend doing internships that fell on the first two weeks of build, and February break always coincided with the mad dash prior to ship date.
My problem is that our wedding anniversary is Feb 14th! But since I’m the Controls mentor, we are still waiting for something to wire. So we went out for dinner while the team ate pizza.
My wife is great; she supports me in all my FIRST activities. I would be cautious with marriages < 10 years, however!
What life?
Ever since we joined first in 1999, I dont know what people do in January and February anymore, and many weeknights, weekends, and holidays.
I know of some that gave up FIRST because they got married and/or had kids.
You need an understanding wife, and for that, I’m grateful for.
How has robotics changed my life? Well, I certainly wouldn’t be here at past midnight, one hour after getting home from robotics, if I wasn’t in robotics. 
Seriously, though, it’s helped me become much more of a team player (six weeks to build, program, design, etc. a robot. Definitely not a ‘solo’ project) and really advanced my programming skills. A year and a half ago (pre-robotics), my programming level was about at the ‘Arrays are awesome! And Java is fun!’ point. Now, pointers and the astounding number of ways to abuse the ‘const’ keyword in C++ don’t confuse me (too much. XD).
Also, I really enjoy helping others learn and grow and succeed now, whereas before robotics, I really could care less.
Overall, it’s been a largely positive impact on my life. Of course, my bed dislikes being alone for more than 18 hours each day during FRC, but somehow I think it’ll get over it. 
that is so true… i mean who would ever think of after getting home from something at 1 in the morning would you then go onto a forum for an hour… my friends outside of robotics think i’m just crazy
I am not that big a fan of talking about “life changing events” when it hasn’t been very long and I haven’t lived a very long life, but I can say with certainty that because I elected to join my sophomore year, I figured out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, got into a college I never would have considered, developed vital social skills, found (and lost) love, and in general lived, all directly because of FIRST.
Because of FIRST, I ended up choosing industrial engineering over mechanical engineering. But more than that, I made some good friends and just had an overall good time in high school. It probably swayed my college decision somewhat too, since I chose to go to Purdue University partially because of Purdue FIRST Programs.
FIRST helped me realise sleeping is for losers. Thanks FIRST!
I haven’t gone ice fishing in about 5 years.
Robotics has done many things.
In the beginning it was my way of passing time, but it became something I loved. It taught me that anything is possible if you have the resources, and if you don’t it is still teaching me how to obtain those resources and even work without them.
It has given me a chance to network, meet new people across borders (domestic and international), and pass time with people who think the way I do, without having to explain odd jokes or interesting technological news and updates in great detail.
It has made me efficient. I have become more involved in the things i pursue, and it has helped me stay sane in the world of 20 hour differential equations homework assignments not to exclude dealing with the politics of a University, School and other organizations.
It has given me the resources to find answers. It has given me the resources to answer questions and do more research to find better answers.
It has made me more aware of when I speak, whom I speak to, how I speak, without leaving out what I really want to say… [but many will disagree]
It was one of many things that turned into another thing that turned into another which has made me a very successful leader of my school, my fraternity and in my community.
But most importantly, Robotics has given me the opportunity to argue with world class engineers, to even prove wrong some world class engineers, to work with world class engineers, but most importantly it has given me the opportunity to call many of these world class engineers my friends.
There is more to write but unfortunately differential equations must take priority to the internet.
Pavan Davé
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First has made me re-think what my future will be. Instead of becoming a doctor, i want to become a software engineer.
First has given me my first real job, programming an Electronic Medical Record application.
First has helped me visualize physics in real-world terms.
I went into robotics not having touched a tool in my life and wanting to be a hair dresser. Now I want to be an engineer and I brought physics to my school. This has been the most incredible experience of my life.