Hello,
We are in process of facilitating FLL teams creation. One of the concerns that parents raised is the ownership of the robot and actual time that kids are able to “play” with robot.
I am positive this is not a new issue and likelihood others faced this concern before. Do you have any suggestions, pointers or advice?
I am also putting together a rookie FLL team.
The question of ownership has not come up where I am. We assume the school owns everything unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. When I bring a tool into the lab, I take a pic and write it off my taxes as a donation. If I do not want to donate it, I print out a big P-Touch label that says “Personal Property of Mr. Allen.”
Parents and sponsors donate, and the team uses the stuff.
The difference is that there is no school :). This is catered to home schoolers, so team is pretty much private.
I am planning to but set myself so there are no question raised at all about ownership.
You will find it is more expensive that You think.
Andrew
Our teams (two FLL, one FRC) are organized as a 4-H club on a college campus, though our funds (and thus, the ownership of the team materials) go through the University Foundation. You may want to consider organizing under some structure or another if it’s not a few friendly parents working together. 4-H clubs, scouts, church groups, homeschooling associations, or just a plain ol’ non-profit are all common not-a-school teams in FLL.
As for the cost, it does start to rack up. Our two teams ran up a bill with LEGO and FIRST into the low thousands between the kits and registrations, and then you have items like our field table. But if you’re game to spring for it, by all means!