New to Chiefdelphi

FIRST General Forum
#1

Posted by Aya.

Student on team #115, MVRT, from Monta Vista High School and NASA Ames Research Center and Xilinx.

Posted on 1/1/2000 7:40 PM MST

Hey all,

It’s is my first time posting a message, but just wanted to say hi. I’m Aya Maeda, and I come from Monta Vista Robotics Team #115 from CA. It’s my 2nd year participating in this program, but our team’s been in existence for 3 years. We have a completely new set of officers (including me) so its been full of excitement so far this year.

I’ve been checking out the commentaries given at this site but its great to see so many committed people to FIRST’s program. If I can get some help from veteran teams out there, it’ll be awesome!

Currently, my #1 concern is that once competition starts, we’ll lose team members that show up during build time. Our team is pretty big w/ 60 students, but that shouldn’t hinder their participation level. Any suggestions on what I can do?

Thanks, and hope you see you all at Nationals!

-Aya-

icq: 1852246

#2

Posted by colleen.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Other on team #246, a FIRST-aholic, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy/Madison HS/BU Academy and Boston Edison/Boston University/Wentworth Institute of Technology/MassPEP.

Posted on 1/1/2000 10:39 PM MST

In Reply to: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Aya on 1/1/2000 7:40 PM MST:

Hey Aya- welcome to the forums…

basically, there’s no real way to stop fall-off come build time- it’s generally expected and in some ways can do much more help than harm…

students will weed themselves out- the ones who really want to give the time and effort will stick with it whether its 6 or 60 minds grinding it out every night of the week…

the ones who aren’t really going to put their all in will fall off, and that saves you team the time and expense of people hanging around and travelling to competition…

let people know straight out that it’s a lot of hard work- some will leave but many will stay, and make it clear that they can all have a spot on the team… possibly make sub-teams (assembly, design, chairman’s award, etc.) which students can join to they feel like the have more responsibility to a certain area…

colleen

#3

Posted by Patrick Seeney.

Student on team #469, Las Guerrillas, from Oakland Robotics and Lawrence Technological University.

Posted on 1/3/2000 1:20 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by colleen on 1/1/2000 10:39 PM MST:

Basically it takes a core group of hard working students. If they can work with eachother, be there for eachother, that is a great plus. I know that last year, the core group on our team consisted of 6 members, and it worked out great, we had the hard tiems with the robot, but we also had the good times…for example when the bot got it’s first movements, it was about 9:30 at night, and we were driving it around the lobby, and we had it on tape, we caught the first ‘steps’ along with the first bloopers. This experience along with many others will soon come… and it will be some of the most fun times you will have.

Pat

#4

Posted by Aya.

Student on team #115, MVRT, from Monta Vista High School and NASA Ames Research Center and Xilinx.

Posted on 1/4/2000 5:55 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Patrick Seeney on 1/3/2000 1:20 PM MST:

Wow, thanks for the insights =)

The Point System seems to be a pretty clever idea, I might try that! Hmm… I agree that there already is a distinction between the will-be-(hard)workers and the not-so-up-to-it people. But one other thing I realized lately is that communication is a key factor in keeping their interest intact. Especially when its such an interesting competition like this, I’m sure members want to be up-to-date with current news of what we leaders know. Ohwell, just wanted to say that.

BTW, I was flipping through tv channels the other day and saw Dole (I think…) giving a speech in NH with a FIRST flag right behind him. Obviously, I’m not into politics as I am into robotics, but hey, we’re going national on tv already =)

-Aya M.-
Team 115

#5

Posted by Lora Knepper.

Student on team #69, HYPER, from Quincy Public Schools and The Gillette Company.

Posted on 1/4/2000 11:13 PM MST

In Reply to: Bob Dole on tv posted by Aya on 1/4/2000 5:55 PM MST:

Not a problem, if you need anything else, feel free to email me, as for Dole…just wait until ESPN gets their broadcast up and running! :wink:

#6

Posted by Michael Martus.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Coach on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central H.S. and Delphi Automotives Systems.

Posted on 1/2/2000 3:11 PM MST

In Reply to: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Aya on 1/1/2000 7:40 PM MST:

Welcome to the web site from Chief Delphi.

I think in the next few weeks you will find a lot of interesting information, ideas and help from many experienced and great teams, like Colleens team.

Answer to your question:
The survivors on your team …the real workers will develop in the first few weeks. Careful records of time and attendance are important if there is a concern over travel and National expenses. No team wants dead weight team members as they are the ones to get into trouble at events.

On our team we reward the members that work the hardest with recognition.

A small group of hard working students is far better than a large group of sometimes there, somtimes working, often distracting students to deal with.

#7

Posted by Lora Knepper.

Student on team #69, HYPER, from Quincy Public Schools and The Gillette Company.

Posted on 1/3/2000 2:43 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Michael Martus on 1/2/2000 3:11 PM MST:

I agree with Michael completely. I’ve been the team head and driver for the past two years for my team, and we are very large (about 100 members). Unfortunately, out of that number, we have a ‘core’ group of only about 10 that actively participate in the team once things start heating up. This core group, however, is some of the best students we have and they usually are rewarded with the pit-crew/driver/human player positions on the team because they posses the most knowledge of the machine and how to operate it. These are also the people who don’t get in trouble while on the road in competition. I like to think of a FIRST team with the old addege, ‘Bigger is NOT always better.’

#8

Posted by Mike King.

Other on team #88, TJ², from Bridgewater Raynham and Johnson & Johnson Professional.

Posted on 1/3/2000 7:10 PM MST

In Reply to: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Aya on 1/1/2000 7:40 PM MST:

Our biggest problem is that we have too many kids who want to build the robot.

Now we’ve all heard the adage, ‘Many hands make light work’ but we’ve also heard the adage ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth (soup)’
We manage to fit as many people into the build room as it is pratical.

I agree with Lora, Our team keeps strict attendance records, and we’ve never had a problem with who goes and who doesn’t. This is quite an acomplishment for a team that averages 60 members. We’ve even managed to take most of our team with us. (2 full bus loads, from near Boston, MA to Rutgers NJ.)

In previous years, We use the points system we’ve developed (based on money raised, meeting’s attended, time that was logged, etc) to determine who goes down on the first bus on Thursday, and who goes on the second bus on Friday.

Good luck,

Mike King

#9

Posted by Branden Gunn.

Other on team #246, formerly of team #23, and another FIRST-aholic, from John D. O’Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy/Madison High School/Boston University Academy and Boston Edison/Boston University/Wentworth Institute of Technology/MassPEP.

Posted on 1/5/2000 12:49 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Mike King on 1/3/2000 7:10 PM MST:

: Our biggest problem is that we have too many kids who want to build the robot.

: Now we’ve all heard the adage, ‘Many hands make light work’ but we’ve also heard the adage ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth (soup)’
: We manage to fit as many people into the build room as it is pratical.

: I agree with Lora, Our team keeps strict attendance records, and we’ve never had a problem with who goes and who doesn’t. This is quite an acomplishment for a team that averages 60 members. We’ve even managed to take most of our team with us. (2 full bus loads, from near Boston, MA to Rutgers NJ.)

: In previous years, We use the points system we’ve developed (based on money raised, meeting’s attended, time that was logged, etc) to determine who goes down on the first bus on Thursday, and who goes on the second bus on Friday.

: Good luck,

: Mike King

If my team(23) ever followed the points system, I never would have gone to any of the events, I never did any fundraising, we had much better people for that than me, I spent all my time working on the 'bot, which our point system didn’t include. Hours in the shop don’t always mean work done, we had a few people that spent a pretty good deal of time around the shop, but got very little done in the way of actual productive work. My reccomendation is to have a small committe of students(5-6?) and maybe an adult or two(but not the team coach/leader) make a list of the most deserving people on the team to be submitted to the coach for a final decision. If a student can SHOW you what they’ve been doing, and it’s made an impact on the team, then those are the ones that should be rewarded with the experience of the trip, especially when the team budget is tight. If you want to take more students than the team can afford, offer partial funding for them.

Gunn

#10

Posted by Daniel.

Coach on team BORG (Berkeley Operational Robotics Group) from Berkeley High School sponsored by (working on the sponsor, too).

Posted on 1/5/2000 9:04 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Branden Gunn on 1/5/2000 12:49 PM MST:

Aya! Remember to make exceptions!

Now I know you guys are filthy rich, so you may not even have a problem getting the whole team to florida, but if you do end up judging your members you’ve got to take into account the inspiration effect!

Each year (at least in my experience) there’s at least one person who hasn’t really ‘got it’ yet. Someone who didn’t put in a huge amount of time but will be so inspired by their experience in florida that they’ll really kick in next year. Or maybe they’ll graduate, but they’ll get a whole lot from their experience in florida. I’ve seen it happen again and again. Don’t overlook this possibility. Okay?

Well it’s off to kickoff for me so GOOD LUCK!

Oh and Aya, you’re gonna do great. Use these pages a lot.

-DL

#11

Posted by Mike King.

Other on team #88, TJ², from Bridgewater Raynham and Johnson & Johnson Professional.

Posted on 1/14/2000 7:54 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: New to Chiefdelphi posted by Daniel on 1/5/2000 9:04 PM MST:

Addressing both messages here. (Was on a Week vacation)

Actually, where not rich.

We require that each student fundraise enough to pay for themselve. It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but it’s what it boils down to.

And hours in the shop count big time with us. In previous years, we required each student document the time they spend. They are soley responible for keeping track of there own time. The system has worked well in the 2 years we used it. Only one person has had a problem with it, the thought someone else was keeping track of there time. But it all worked out and they went.

The majority of our team makes it to New Jersey. A smaller portion makes it to Florida.

#12