Singapore Science Center: FRC Demonstration

FIRST General Forum
#1

We are pleased to announce that Team 341 has been invited to hold a robot demonstration and sharing session at the Singapore Science Center on August 18th. The team will speak to an international audience of students, teachers, community members, government officials, and business leaders about the FIRST Robotics Program , as well as the growing relationship between Team 341 and the schools of Singapore.
While in Singapore, the students on the team will also attend classes, visit homes and sample life in Singapore. Our exchange team will include 7 students, 1 college mentor, 1 high school principal and 3 coaches from both Wissahickon High School and the North Montco Technical Career Center. The team will also ship their 2006 FRC robot, “Miss Daisy”, for technical sharing and demonstrations.
The team is very excited about this opportunity to exchange ideas with our partner teams and introduce new students around the world to the FIRST Robotics experience.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions about this mission.

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#2

WOW…good luck and have fun :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks for the kind words and to everyone else that sent PMs to wish us well.

I guess I’ll use this thread to keep everyone posted on our progress, since I will be able to access the site while in Singapore.

Good luck with those Summer projects!

Al

#4

Wow, are you doing an FRC demo or an FVC demo? I imagine international shipping costs would be wicked high to ship a full size robot halfway around the world!

Good luck, and help FIRST spread!

#5

Congratulations on this outstanding opportunity. Please plan on representing FIRST in the best possible light, especially in your behavior outside the organized presentations - talk up FIRST. Oh, and have fun, you will literally never forget this trip.

The plane ride’s wicked long, bring something to do for, uh, 12 or more hours.

Don

#6

Good Luck and Have Fun Team 341.

Hey Al, can you give us a day to day or every other day recap of activities you guys are doing.

I can’t wait to hear what you guys are doing.

#7

Greg, Don & Freddy:
We are doing an FRC demo with our 2006 Miss Daisy, while our Singapore partners FVC 46 will discuss FIRST VEX. Although the costs are scaring us a little bit, we just didn’t feel right doing the presentation with just a video.
We also wanted to show our commitment to our partners, since they have been to the USA 3 times for competition and we had only sent one student, one time to Singapore to get things started.
We tried to get fully donated shipping but in the end we received a deep discount from DHL (Thank You!!) and we are also saving money by shipping a half size crate. This means we have to remove the 360 turret and then reassemble it in Singapore. Hey it wouldn’t be a robotics trip without a little pit crew action, right?
As far as behavior goes… We are going to have a long, long, long talk before we leave for this one. Not only are we representing FIRST but also our schools, our nation, etc. We also have a lot to research in terms of social decorum, especially since we will be doing home stays and attending classes at three different schools.
I will try my best to update this thread daily, starting August 16th. I will be staying at a place with INTERNET access so that should not be a problem.
Hopefully this will generate some interest among other FRC teams because if this exchange starts to grow, we won’t be able to handle this alone.

Thanks again for your interest and we will keep you posted.

Al Ostrow

#8

So I am extremely jealous right now. Talk about a great opportunity just culturally for your students, and to top it off they get to talk about FIRST while there. Congratulations Miss Daisy on this wonderful opportunity. I know you have been working heavily with at least one Singapore Vex team. Please keep us all informed and keep up the good work.

#9

One of the most exciting things for me personally is that my 11 yr. old daughter and 13 yr. old son will attend classes for 5 days there. They are so excited that they can hardly take it.

#10

It would be nice to follow the time leading up to your departure as well, such as the research the team is doing regarding the social decorum. Hope everyone will keep journals.
Congratulations, you put the ‘I’ in team effort, ‘I’ for Inspiration.
Jane

#11

I think journaling is an excellent idea. I had my own little ones do journals for several summers. The goal was to improve their writing, but we ended up with a special book, that everyone in the family treasures.
I have done some research on cultural considerations, but need to learn so much more. One parent on our team has been in close correspondence with one of the Singapore families since their visit to our school last January. The family sent her a book on Singaporean etiquette, which she is going to share with the team.
I’ll take your suggestion use this thread to track our progress prior to leaving as well.

Thanks so much for your interest!

Al

#12

this site might help for Singaporean etiquette
http://www.a-zofetiquette.com/Singaporeetiquette765.htm

#13

Vince:

Thanks for the site link. It looks like good stuff. I will pass this along to the team.

#14

Wow,
What a great opportunity. I hope you guys have a great time. Take lot’s of pictures and let us know how everything went. I wish I were going!

#15

The website for the Airport
BBC News Country profile
Official website for tourist information
Lonely Planet Destination Guide

Oh yes, please tell all members to ensure that they have the original prescriptions for medications, if any. Drug trafficking carries the death penalty.

Embarkation/disembarkation form picture

#16

Thanks for these links as well. And yes I did know about the prescription issue. I informed the team to document all medications and to leave any OTC medicines at home. They can always buy OTC medicines in Singapore. There is clearly alot to learn in a short time.

We also learned that we have to make a new robot crate to meet International shipping standards. For anyone that does not know, your wood crate must have either ISPM 15, heat treated and fumigated wood or proof that it is certified free of wood boring pests. Apparently our current crate would have made it into Singapore and then would have not been allowed to return to the USA.

I think this information was in the 2006 FIRST manual but I did not read it because it did not apply to our team this year.

Thanks again for all of the support and advice!

#17

ah how I wish I could go Mr.O , how I wish I could go. But i am sure I will hear about it everyday for the rest of my high school career

#18

We are now 2 weeks away from our departure date of 8/14/06. :ahh:
Our robot Miss Daisy leaves for Singapore on 8/1/06 via DHL.

I promised to update everyone about both our journey and our progress leading up to the trip. We are planning to use this thread as an online journal for our trip.
Hopefully more members of our travel team will relate their experiences here in the coming days. Here is a short description of happenings. Hopefully some of this will help other teams that try to do this in the future.

Parent Travel Meeting Topics
If you plan to do this here are some things we discussed:
*Goals and purpose of our mission
*Agenda of Activities
*Preparation and shipping of our FRC machine
*Travel Logisitics
*Proper travel documentation
*Immunizations
*Transport and documentation of Medicines
*Medical Insurance
*Customs, laws, and etiquette of our hosts
*History of the nation
*Appropriate attire
*Issues related to homestays
*General Behavioral Expectations
*Travel fatigue
*Appropriate thank you gifts for our hosts
*Amount and forms of money to carry
*Communications with home, both regular and emergency

#19

:yikes: Wow! Congrats! That’s awesome. Your robot was amazing. Your team was one of our neighbors at the Championship event :slight_smile:

#20

Thanks for your kind words!

I just checked the DHL tracking.

Miss Daisy is sitting at the Airport in Seoul, South Korea, waiting for her flight to Singapore. We’ll be joining her in a little over one week.
Can’t Wait!!