I saw the What else do you do related to robotics? thread, and thought this was fitting.
So, what other things are you up to?
Can be sports, clubs, for students, or hobbies you’re super into and wanna share for others.
I like to ride my bike a fair amount with @ChrisH. And I’m also a tech volunteer at my church.
Free time is pretty much split between church, robotics, bike riding (if it isn’t too late/too restricted) and sitting around on the computer (but that’s robotics related half the time).
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Old people like me have sometimes done LOTS of other things. Robots for 17 years isn’t even in third place.
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I like to play viola and compete in non-robotics related events (math, music, etc).
That and school take up most of my free time, though.
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Hoo boy! Mock trial, math club, knowledge bowl, band, Hi-Q, piano, and now I’m learning trumpet.
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School
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I like to crochet, read, play flute/piccolo/bass flute, and also pole vault. Pole vaulting is quite interesting to me because it’s a sport that involves a lot of knowledge of physics in addition to the physical and mental components. It also “defies” the laws of physics. If you look at some of the best vaulters in the world and set their kinetic energy while running (KE=1/2•m•v^2) equal to gravitational potential energy at the top of a vault (PE=m•g•h) and plug the numbers, the height that they are vaulting is much higher than what you would get by plugging in gravity and velocity and solving for height. Obviously, physics is not in fact broken, but I love how using these simple equations shows how there are many other parts of pole vaulting needed for athletes to get to those great heights. If anyone finds this interesting, I’ll gladly go into a little more detail in another post.
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I do academic challenge team (what our region calls quiz bowl) which is really fun. I do cross country to stay in shape and to have a sport on my resume. I used to play guitar but that fell by the wayside in high school. I also started an SAT prep group this year to help people at my school since I have a good understanding and a lot of resources from when I was studying. One of my favorite things this year was Youth In Government where we got to hold a mock government at the state capitol.
I do choir mostly, I’m actually planning to major in music. I’m in a homeschool choir, and do solo and ensemble (except this year because our week one event ended up on the same weekend 
) I’ve been in the all state choir two years and made districts every other year I’ve auditioned. I’m hopeful to maybe audition for the voice one of these years, but I would like to improve my skills as a performer first.
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I go to school, i do robotics, i play video games, i ride my bike sometimes.
wait
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I teach technology education, automotive, manufacturing, computer science, robotics, driver’s Ed and behind the wheel.
I hunt, fish, ride atv, go to my cabin.
I am kinda a beer snob.
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Outside of robotics, I enjoy quiz bowl, I’m in French club/French Honor Society (although I’m dropping French next year so that’s no longer a thing), and am also a Senior in Girl Scouts. In my free time I play a lot of video games including Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. I’m currently up at 12:30 in the morning playing Minecraft/Monopoly with my friends while blasting Fall Out Boy.
I’ve got a few friends that like to play tennis so I’ve been hitting with them quite a bit lately. Before the whole covid thing I was in a men’s league and before that I was on my high school varsity team. Other things I did in school include Knowledge Bowl, Science Olympiad, and music composition. Now that I’m in quarantine I’ve been composing more, playing piano, running/biking, and learning how to cook. I’ve gotten pretty ok at making NYC pizza
I’m admittedly not a particularly epic gamer but the one game I do play on the regular is TagPro, an online capture the flag game. It’s a small, tight-knit community and has some really cool physics. I’m primarily involved in map design and other mapmakers are almost like another friend group to me, albeit online. I find it super fascinating to look at how all eight players will interact with map elements, how to polish them to ensure smooth boosting, how to make maps with unique play patterns, etc. Lately I’ve been acting as a mentor to help newer mapmakers learn how to make something that’s balanced and fun to play on and it’s honestly kinda fulfilling.
I think we have quite a few things in common… I would like to take you up on a few of these! Mind you, fall/winter months lend to darker brews - the summer months mean lighter.
NMRC/CMNRH meet up at your cabin?
This ‘time-out’ from robotics has allowed me to get back into my previous hobbies of cabinetry/construction. My family has also accelerated our farming skills. We moved back onto a small farmstead in my home town two years ago - poultry, hogs, and beef thus far… We have two out buildings up in the last few weeks and a “barn” going up this fall.
I am now looking for a tractor with bucket/backhoe/other implements… any leads?
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This is pretty similar to robotics, but I was part of my high schools welding club and I would practice TIG Welding after school as well as work on small metal fabrication projects. I also was in my schools manufacturing class and I would write G-Code to cut out parts on the shops new HAAS machine. It was our first year with a HAAS machine so, it was a cool to learn the machine with our shop teacher by our side.
I like to keep Poison Dart frogs (I’m getting ready to start a second tank) and I am scripting a webcomic that is more like what people do when they color color for relaxation than it will ever be for actual publication.
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The small game community’s really cool! I also play tennis and I haven’t seen many other tennis players in FIRST
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I play sports (tennis, golf), watch sports (basketball, football, tennis, golf), play video games, and am in band.
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I play unhealthy amounts of Forza, I play guitar and I enjoy roller coasters quite a lot. All are quite fun and are good distractions for when I can’t be in the shop.
We were also at Miami Valley and our large ensemble contest was during Miami. I had to leave during Friday and got back right after matches finished for the day. I wouldn’t recommend trying to do both during the same weekend lol.