January Extra Blog Post

So in january, we have been invited to showcase our robot in a FIRST Robotics Competition. Our robot was chosen by Richard Sisk to represent his team in a younger robotics division. I also had an interview with Richard recently that helped me a lot with my EQ because of his insight into the FIRST program and his ideals as a mentor. His team was deep in the build season and he barely had time to be interviewed but it was evident that the team was busy and bustling and ready to go.
The interview proved to be very useful and supplied me with a lot of the information that i will be able to use for my answer.

Our competition season is over now so we cant compete anymore really. Although we have been trying to apply to another competition up in sacramento, our hopes of really going there are slim to none due to cost issues. At this point, we dont really know where to go with our robot. We have started applying for grants for money so that we may buy more parts next year. We also got invited to showcase our robot as a new rookie team. I hope to continue to volunteer with FIRST and i will be attending an event on february 2nd which i will write about in the february blog. 

Not much else is happening but here are some photos of the team working together and planning. I took these photos at a recent meeting and most of it consisted of planning for the future. For now, we just look forward and hope for the best.

These photos were taken before the competition day on the 11th. I wasn't able to go and take photos of the competition because i went on the hike trip but i was there with the team helping them prepare. They didn't do too well from what i heard though. So much for all their preparation.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Content:

Post 10 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The first question should be your essential question and the other nine must be about the foundation of your essential question or help you answer your essential question.

How best can FIRST keep students involved in STEM?

What sort of outreach programs do you guys do and who benefits most from it?

What got you involved in FTC and how has it changed you?

What is the most important thing that the kids you mentor take away from this experience?

What is the importance of STEM in our world today and why do you think we should keep students involved in it?

How well do you think programs like FRC/FTC/FLL keep students involved in STEM and why is that?

FTC/FRC/FLL aren't the only programs out there, what do you think it is about this program that makes it different? And none of that Gracious Professionalism/ coopertition stuff, give me the real low down.

As a mentor, whats in it for you that keeps you coming back for more?

What kind qualifications did you need or did you have to be a part of this and how or why did your team start?

What is it about the spirit of competition that just gets kids and students alike so riled up about these robots?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?



With the Inland Empire Broncos Robotics Team. We work together with mentors from Cal Poly.

2.   Who is your contact?


Joey Uken

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

62 hours
 
4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.


The 10 hours of service i did involved a lot of meetings with our mentors on Fridays and Sundays usually for 3 hours. We would meet and then work together on our robot with them giving us tips as well as ideas for what we should do. We would also pitch ideas and show off our work then receive feedback from it. The robot was always the main focus. Our meetings were basically like a small office. We had people working on fundraising and coverage as well as media and then we had people actually hands on with the robot and then we had other people working on coding program for the movement of the robot. That is usually how every meeting with our mentors goes.

Senior Project, the Holiday

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?


Over the break, as part of my senior project the robotics club and i met periodically to work on our robot for our next qualifying tournament. We met on December 29th for 4 hours and worked with the group on fixing our robot for the next tournament. I also had a meeting with them on January 3rd and we did basically the same things and the most recent meeting was January the 5th where we have a working model of our robot that is a large improvement over our previous robot. We have the Qualifying tournament on January the 11th but i will not be able to attend. Our next meeting to completely finish all of our work as well as the qualifying stuff will be on Wednesday January 8th.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

There were many important things i learned from our meetings together with the team. In reference to my EQ, What is most important in winning a FIRST Tech Challenge, i usually observe the group and participate when i need to during our robotics meetings. In reality, what im learning in this team with our robotics group, are life skills that may extend beyond just high school and this group. Its us as a team, focusing our efforts and our skills and downfalls to complete a project from start to finish. I also analyzed the winning teams at the first competition we had. I saw robots modeled like a miniature moving tank and other robots that were quick and agile. I looked for what made them great and what made them win. What i saw was cooperation from all parts of the team from the fundraisers to the mechanical assembly kids all the way to the programmers. That was important.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to a mentor or a coach from one of the winning teams. Maybe get their perspective and idea on why they think they won. It would be helpful not only to my senior project but to my team as well.

FTC first competition~

As part of my mentorship with the Inland Empire Broncos Robotics club, we as a club participated in our first FTC competition on December 14^th. It had been a long night for Carlos, Regina, Miguel (sort of), and me. We had all spent the night awake and struggling to complete all the requirements necessary for competing in the competition such as the Robot, and our all-encompassing notebook, and putting together a presentation.  We all stayed up on skype and such to keep track of what each other was doing but at around 1:30, Miguel said he was going to take a little nap and that he’d be back in a bit and he was never heard from again. Regina stayed up with us through the night and worked very hard on completing the notebook. I had spent most of my day at a concert with Krystal that ended around 12:30. Then I took her home and drove to Carlos’s house. I got there at one and from that point we worked on our robot in between coffee breaks and snack runs. Our robot was finished at 4:17 AM the next day.

We had about two hours to kill before we had to leave the house and go to the competition so we showered and made breakfast which took up basically our whole morning. We arrived at the competition area around 7:30 which was the recommended time to come. Slowly the rest of our team started to show up and even our mentor decided to get out of bed and join us. We stayed outside of the Pit area and waited before they allowed us in. Many of the teams came in full uniform with vans and busses full of students and gear and us iPoly kids looked raggedy with our 3 boxes and our hastily constructed robot

.

Inside the pit area, we all had to wear goggles and many of the teams began mingling with ours and talking and asking questions about our robot and ourselves. Carlos, regina, Miguel and I sat in the chairs, listless hoping nobody would attempt to talk to us. But they did.

We tested our robot in the arena and we did alright.

Much of the beginning consisted of inspections of our hardware and our software as well as judging of our team cohesion and robotic ability. Then after lunch, we moved onto the actual competition where we began to see who really knew what they were doing. We did alright considering that was our first competition. Many of the thrills and ups and downs of the game were crazy and exciting but in the end, we came out 11^th place out of 21 contenders; not too shabby.

We all decided to leave the competition a bit early and we got berated on that but we had won an award and the only one there to pick it up was Miguel and he was not too happy about it. We won the award for best presentation, no surprise there. All in all, it was a good learning experience and lots of fun for the whole club.

FIRST Lego League Volunteering

For the month of November, as part of my mentorship and my senior project i volunteered with the FIRST Lego League for one of their regional qualifiers; a competition to determine who was going to be going to Lego land to compete. I was part of the setup team helping set up the actual competition arena and the next day I was a stage queue runner for two teams. I became sort of a team coach and organizer. I took care of the teams and made sure they were at the place they were supposed to be at the right times. I also encouraged them as well as making sure they were having a good time. It was an all around good experience for me to get into that sort of competition setting where i would be able to learn more about the competition i would be competing in.

These are photos of the night before when we were setting up the arenas and the pit area to receive the teams when they came the next day.

Us, the volunteers being briefed before the teams came and all things became hectic.

The arrival of the teams as they all searched for a place to set down their stuff.

Here is marina, watching the arenas as the kids set up.

Team Robotworks Y

The Bulldogs

These are the teams that i was in charge of the day of the competition.

The end of the day awards ceremony as well. This is the part where all the teams received awards for excellence in certain fields or in competitive spirit.

EQ

1. I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

• Provide a framework for studies
• Take a stance
• Format

2.  Review the following EQs and

• Tell us if it meets the rule of 3 criteria.
• Tell why it does or why it doesn't

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss? 

• It follows rule 1, 2, and 3 in the fact that it does allow the individual to do in depth research on the topic to achieve a final answer. It allows the person to choose a point and argue it backing it up with the research

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

• The formatting of this question is weird. It doesn't give any clue or stance as to what they're trying to figure out. They're not looking for anything.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

• This follows all three rules. Although it could be a bit more clear on what aspects of hairstyle creation they will be exploring. The formatting of the question is very good.

 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

• The question seems very single answer. It does not allow for extra research and several good answers.

3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.

• What are the most important factors a First Tech Challenge team should consider in order to win a competition?