FRC Team Mission Statement:

Transcription

1 Team Mission Statement: The purpose of the Spring Konstant is to spread an appreciation of science and technology in our community. We will do this by engaging students and families through creative and fun science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects. The Spring Konstant also creates an innovative learning environment for students and adults by competing in FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). What is FIRST: FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a worldwide organization consisting of four levels: FIRST Lego League Jr. (FLL Jr., grades 1-3) FIRST Lego League (FLL, grades 4-8) FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC, grades 7-12) FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC, grades 9-12) It lets students of all ages learn about and gain real-world experience with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics by building a robot for fun competitions. The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting Mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. We are participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which involves building large, heavy-duty robots and is for students in high school. We believe that we can learn and teach STEM to ourselves and our community. Team Origin: The Spring Konstant was formed by Marguerite and Jeff Erickson in September of 2016 Student member count: 37 Girls: 9 (24%) Boys: 28 (76%) Mentors: 6 (~1:6 Mentor:Student ) Dripping Springs High School 940 Highway 290 West Dripping Springs, TX The biggest challenges Team 6357 has faced have been school awareness and establishing a 501c3 non-profit in order to better obtain funding. We struggled with

2 being able to get across that FIRST Robotics is more than just a club, but it is a team that has immense commitment and time requirements to achieve the high competition standards. As well as the commitment aspect, our school has had to combat the common misconception that all robotics teams and clubs consist of a group of introverted nerds, where in reality many of the members are sociable and friendly. Funding has also been a challenge to overcome in our first year as an FRC team. Our team is in the process of becoming a 501c3 nonprofit organization which will give us access to run our own bank account, making it easier to get sponsorships without having a middle man like the school district handling our funding. Creating a nonprofit is a slow process, requiring approval by many people, who all seem to be intent on dragging their feet while only our team feels a sense of urgency. Without the non-profit, it is difficult to spend the money that has been donated or fundraised. Once this nonprofit organization is established, we will be able to further explore sponsorships. We hope in the next year to overcome these challenges to create an innovative workspace with a diverse group of people fully supported and understood by our community. Organizational Structure: For the inception year and specific to the 2017 FRC challenge, the team is structured across four teams. To best leverage talents and encourage a culture of exploration, each member can and have worked with other teams to meet work product and deadlines. Each organization team is described below at a high level. Business Team Writers- Given the goal of effectively completing all of the awards that require written responses and critical thinking. Pit designers- The pit designers are given full reign to design the pit, and create an image for the team for years to come as well as the space to keep our robot. T-shirt and banner- The creation of our t-shirt and banner are a true indicator that we stand together as one clean united team. Their role is to create the team s visual image whether that be in the pit, on tshirts, or on the robot. Mechanical Team (mechanisms are specific to the 2017 FIRST challenge) Climb- The goal of the climb team is to create a mechanism that will allow the robot to attach to the rope and lift itself off of the ground. Gears- To secure the gear using geometry and design a successful gear capture and deployment system. Drive Train- Successfully learn everything about the base of robot, wheels, gear boxes and how to get these components to work together effectively.

3 Build team- The build team recreated many of the field pieces to be able to effectively test the robot s accuracy and ability to play the game. Electrical Team- The goal of the electrical team is to learn how to use pneumatics and wiring for our robot to use at competition. Programming Teams Autonomous and Teleoperated - The team s goal is to be able to place a gear and get to the base line in 15 sec (autonomous) by making a program that will be able to precisely execute the real time info sent from the vision sensors to the robot s processor and autonomous program. Vision Team- This team writes the code that allows the robot to use retro-reflective tape to guide itself by using a camera to take pictures and move the robot based on its position. Relationships: During the robotics season, we asked our team to fill out a survey that included skills necessary to compete in FIRST. Only 9% of students already knew programming and mechanics before Build Season, 18% of students learned a new programming language during Build Season, 14% of students learned a design software (Solidworks or CAD), and 27% of students learned mechanical and electrical skills. This survey shows that most of our team members are learning new skills. We retain members because they can see how much they are learning. In an attempt to reach out to the community, the Spring Konstant attended Christmas on Mercer which is held in downtown Dripping Springs. We displayed our kit bot and shared our vision with the community. We formed ties with a welder and many other small business owners. In January we worked with children at the elementary school at Family Science Night where we did science experiments and showed off our robot. Moving forward we want to place an emphasis on young kids and hopefully get more young people interested in STEM. Our participation in these community events shows our effort to engage and inspire our community. As for retaining and engaging mentors, many of our team member s parents have volunteered time with the team this season. They have made comments that they love the challenge of FIRST, and that it promotes critical thinking skills which are necessary to grow the U.S. economy. Our mentor s feel like volunteering with the team is enhancing their life as well as enriching the learning of the students. Team Members Alyssa Rodriguez - 12 Jaron Hernandez - 10 Annaliese Vandermolen - 10 JD Mogen - 12 Andrew Kreuger - 12 Joe LaRock - 10 Austin Elias - 10 Johnny Dollard - 9 Bailey Polkinghorn - 12 Julia Arn - 10

4 Ben Julian - 10 Kamal Turner - 10 Ben Marsan - 10 Kendrick Lemmond - 10 Cael Uzuanis - 10 Kevin Wierzbowski - 11 Cole Brownell - 12 Kirby Cathey - 12 Colton Bonnaure - 12 Koby Krause - 11 Connor Mayer - 10 Kyle Anderson - 12 Emily Hooker - 12 Kylie Ballard - 12 Erick Galicia - 12 Luke Jenkins - 10 Harrison Hill - 12 Mason Bone - 11 Igor Derke - 11 Noah Del Angel - 10 Jack Rodrigue - 9 Reid Lohman - 10 Jacob Houssain - 10 Sebastian Warder - 10 Jade Howe - 10 Sydney Duleba - 12 Jakob Peslak - 10 Mentors: Dr. Jeffrey Erickson Employed at Thor Labs Inc. University of Virginia, B.S. in Electrical Engineering Rutgers University, PhD in Biomedical Engineering Marguerite Erickson Employed at Dripping Springs High School Cornell University, B.A. in Biological Sciences Eli Del Angel Employed at Cisco Systems Texas State University, B.A. in Communications (Speech) George Washington University, Masters Certificate in Project Management Mark Lohman Employed at Cirrus Logic, Inc. Rice University Joe Dollard Retired Musician in Navy Band, Woodworking Mentor

5 University of North Texas, B.A. in Music John Adams Employed at Dripping Springs High School Texas Tech University, B.A. of Computer Science Jad Jadeja Employed at Dripping Springs High School De Montfort University, Computer Science Fundraising Plan: Spring Konstant worked to secure initial seed funding. This initial funding has allowed the team to form, purchase items, build a robot to compete and ultimately create STEM excitement within our team, school and community! The individual plans and sponsor work will meet funding and more importantly allow Spring Konstant to meet its mission in promotion of STEM and community. Initial Fundraising Members: NASA - Rookie grant This sponsorship is a one time grant that will fund the registration costs for the team to attend our first competition event. Their goal is to spread STEM throughout high schools through the First Robotics Competition. They give out grants to teams every year to help fund them better. FIRST in Texas FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in Texas is a non-profit organization that supports robotics teams and helps increase opportunity for low-income students. Texas Workforce Commission The TWC is a state agency in charge of advocating for the workforce system and has a desire to make individuals such as the team succeed. They are taking advantage of strategic opportunities provided by swift economic change. They sponsor us because they are aiding in making a better future by allowing students to learn new skills. They are dedicated to lead a market-driven workforce system that meets the needs of employers and workers and helps Texas prosper. In order to meet their goal in this, they sponsor Spring Konstant Dripping Springs ISD

6 The Dripping Springs School District is in full support of the newly created FRC rookie team 6357 and are excited to fund our first FIRST competition. Spring Konstant plans to begin the process to secure funding targeting two new sponsors outside the initial funding sources. This will allow Spring Konstant to develop a sustainable growth plan. Funding activities will need to be a yearlong process. Spring Konstant will work to develop specific plans of action to manage sponsor target and acquire sponsors. This action plan will be part of our Go To Market and will be constantly updated to encourage new ideas, participants and maturation of fundraising process. To develop a list of sponsors, Spring Konstant has developed a target radius. The targeting allows Spring Konstant to selective, make best of time and develop discrete strategies. KYLIE-INSERT IMAGE HERE Discrete strategies include company research leveraging various sources such as social media tools (e.g. LinkedIn). Spring Konstant will leverage research to identify corporate individuals who would be interested in sponsorships and build a partnership to promote STEM. A few initial targets and activities for 1 st Quarter, Fiscal Year 2017 (FY2017 Q1) are: Subdivision developers within the DSISD area. Subdivision developers and/or builders can provide supplies and promote neighborhood. Spring Konstant plans to showcase robot and STEM activities to build community and encourage STEM. Develop social media to promote to the community (include a link to our working webpage. Also include the names of 3 team members who will carry out the development of the social media. They should be juniors or sophomores.) Develop and execute plan to secure two sponsors by end of FY17Q2. This includes providing showcase events with team robot and STEM activities to build community and encourage STEM. STEM Community: To spread an appreciation of science and technology, Spring Konstant will be engaging students and the community through creative and fun STEM projects and events. These activities will leverage all current assets such as using existing robot(s) to demonstrations. These activities will also be provided during fundraising or at sponsor events. These activities meet Spring Konstant s mission. The following are achievements within our initial year.

7 Team Culture Spring Konstant () has created three main principles Deployment of Resources: 1) Engage the community to spread the message of FIRST Our first team event was Christmas on Mercer. This event in downtown Dripping Springs, has over 50 vendors selling everything from homemade jam to art. At this event we were able to drive our kit bot around as well as engage young kids by making mini catapults out of rubber bands and popsicle sticks. We talked to over 20 families and explained to them what we were doing in the upcoming season.

8 At Dripping Springs Elementary School s Family Science Night we encouraged young kids to get excited about robotics and STEM. We did this by setting up tables with kid friendly experiments such as making silly putty, building a slingshot, and learning what side of your body is dominant. We catered to a group of kids with a wide variety of ages. During the duration of the night we had questions asked by almost every kid concerning robots and what we do as a FRC team.

9 We are in the process of getting a time slot for a presentation in front of the school board to inform them of our teams existence. By doing this we will not only create a stronger community backing, but possible funding. 2) Inspire others to get involved so that FIRST continues to grow; In our Rookie year we hosted Kick-Off for the FIRST Robotics Competition in the Central Texas Region. By hosting Kick-Off in our home town of Dripping Springs, we were able to engage with other teams and learn more about FRC as a whole. There were 23 teams in attendance mainly from the Austin area, but some from as far away as Waco, Del Rio, and Killeen. The day consisted of watching the NASA Kick-off broadcast, as well as the game reveal, and reading the new rule book. After the reveal we offered hour long workshops such as Solidworks, programming in LabView and Pneumatic 101 lead by mentors from different teams. Following the conclusion of the workshops the teams gathered to receive their kit of parts from FIRST. This opportunity enabled us to gain experience with FRC and partner with teams near us to help us grow and learn, as well as providing a positive kickoff experience for them. We have worked hard during the school year to bring new people into FIRST. Many of our current mentors have never been involved in FRC competitions before. New mentors to FIRST include Eli Del Angel, Mark Lohman, Joe Dollard, John Adams, and Jad Jadeja. We have also attracted outside interest, professionals who do not have kids in the school system. For example, Walter Biel, who owns a robot-run recycling plant has reached out to help our team, and we plan to tour his business in May. 3) Ensure all team members get the most out of their FIRST experience. We have small groups that provide intentional guidance for members as well as adult mentor a sense of purpose and stronger knowledge of the most effective way to complete tasks. For example, as a business team, there has been a mentor guiding us through our first business plan. He has written his own business plans in the past and gives us insight on effective ways to communicate. Even as a Rookie Team we are in the process of looking for scholarship opportunities for our seniors and looking to support them as they leave us for College. One of our seniors, Alyssa Rodriguez, applied for a FIRST Robotics scholarship at the University of Southern California and will hear back from them in late Spring. Every build day we have a report out time with a box of what you did that day or accomplished. It causes the team members to realize that they are a working gear:) in the success of the team.

10 Future Plans: Spring Konstant began in the fall of 2016 and as such its Fiscal Year begins on August 1, Spring Konstants fiscal quarters will be Aug Oct, Nov Jan, Feb Apr, and May July. Actual start and end dates will vary based on 13 weeks with the extra day used during second quarter. Listed below are Spring Konstants plan for the next 10 years. Next year Help with Tech Innovation Days- The Dripping Springs Walnut Elementary School hosts Tech Innovation Day in which the entire day is dedicated to learning new technological skills. Mentors help set up workshops, then teach the students how to do the topic. The students then teach each each other how to do them, and next year we can help in the teaching process. Each student has personalized selections of what they would like to go to, causing the kids to be engaged the entire time. They all took learning into their own hands and learned something new! Some of the many options to learn was Canva, Powtoon, Minecraftedu, and stop motion animation. We will contact the principal of Dripping Springs Walnut Elementary, Julie Pryor, ( ) about signing up to help on the innovation days next year. Founders Day- A community wide weekend festival April Booth rental costs $100 and can sign up February 17-March 24. Booths range from food, to arts and crafts, to businesses. We will set up a booth to promote our team and display our robot. This will help us engage with community members and communicate our purpose as a team. Find at least two local corporate sponsorships Who we will reach out to: Local Businesses Dripping Springs Community All schools in the community Subdivision builders caliterra to get supplies and promote neighborhood Further develop social media to promote to the community Website: People who will run the website: 1.

11 years Create a robotics camp for kids in our community. We would do this by having the students and mentors work together to see what we would be able to teach. Future Sponsors could help us pay for the summer camp so it would be better funded. It will mostly be run by students, but the mentors would help guide them a little. 10 years In the future the Spring Konstant wants to be a year round team that interacts with each other and the community on a regular basis. We plan to do this by having at least one event offered every month of the year. January- The first month of the build season is devoted completely towards the robot. We will complete the competition essays, solidify the design of the robot, and begin building. February- The second month of build season is devoted to completing the robot. March- In the midst of attending competitions and trying to achieve the goal of attending Championship, our team wants to eventually be a part of South by Southwest (an Austin music and technology festival). We will apply to have a booth at the South by Southwest Trade Show, displaying our robot and educating vendors about FIRST. April- In our town of Dripping Springs we want to become engrossed in the community by participating in local events such as Founders Day where we can rent out a booth space to showcase our robot from the past FRC season. We will engage our community in STEM by having interactive stations for younger kids such as a Van De Graff generator to teach about electricity, and popsicle stick catapults to promote building and design. May- After the conclusion of the season we want travel to all the elementary and middle schools in our district and showcase our robot and the success of the season. We would also like to make deeper connections with our sponsors by meeting with them and showing them the robot and telling of its success. June- In an attempt to more deeply engage our community, we would like to develop a week long, elementary school summer robotics camp. We would call this the LEGO camp so that the skill level is appropriate for the age group, and do a mock FLL build season. The purpose of this camp is to begin to create a pipeline of students who appreciate science and technology as they grow up. July- This month will be considered our team s resting month. This is a time to take a break from robots in order to be refreshed for the next year.

12 August- As the school year approaches we would like to invite all of the incoming freshmen that are interested in joining the FRC in the upcoming year to a week long camp. This camp will teach the skills they will need to know for competition season by creating a kitbot with some designed mechanism. By having this camp in place, we will create a well rounded team that is prepared for the upcoming year. September- As the build season approaches we have to start thinking about how we will fund our robot and team. September will be dedicated to finding new sponsorships and creating a financially sustainable team. October- Following our sponsorship month, our team will have a fundraising month throughout the school. The funds raised by activities such as bake sales, potentially a battlebots event, and car washes will go towards team building activities as well as the costs of conventions and field trips. November - In an attempt to greater our STEM knowledge while getting to better know our teammates, we would like to go on field trips. These trips could be a wide variety of things, but one on the table is visiting a robot run recycling plant. December - In the last month before the season we want to make it chill and have the Christmas on Mercer event our only requirement to spread our name Financial Statement: 2017 Budget Registration Fees (2 events) $11,000 Hotel (10 rooms, 3 nights x2) $5, Transportation (x2) $1,732 Food (x2) $1,800 Total $20, CHAMPS registration fee $5,000 (Covered by FIRST in Texas) Hotel $3,300 (Covered by DSISD) Food $900 (Covered by DSISD) Transportation $700 (Covered by DSISD) Total $9,900

13 Total for 2017 with CHAMPS $30, In our first year as a team we were fortunate enough to have many of the materials were donated such as sheet metal, wood, etc. In the future we will need to consider this into our budgeting. Team t-shirts were also payed for by team members and are not considered into the budget Funding Sources Dripping Springs High School $5, NASA Rookie Grant $6,000 Texas Workforce Commission $5,000 Team Travel Fees ($30 a person per trip ) $1470 Cirrus Logic, Inc $500 Private Donors $1,792 Total $20, Risk Analysis: To identify and respond to sustainability threats Strengths- Our team is composed of high school students of all ages that are excited for their first year in FRC. We are a versatile group from all different extracurriculars and clubs. We stay on track because of our good communication skills and ability to talk problems out with one another. We are committed to this team and are excited to learn more about FIRST as we compete in our rookie year. Another strength - Experienced lead mentors who understand the financial needs of an FRC team as well as the tools necessary to build a competitive robot Weaknesses- Being a Rookie team, our students are inexperienced when it comes to FIRST specific tools and technology. Although the Spring Konstant is devoted to working hard, we face many obstacles in getting to where we would like to be. An example of this is when we tried to cut sheet metal with our school s ShopBot. We learned that the ShopBot is not as automatic as we were hoping, and cutting a piece of metal with our Solidworks files took way longer than expected. This put us behind schedule building our robot. Next year we will be aware of these problems and will have a better way to cut metal pieces.

14 Another Weakness- We have few engineering mentors that are available to come every single build day. We need to find more engineering mentors to help us overcome simple daily problems. Internal Problem in As previously stated, our team is made up of students of all ages, resulting in many distractions and excess energy. We are learning how to stay focused. Opportunities- Our town of Dripping Springs is expanding, with new kids coming everyday. Two new schools are opening in the fall and with our complete robot we can expose the kids to the love of engineering and robotics. There are many events we can attend in our community and show off what we have been doing during build season. We want kids to be aware of the FIRST world and that it is not just for engineering and science aficionados. We have the opportunity to grow our program by showing off our passion for our robot and team. Threats- The lack of sponsorship is a large threat for the next year of. There is also always a threat of our school shutting us down for any reason such as injury, lack of success, or a lack of teacher sponsor Compared to other teams, the Spring Konstant does not have as many mentors as other FRC groups.

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