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Community service and getting the word out about FIRST is important to Team 250. We had another successful demonstration of the robot on Saturday at the GE Global Research Center. When we arrived at 11:00, the young masterminds of tomorrow were already busy competing in MathCounts, leaving us just enough time to set up and prepare everything before their break. Some of the things we displayed included last year's robot, our several awards that we've won over the years, and many photos taken at regionals, nationals, and during build seasons. Since we are in the throes of building, we also brought along two prototypes for mechanisms to manipulate the toroids that we have considered for this year's robot.
After the display for our exhibition was complete, a rush of students came, eagerly wanting to learn about our robot. Well, maybe more like they eagerly rushed down the stairs towards lunch, but we did get a few glances, so we weren't completely ignored. But can you blame them? Robots or lunch? That's a tough choice in my opinion.
Prior to lunch, the students were informed of a contest we were having. A few challenging math-related problems were handed out upon request, including a sudoku, and a logic problem. Many students requested the problems, like the majority of the students involved in our program; these kids also love a challenge. The math problems went out quickly, and when they had the answer, they rushed back to win the prize. The first student to bring back the correct answer to each problem won an authentic Poof ball used in the 2006 FIRST Robotics competition!
When the students finished their lunch, and meandered back into our area, we were ready to show them what Team 250 was all about. We gave a few presentations of our robot in action, and they absolutely loved it, seeing it move, and catching the shooting balls we shot into the crowd!
Overall it was a very productive day; some of the Team 250 students were able to relive their days as MathCounts participants, and the current participants were able to see what opportunities there were to use math on real projects at the high school level. After that the only thing left for us to do then was pack up, head back to school, and roll up our sleeves to get back to work on this year's robot which we will ship to competition in 14 days!
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