What is FIRST?
FIRST stands for “For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”. It is a world-wide organization created to inspire young people to explore science, technology, engineering, and math. It was started by Dean Kamen, an inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless advocate for science and technology.
FIRST was founded in 1989 (based in Manchester, NH) and is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit charity. Its mission is to design accessible, innovative programs that motivate youth to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, team-building skills, and other life skills. FIRST competitions are available for multiple grade and advancement levels. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is available to high-school students. During the competition, students are given a challenge in early January and must construct a functioning robot within six weeks. The robot must co-operate with other robots when competing in the challenge. While FRC itself is the highlight and most prestigious part of the FIRST program, FIRST also offers a variety of other competitions and leagues geared towards a wider range of students, such as the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), the FIRST Lego League (FLL), and the Junior FIRST Lego League (Jr.FLL). In addition, FIRST provides college scholarships in science, technology, engineering and math. Offering more than $6 million in scholarship money to students globally, FIRST is truly an organization committed to awarding and inspiring young people.
What is FRC 5057?
FIRST Team 5057 is affiliated with Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center located in Dallas, Texas and sponsored by all six magnet schools at townview. We just finished our fourth year, which included becoming 2016 Dallas Regional Champions and moving on the World Championship held in St. Louis, MO. The Robobusters won the Rookie All-Star Award, the Rookie of the Year Award, and advancing all the way to the World FRC Championship in St. Louis, Missouri twice, all in the four years of being a part of FIRST.
While the team’s passion lies in robotics, participation in FIRST goes far beyond simply building robots. Due to the multi-faceted demands of the competition, every team needs to fully leverage the expertise of all of its members in business, computer science, and engineering. Team 5057 takes an active role in promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), in its community, school, and region. This promotion of STEM education and employment helps ensure our regional and global competitiveness.
Our Current Sponsors:
Team Structure:
Team 5057 is led by Team Captain Quinn Ballard, and Lieutenant Captains Emelia Mclaughlin and Jesus Luna. Under their leadership, the team is divided into a mechanical team, electrical team, computer science team and business team; each of these teams is led by another captian who specializes in that area. However, all team members are expected to contribute to a spirited dialogue over topics which concern the team as a whole.
Team Schedule:
We split our yearly schedule into two cycles, consisting of a training cycle and a build cycle. Our training cycle runs from the team’s first meetings after school begins in September up to (and sometimes including) winter break. During the training cycle, our mentors and experienced members train our newer members, giving them hands-on experience as well as more abstract knowledge. This includes teaching the code of the bot, building sample bots, and creating a mock competition. We also work to expand our team’s role in the community and contacts with local businesses. In early January, FIRST introduces the season’s challenge, and the competition period begins. Over the course of the six week build period that follows, the team works to design and construct a capable, efficient robot which will meet the FIRST competition’s challenge. After six weeks, work on the robot must be stopped and it is stored to await the first regional competition. From this point forward, the team will compete at as many competitions as it is able, and after the season is complete, the team will then exhibit the robot for local schools, promoting FIRST and STEM in the community.
Future Plan:
For its upcoming 2017-2018 season, the team is looking to add more student and mentor members, secure more team resources, and increase its community outreach. The team members plan to further the team’s goals in these three areas primarily by expanding its social media presence, growing its contacts in the business community, and creating science camps for middle-school students throughout the year to spread the ideas of FIRST. Sponsors are key to the team’s growth into a full-fledged team, such as teams which were encountered at the World Championships.
Community Service:
One of the most important functions of FIRST is to promote STEM throughout the United States and the World, and we at Robobusters Robotics take that aspect of FIRST Competition very seriously. So far, due to resource constraints, we have primarily focused on events with low overhead and a large audience, like recruiting events for our school. The Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center is home to two of the premier high schools in the U.S., the Science and Engineering Magnet, and the Talented and Gifted Magnet, both of which have been named the number one school in America by Newsweek in prior years. This environment alone helps to attract a lot of STEM-focused students, and we can capitalize on this target-rich environment to introduce people to the potential of the STEM fields. For the future, we plan to run camps aimed at introducing middle-school students to STEM in a fun and approachable way, to conduct hospital visits with our robot, and to help other FIRST Teams to grow and develop in our area. We did have a plan in place to run our first camp this past summer, but due to budgetary constraints, we felt we would be unable to provide a fun and interesting time for an adequate number of kids. However this summer, with the help of our sponsors, we hope to reach out to 200-300 underprivileged children in our community who wouldn’t have an opportunity to be introduced to STEM otherwise.
What our team says about our team:
*"This season I have learned that teamwork is really important in achieving any goal. We really wouldn't have accomplished anything without everyone on the team chipping in ideas and suggestions. Everyone has a different opinion and making use of everyone's opinion can help us be more efficient. And the fact that everyone contributed to the robot makes it more satisfactory whenever we do well because the whole team knows how much the robot means to them. This season has taught me that teamwork is the most important in trying to achieve something because you can't complete a task like this by yourself." - Aryn Davis
* "When I joined robotics, I thought it was going to be all about building a robot. However, I was completely wrong. Yes, building a robot may be a big part of FRC, but it's also about giving back to those all around you. I learned that some other people may not be so fortunate as to have the opportunities that we have as members of the robotics team. Therefore, we should try to build new opportunities for those not as fortunate. My team and I have worked hard to share FRC with the people around us." - Patrisia De Anda
