Memphis First Teams

Create a two-minute mini-documentary on how FIRST has impacted you, your team, your school, or your community. Remember: your video is about impact, so use the two minute limit wisely. Craft your story for maximum impact by including specific examples about how you’ve seen FIRST change lives. The mini-documentary should focus on the impact on people – whether that is an interesting story about one person or a life-changing story of a group of people.

Here is the video introduction for Dean’s 2013 Homework (Video) and a website with all the details.

(sorry I could not embed the video here, but it will not let me)

Students Show Off Their Robots
Frisbees fly for fun, science

From: Commercial Appeal
Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013
By Samantha Bryson s.bryson@commercialappeal.com

Hamilton High School student Vontez Nelson, 19, works to get his school’s FIRST! Robotics robot operating during a recap and appreciation day at Medtronic headquarters. FIRST! Robotics is a national program started by Medtronic five years ago to provide financial assistance as well as professional mentors to local high school teams competing in robotics competitions. This year, Medtronic provided eight mentors to four area high schools, Craigmont, Hamilton, Horn Lake and St. Mary’s Episcopal. The student teams brought their completed robots back to Medtronic after competitions around the country to share their experiences with their mentors and demonstrate their robots’ capabilities to other Medtronic employees.

Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal Horn Lake High School student Chris Sevigney, 18, (crouched, center) shows off the design of his school’s FIRST! Robotics robot, “Toro,” to Medtronic employees including Mark Dace (left) and Jaishankar Balasubramanian (right) during a recap and appreciation day at Medtronic headquarters. FIRST! Robotics is a national progam started by Medtronic five years ago to provide financial assistance as well as professional mentors to local high school teams competing in robotics competitions. This year, Medtronic provided eight mentors to four area high schools, Craigmont, Hamilton, Horn Lake and St. Mary’s Episcopal. The student teams brought their completed robots back to Medtronic after competitions around the country to share their experiences with their mentors and demonstrate their robots’ capabilities to other Medtronic employees. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Full Article:

Woody was having some trouble getting started Wednesday, thanks to a laptop glitch that had the Craigmont High robottics team troubleshooting while Frisbees sailed.

The team’s robot, built over six weeks of intennsive labor, was affectionnately named for the team members’ decision to use wooden, rather than metal, siding like the other three robotics teams invited to show off their creations at Medtronic.

The robots swirled around the floor, flinging Frisbees that skimmed the ceiling, hit the wall and occcasionally ricocheted into a group of gleeful Medtronic employees like T-shirts out of a cannon.

“They love to show off their stuff,” said Eric Epperson, senior commmunications director for Medtronic, a medical techhnology company. “And this is their way of coming in and thanking us.”

Medtronic has been sponsoring teams in the national robot-building competition since 2008, when the company foundded a program at Hamilton High. This year, Medtronic also sponsored teams at Craigmont and St. Mary’s Episcopal, and about 20 employees volunteered their time as mentors.

Each year, students from around the country travel to different regional competitions, where their robots are expected to perform a series of tasks and tricks, like hitting a target with Frisbees. This year’s Horn Lake team advanced to the semifinals in the St. Louis regional competiition in March, and won the Judges’s Award for design and presentation.

“I love building,” said Devario Hill, a 2012 Hammilton graduate. Hill loved building robots so much while he was in high school, he decided to come back this year to help the students build their maachine, Robo Wildcat.

Hill offered a few pointters to the students, who fiddled with Robo Wilddcat’s controls until it was zipping around the room with the others.

Jeff Johnson, a Medtronnic employee and mentor to the Hamilton team, said the experience is vital for students because it opens their eyes to possible careers in science and technology fields.

Hamilton’s coach, Roy Shears, said his team has less money and fewer reesources than some of the others who compete, but that team members don’t let it prevent them from competing. “The experiience is all about learning, not really about winning,” said Shears.

LINK

FIRST Robotics Competition 2013 http://blog.makezine.com/2013/05/11/first-robotics-competition-2013/

From US First:

TIMS now open for 2014 Season Pre-Registration: Teams are now able to login and update their team profiles for the 2014 season in TIMS: https://my.usfirst.org/frc/tims/site.lasso. New rookie teams can also pre-register at this time. Completing the pre-registration process now will allow you to register for events quickly when event registration opens this fall!

**Initial event registration opens September 26, 2013!**

STIMS now open for 2014 Season: The Student Team Information Member System (STIMS) is now open: https://my.usfirst.org/stims/site.lasso. Returning students can use their login information from last season; new students may register by clicking on the “New Student User” button.

STIMS is where students apply to join their FRC team (students must re-apply each year), complete the 2014 electronic FIRST Consent and Release Form, and submit for specific FRC awards.