An advertisement call for FIRST Robotics volunteers showed up in my work e-mail inbox. I had moved to San Antonio eight months ago but did not spend very much time going out. The few notable activities were going to the River Walk, the Alamo, the Natural Caverns, and Turkey Trot 5K. Other than that, I’ve been mostly a homebody - I had purchased a new house after all, and am quite content just staying indoors. But having worked in robotics in the Machine Complex startup, and having heard of First Robotics numerous times during that period of my life, this was an event that I felt like I had to attend.
Now that I have been working a 9-5 in the military and am a homeowner, I’ve found it difficult to find the spare time and motivation to work on robotics. Part of it may just have to do with me wanting to save up the funds to buy parts. After all, the Raspberry Pi 3B that I am using takes minutes to boot up, drastically slowing the developmental process. Part of it has to do with how overwhelmed I’ve felt. I’ve found the task of designing the robot’s power distribution system daunting - to appropriately isolate power going to the different subcomponents all while keeping the system simple, namely powered with a single battery. I also have other unfinished projects, like a laser optics bench, a 3D printed flight stick, and an action camera gimbal. I often found myself spending my free time playing games or watching videos.
Attending an event like this would at least provide a new fresh way to keep me in the loop of robotics and perhaps give me ideas and inspiration. The event I volunteered for was called a First Tech Challenge (FTC for short), which is just a step below the First Robotics’ flagship event, the First Robotics Competition (FRC), the major leagues. I would be a judge, and the contestants were teams of high school and some middle school students showcasing their robots.
I spent the night before completing the online training introducing the FIRST Robotics organization and Child Protection. When I first started working with Machine Complex, it wasn’t my intention to work with children, but due to the nature of this niche and its customer base, it became a part of the job. It would put me in the front seat of witnessing some of the best technical accomplishments achieved by children - something I’d never imagine would have been possible when I was in high school, let alone college.
The initial brief in the morning was a firehose of information, and I was still learning the award categories as I progressed throughout the day. Being a judge wasn’t the best experience I’ve ever had - in fact, I believe I’d feel miserable having to do this on a regular basis - but it gave me exposure to the FIRST Robotics community, and allowed me to ask questions to the teams I would not have considered. These weren’t specific, technical questions on the robot specifications or components like I would expect. They were open-ended questions that focused on the human and social element - how they made their decisions, how they onboarded new team members and trained them in the necessary skills, and what they did in terms of outreach and fundraising. I was impressed by their responses. There was definitely a strong community emphasis in FIRST robotics, and this was likely a big part of its success.
At the end of the day, I was tired from the constant walking and waiting trying to find our assigned teams and ask them our interview questions, and I was tired from the pressure of having to make the tough decision in ranking the teams in different award categories, with as little as 5 minutes for expedited interviews with some teams in the end, all while being constantly reminded that we needed to have been finished yesterday but still had to make good, fair judgments. When it was over, I had the privilege to stand in front of the stage with other judges and referees to help present awards.
I got a glimpse at their arena setup, which was not all that different from the ones used in Machine Complex, but certainly more complete and better staffed. Videos I’ve seen on the internet of FIRST Robotics games do not seem all that exciting. After all, the robots weren’t even fighting each other. But in-person, it was like watching a live basketball game. I now understood the appeal.
I’m sure this was a positive and formative experience for the teams. It was for me. And this wasn’t even the FIRST Robotics Competition. I look forward to seeing what’s in store at the big games.