Executive SummaryTEAM #: 492

TEAM NAME: Titan Robotics Club

CORPORATE/UNIVERSITY SPONSOR:
NASA/International School Regional Competition submitting Chairman’s Award entry to:

Pacific Northwest Regional Describe the strength of your partnership: Every new member that joins the club brings more parent supporters and more community contacts and the member gets to learn about robotics from the older members and mentors.

Describe the impact of the FIRST program on your team and community: Titan Robotics is adding to the culture of our school from Liberal Arts to more of a technology emphasis. It is like the football team that our school doesn’t have.

Briefly describe the impact of the FIRST program on team participants: FIRST allows our participants to do more than just robot building. Students may choose to work on 3D animation, software programming, website design, and interaction with the community. Team’s communication methods and results: We have a status meeting every week where different groups present their progress so that all members know about the club’s general progress. In addition, all members are subscribed to an e-mail list.

Team’s innovative methods to spread the FIRST message: Hosting robotics contests, recruiting mentors for other FIRST teams, showing off our robots at Scouts meetings, and to other schools, hosting school assemblies.

Examples of role model characteristics for other teams to emulate: Mentoring FIRST Lego League teams, holding local robotics contests, working with our district’s superintendent to create more FIRST teams. Other matters of interest to the FIRST judges, if any: This year, our club was $2,000 short in the budget, but through student fundraising, we were able to raise the money needed. This shows member dedication and our ability to self fund when needed.
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The Origins of the Club
The Titan Robotics Club was founded in fall 2000 through a partnership between High School Senior Ryan McElroy and a team of parent mentors. The original emphasis of the team fell upon mechanical engineering, hands-on construction, and a limited degree of public relations and fundraising. During the season of 2000/2001, the team constructed two complex, competition-grade robots. One was destined for the International School’s own Invitational Competition, while another continued on for FIRST League Competition. The team fared well at the Silicon Valley Regional Championship, winning the Rookie All Star Award. The legacy of our first season continued with entry into the national competition in Orlando, Florida. At this event the team won the Incredible Play Award. This phenomenal level of success for an initial season established the club as the premier team in the Seattle area. The 2001/2002 season hosted a great deal of diversification within the club. A further emphasis was placed on alternative channels of involvement, specifically through web design, fundraising, and animation. Our initial FIRST Lego League was formed, which achieved phenomenal success winning a trophy their first season. The High School team was a phenomenal success during the 2001/2002 season. The team won second place at the local Seattle Competition before continuing on to place 3rd seed at the Los Angeles Regional and received the prestigious Judge’s Award. The club continued on after the culmination of the building and competition seasons to hold electronics and robot construction classes for members. In the spring, the team competed in the Seattle Robotics Society’s Mini-Sumo Competition. The 2002/2003 season has thus far been a phenomenal success for both of our competition teams. Our FIRST Lego League Team hosted their own Tournament, after learning that the Oregon Regional Competition was full. This was made possible by a powerful partnership between the team parents and high school participants. The High School team hosted an invitational competition in the fall, at which several representatives of the Bellevue School District were present. This proved to be a valuable tool for improvement and inspiration of The TRC, as well as several local competitors. This competition was coordinated by the students, demonstrating the club’s ability to develop strong leadership, as well as engineering excellence within our school community. A Year Round Organization The Titan Robotics Club is active year-round. Our season begins in July, when the departing CEO meets with the CEO-elect and parent mentors to discuss the upcoming season. Throughout the fall, the club members are trained in the various skills required to participate in the construction and competition process. This is accomplished through an excellent combination of parental involvement, upper-classmen influence, and hands-on experiences. Prototype robots, as well as those from the past season are disassembled, re-engineered, and used in competition to maintain the skills and unity of the club. The FIRST Lego League team begins meeting in October, under the mentorship of High School students. The participants begin training by constructing creations from the club’s advanced Lego sets. The High School students begin planning their own Regional FIRST competition, specifically for practice for the main FIRST season. In November, the tournament materializes and is a great success. A parental group, after learning that the Oregon FIRST Lego League Tournament is full, begins to plan a tournament for the Seattle area. In December, the Titan Robotics Club hosts the first FIRST Lego League tournament in Washington. The High School students volunteer their time to promote and run this large event. In January much of the High School team attends the local FIRST kickoff event. After less than a week of strategizing a plan is arrived at, and the 2003 build season commences. The construction process begins in Mid-January and culminates in February with a shipping celebration at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. In March, the Club plans to attend the Silicon Valley Regional Competition with high hopes for success. The Fundraising process for the next season is scheduled to begin at this point. In April, the teams plan to attend the Pacific Northwest Regional FIRST competition, as well as celebrating the receipt of the chairman’s award. The Mini-Sumo preparation electronics classes will begin at this time. The school year will end with entrance of the Mini-Sumo robots into the Seattle Robotics Society Robothon, as well as demonstrations of our FIRST competition robots at the Robothon. Our year will culminate in June with the election of club officers and a final club dinner.The Club’s Organizational Structure A key emphasis of the club as whole is upon communication and widespread leadership and influence opportunities. In the spring of every season, elections are held for the club’s executive management. This is achieved through a popular vote of all club members. This executive team works closely with team leaders and adult mentors. Below the mainstream executive group, team leaders are chosen for each concentration and emphasis. Each member is required to attend a minimum of one club meeting per week and stay current through an e-mail list server. This process allows for the equal input of all club members upon issues. The team maintains a website, which is maintained by the team’s public relations and executive groups. This serves as a portal to potential sponsors and other “real-world” contacts. Above all, Titan Robotics is an organization based on equality, and specifically the concept that all ideas and opinions are important and valid. Community Involvement Throughout the history of Titan Robotics, a heavy emphasis has been placed upon the development of a strong and positive community presence. Through the club’s involvement with FIRST veteran Larry Barello, the club has sparked interest at many local schools. The club has pushed FIRST visibility to an executive level, with the school district’s superintendent Dr. Michael Riley. Three of the club’s High School seniors met with Dr. Riley to discuss the valuable presence of our club within the educational community. This contact yielded an invitation to meet with the district’s math and science curriculum development teams. At these meetings, great interest was discussed into possibly incorporating FIRST into the mainstream district curriculum. Dr. Riley also rearranged travel plans to be present for the club’s presence at the Pacific Northwest Regional competition in April. The principal of International School, Dion Yahoudy has expressed great interest in the club. Mrs. Yahoudy served as a driving and strategical mentor during the team’s Local competition, sitting with the robot’s drivers during the competition. The school district’s Assistant Superintendent and Public Relations Director were both present during the High School team’s Fall Competition. Contacts with the Seattle Robotics Society have served as positive support and influence over the club’s operation. Financial Solidarity From the very beginning of the club, much of the financial resources were provided by Internatonal School’s PTSA and Associated Student Body. Through a process of grant-writing, parental influence, and our success we have diversified our network of financial support to include organizations such as the Honeywell Corporation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, just to name a few. The club’s phenomenal success has placed it in a positive position with local machine shops (who have provided us with many in-kind donations), as well as a variety of suppliers. The team’s positive interactions with members of the business community have played a large part of our past, present, and future team solidarity. As well as being skilled at soliciting donations from the business community, the team has also demonstrated its ability to self-generate funds when needed. In the spring of 2003, a major fundraising event was launched to fill a $2000 budget shortfall. In a period of a month and a half, club members generated the full needed amount. This effort was accomplished exclusively by the students. Conclusion Throughout its short history, the Titan Robotics club has served as an exemplary model for team involvement in a community, influence over the hosting organization, and representation of our school’s composition. The club has nearly doubled in the past season, from 25 members in 2001/2002 to our current base of 55 members (15% of the school population) of which 22% is female, an extremely high presence in such a club. More than 50% of our school’s African American population are club members. Plans are underway for the formation of a exclusive girl’s team for the next FIRST Lego League season. Extensive mentoring efforts have been made at local area schools, such as Robinswood High School (a “last-chance” school in the Bellevue School District.) This specific effort attracted the presence of both the regional and national executive director of FIRST. Through the contacts of the club’s leading mentor, Larry Barello, the team assisted Chief Sealth High School (team 1039) in securing mentorship and other needed resources for competition. The club’s path of leadership and innovation has impacted FIRST through the mass production of motor mounts for area teams, a practice which is now included in the basic supply chain of FIRST. Finally, the club’s partnership with Seattle Robotics Society has provided the membership base with educational and competition opportunities, other than those of the mainstream FIRST season. Titan Robotics 2002/2003 Season at a Glance JuneTitan Robotics members vote on new club leaders. July - Old club leaders “pass on the torch” to the new club leaders, with training on how to do their job. New club leaders work with the mentors to get a better understanding on how the club works. August New club leaders work on preparing for the 2002/2003 season. Members attend the middle school ice cream social, showing off the robot and signing up members.

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