ROBOTICS CLUB – FIRST MEETING

1 – WELCOME

· Teacher introduction

· Club goals (learn, have fun, compete, have fun)

· Show a robot

· Share Google classroom join code.

· Teacher’s website.

2 – VEX ROBOTICS

· Briefly discuss Vex Components

· Pros of Vex (low cost, more flexibility, no fundraising)

· Cons of Vex (smaller robots, less power)

· This year’s game (watch video)

3 – CLUB REQUIREMENTS

· Building robots requires time and dedication.

· All club members must first build a clawbot.

· There is no cost to participating in the club. However, members that travel to tournaments do have to pay to cover the cost of the room and gas. You will also need money for food.

4 – TEAM ROLES

· Designers, builders, coders, drivers, tournament spotters, …

5 – CLUB ROLES

· SR President

o Senior student that leads the first few minutes of meetings.

o Creates meeting agenda.

o Helps all students with questions an issues.

o Participates as a member on a team.

· JR President

o Junior student that leads the first few minutes of meetings.

o Creates meeting agenda.

o Helps all students with questions an issues.

o Participates as a member on a team.

· Club Secretary

o A student simply posts a brief recap of the meeting’s happenings in the feed in Google Classroom.

o This can be a shared role if necessary.

Example Meeting Agenda

· Play Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto while people arrive. J

· Mavi Kingsley will show a robot reveal video that shows an interesting way to pick up items.

· Jimmy Twoshoes will demonstrate their new lift system on their robot to the club.

· Team time!

5 – WEEKLY CALENDAR

· STEAMROOM at lunch on Day 2s (not Fridays).

· After school on Mondays and Thursdays.

6 – YEARLY CALENDAR

· Lockerby competition near December 1^st (if needed).

· Top two teams travel to Sault Ste Marie on approx. Dec 14^th (weekend) to compete. Top teams at that tournament advance to Provincial Championships.

· Provincial Championships are in February near Niagara Falls. Top teams advance to the World Championships.

· World championships are in the United States in April/May.

7 – IMPORTANT DETAILS

· Safety is always a priority.

· Ethos of robotics competitions = learn, help, cooperate, interact, have fun

· Team dynamic is important. A good team will have multiple members in each phase of the building process with everyone contributing to the robot. No hoarding the bot.

· Rebuilding. You will rebuild your robot many times. Too many times! It is part of the improvement process that you will have to go through.

.

8 – PARTICIPATION COSTS

· There is no cost to participating weekly in the club.

9 – TOURNAMENT COSTS

· Students who are selected and choose to attend a tournament will have to pay part of the travel/room/participation costs. This cost has been about $100 per student per tournament in the past.

· Students will also need some money for food.

10 – WHAT WE DO IN MEETINGS

· Early on, we will build a simple robot to learn how Vex Robotics components can be used.

· Early on, we will do a lot of research to fully understand the game and determine the best strategies/options.

· We will then focus on designing, building, testing, failing, redesigning, rebuilding, retesting, sorta failing, redesigning, rebuilding, retesting, sorta succeeding and so on.

· Towards the end, we will create the autonomous program that will allow the robot to complete tasks automatically (which is how each match starts).

· Towards the end, ideally, we will focus on the mastery of driving and aiding the driver.

HOMEWORK (NOT REALLY HOMEWORK)

· Club pledge… Do it! J

· Research research research!

· Learn the game. All of the game. Every rule.

· Look up what others are saying about the game.

· Look up what others are doing in regards to the game.

· Brainstorm ideas.