Another year in the books for volunteering at the FIRST Robotics World Championships. Easily one of my favorite events to volunteer for. It's usually the one event I try to get on for multiple days for either the Regional St. Louis competition or World event depending on how much time off I have banked up at work.
It starts with a challenge that is given to each of the different levels (JFLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC) and based on some theme. This year was a combination of ascending higher and mobility. The FTC were moving rings from one rack to another tic-tac-toe like board. The FRC were shooting flying discs at holes 15 feet high or so. It's great to see the ingenuity that the students bring to the table to create the robots and accomplish their goals. The students only get about 3 months to accomplish these goals and do the tasks at hand. By the time these teams get to the World Championships the machines they create are pretty awesome. Wish I could of been doing this cool stuff as a student. In lieu of that, I shall volunteer for FIRST Robotics.
Kiwanis should almost start supporting teams or the organization. But that's just me.
