Building Teams that Build Robots

One of the best things about being a part of FIRST® is joining a community of like-minded individuals who work toward a common goal. In the short term, that may be building an awesome Robot, but in the long term, that means changing the culture we live in. For every one of us who works for FIRST, participates in the Programs, and most especially donates our time, energy and resources, we do so with the goal that we are making a difference.




Where all that starts is within the team environment. Both students and Mentors/Coaches learn and teach each other more than just how to build and program a Robot. They learn about Leadership, careersthat are open to them in the future, and the how to work as part of a team. In the majority of careers, knowing how to work as part of a team is essential. There are very few jobs in this very connected day and age where people work completely alone. Within a FIRST® Tech Challenge team, by working on teambuilding, team members benefit in the areas of:

6. Networking, socializing, and getting to know each other better.
5. Teamwork and boosting team performance.
4. Competition and bragging rights.
3. Celebration, team spirit, fun, and motivation.
2. Collaboration and the fostering of innovation and creativity.
1. Communication and working better together.

(McDuffee, 2016)


Although we have a great resource for Mentors/Coaches with our Mentor Manual, we have also a great resource for teams who want to focus on team building! The Building Teams that Build Robots Resource is a guide for teams who are looking for tips and tricks on how to better come together as a more cohesive unit.




Reference

McDuffee, Samantha. “6 REASONS WHY LEADERS CHOOSE TEAM BONDING IDEAS THAT WORK.” teambonding. 03 Feb. 2016. Https://www.Teambonding.Com/reasons-for-team-building/. 09 Jan. 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2015-2016 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Awards!

Image
FIRST Tech Challenge Judged Awards Inspire Award – Team 7013 – Hot Wired from Portland, Oregon Finalists: Team 6081 – I 2 R Robotics from West Port Connecticut Team 6389 – The Lazybots from Eden Prairie Minnesota Team 7013 – Hot Wired from Portland, Oregon **Award Winner** Team 7655 – The Q is Silqent from Eagan Minnesota Rockwell Collins Innovate Award – Team 7350 – Watts NXT? from Edison New Jersey Finalists: Team 6022 – TBD To Be Determined, Aurora Ohio Team 7013 – Hot Wired  from Portland, Oregon Team 7152 – Robot Squad from Rochester Minnesota Team 7350 – Watts NXT? from Edison New Jersey **Award Winner** Team 7486 – Team Erebor from Suffern New York Team 9048 – Phiobots from Austin, TX Motivate Award – Team 4855 – Batteries in Black from Portland, Oregon Finalists: Team 4855 – Batteries in Black from Portland, Oregon **Award Winner** Team 5070 – N.U.T.S. from Orlando, Florida Team 5202 – Zip TIE Fighters from Decatur Illinois Team 5220 – RoboKnights from Fremont California Tea
Read more

GAME HINT and FIRST Tech Challenge 2016-2017 Season Field Pre-Order Information

Image
AndyMark will start accepting Team pre-orders for the 2016-2017 field sets beginning on 7/1/2016! All team shipments will be sent out on 9/9/2016. There will not be Saturday deliveries. For orders to ship by 9/9/2016 they must be placed with AndyMark and processed by 8/26/2016.  2016-2017 Beacons FIRST Tech Challenge is excited to announce that for the 2016-2017 seasons’ game, we will be reusing the RES-Q℠ Beacon. The beacon will function differently than it had for the FIRST RES-Q℠ game, and there will be a total of four Beacons on each field instead of just two. Teams do not have to purchase brand new beacons, they will be able to reuse Beacons purchased from last season. The Beacons used last season will need to be reprogrammed with the 2016-2017 game’s software for those Teams that would like to reuse their already purchased beacons. AndyMark will be offering a Programming Tool to reprogram each beacon*. AndyMark has been hard at work this summer to make some significant changes a
Read more

FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Waitlist F.A.Q.

Image
Why has FIRST Tech Challenge added a waitlist component to the World Championship? In April of 2016, FIRST announced the addition of a second FIRST Championship. We did this so that we could make the life-changing excitement and inspiration of the FIRST Championship more accessible, available, and affordable to more kids and teams. This decision doubled the number of spots available for FIRST Tech Challenge teams at the World Championship, and created some interesting opportunities for advancement. Our FIRST Tech Challenge Super-Regionals were instituted over three years ago to address the growing number of Regional Championships, and the relatively smaller number of teams advancing to the next level. It solved that problem with great success as we head into year four of the Super-Regional format. This year FIRST Tech Challenge will expand the percentage of teams advancing from countries outside North America, expand the percentage of teams advancing from Super-Regionals, and institut
Read more