Posted: Today was busy, but satisfying. By the end of the day, we had a new drivetrain, new and improved conveyors and a revamped shooter. But the icing on the cake was passing inspection just before the pits closed.
The team started early, walking over to the Georgia World Congress Center at 7 am along with all the other teams. People in the downtown area got an eyeful as hundreds of kids crowded sidewalks and blocked traffic. Work on the robot began as soon as we got into the pits with planned assignments for everyone and goals for completion to keep things running smoothly and efficiently.
Gracious professionalism was evident too, as every request by other teams was met quickly and politely, often dropping whatever important task our kids were working on to offer their assistance. Our neighboring team in the pit area, Team 922 from Laredo, Texas, appeared early and then seemed to disappear. Later in the day, the story circulated in the pits that their robot had been “lost” during shipping and had not arrived in Atlanta. When the team returned to their pit this afternoon with the plan to try and build some kind of robot to at least participate, there were no fewer than 5 teams waiting to offer assistance, including ours. We provided wheels and several spare pieces of ITEM as well as offers of tools. Another team was providing plywood for bumpers, while another ran over with spare hardware and offers to cut the wood. Mentors from other teams offered advice and there was a constant stream of kids checking on their progress, looking for ways to help.
I was humbled by this demonstration of one of FIRST’s primary fundamentals by these teenagers. This is why I believe in FIRST as an organization. Not only are they encouraging our children to excel in math and science, but they are asking them to be good, kind people who care about others and want to help their fellow man, woman or child.
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