Here is our finished robot, TOBOR - designed and built in only 6 weeks.
We had a very precise chart with milestones including a planned miracle at week 5. Fortunately, the miracle did occur! Most of the construction happened in the last week. Now, the kids will build a crate and prepare to ship the robot off to the competition.
I am really inspired by what Dean Kamen has done with U.S. FIRST. Other than reading about Dean, my only contact with him was during a satellite telecast which I took my team to at NASA/JPL. Dean and his associate, Woody Flowers were at the other end, telling us about this year's challenge and exhorting us to Gracious Professionalism.
It has been a lot of fun to be involved. It has also been a great challenge dealing with the varying levels of maturity common to those in High School. I am thinking of starting a local FIRST Jr. Robotics League team for homeschoolers in our area. Between the homeschoolers and the local elementary & middle schools we might be able to get 5 -8 teams going. I think that would be a lot of fun.
PS. I have not [yet] had the opportunity to meet Dean in person (or to ride the Human transporter) although some of the teams this year have been lucky enough to do both!
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