Outreach

Outreach
The main goal of outreach is to spread FIRST and STEM in the community and beyond. This includes our team, our school, our cluster, our county, our community, and other teams all over the world. Outreach coordinates events such as STEM Days, Robot Demos, and other community appearances.

Outreach for the Robo Lions is a rapidly growing effort. So far, there have been a few major events that we have been a part of. For a complete list of outreach events, refer to the outreach database.


 * 2015 Chairmans Video
 * 2014-2015 GCPS Grant Video

Mason STEM Day
Mason STEM Day was first held May 8th, 2014 by Mason Elementary, with the Robo Lions in participation of the first STEM Day in the cluster. The Robo Lions led an activity and demonstrated the 2014 Aerial Assist Genesis Robot as well as one of the VEX robots. The t-shirt bot was a huge success with one child recounting, “Once they fired that t-shirt robot, nobody was friends with anybody.” From this event, efforts to begin an FLL team were initiated at Mason. The team was tasked with creating an activity that allowed for the vocabulary of the design process to be applied in a hands-on setting. Because we were hosting third, fourth, and fifth graders, the activity also had to be adaptable to a variety of ages and skill levels. The challenge mirrored he FRC build season, in that it began with a problem, they had a limit on their materials, time was restricted, and constraints were placed on the final product. Overall, the activity was successful for an inaugural try at this sort of outreach. Room for improvement is always considered. From the first year of doing this, we learned that everything takes longer than you expect it to, so the simpler the activity, the better for keeping on schedule. Also, assembling materials can take a very long time, and only increases with more materials, so sweet and simple is a good thing.

Watch our outreach efforts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGrNfPmoTG0

GA Manufacturing Expo
Over the summer FIRST invites the team to demonstrate the robot as a part of the FIRST booth at the GA manufacturing expo at the Gwinnett Convention Center. It is a great opportunity for our team to build a community image, promote the t-shirt bot, and draw in new sponsors.

Programming Classes
Over the summer of 2014, programming classes commenced as a way of preparing programmers for future seasons. These classes were attended by rising 8th and 9th graders as well as a few 10th graders to get experience before the upcoming season.

Ridge's Hour of Code
Ridge's Hour of Code was held on December 9th, 2014 and was open to all students involved in a variety of technology-based clubs affiliated with Peachtree Ridge High School. The class organized as an effort to introduce common people to coding, and how popular games, such as Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies, are made. The students were taught using the Hour of Code website that simplified the games, allowing them to follow along and learn a few things with simple drag-and-drop.

Learn about the world-wide Hour of Code effort here: Hour of Code Video

Visit the Hour of Code website here: Hour of Code Website

Mentoring at Hull MS
During the FLL season, team members volunteer to help mentor the FLL team at Hull Middle school. Various tasks are done to help wherever needed and no experience is necessary.

Parade Planning
This list was created in 2016 as the basis of future parade planning, such as Suwanee Day Parade and Duluth Fall Festival.

Materials List:
 * Cooler with water bottles
 * 3 Banners: 1 PRHS Robotics with Gradient and Logo, 2 STEM Heroes of Tomorrow; Banner poles
 * T-Shirt Robot with filled air tanks
 * Lazy Susan from Don Shaw
 * Floor tiles
 * 2014 Aerial Assist robot with laptop, charger, and necessary controllers
 * Beach balls
 * Balloons
 * Garland
 * VEX Robot + batteries
 * Signs
 * Robot straps
 * FRC Robot Batteries (3 & 4)
 * Honda Generator from Don Shaw
 * Speaker
 * Speaker Adapter
 * Candy Bags
 * T-Shirts w/ Flyers
 * Rubber Bands
 * String
 * Painters Tape and Duct Tape
 * Capes
 * Masks

Color Run How-To of 2016
In 2016, the team was invited to kickoff the start of the 5 kilometer run by shooting colorful flour out of the team t-shirt robot. Click here to view the how-to!

T-Shirt Bot
1261's t-shirt bot was built at the end of the 2013 season, as a fun project that would be used at outreach events like the Suwanee Fest Parade or STEM nights at participating schools. Trials were conducted during Summer of 2014 to test the distances at which each cannon could fire based on the number of t-shirts in that cannon. The team's t-shirt bot is named after the principal of Peachtree Ridge High School, Dr. Jeff Matthews.

To learn more about our robot, please visit http://prhsrobotics.com/tshirtbot/

To see our t-shirt bot in action, please watch this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZmJd4co4Pc