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.

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 the 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.

In 2015, the Robo Lions were invited to come back for STEM Day again, this time just doing an activity with third grade. The team designed a car construction based activity, and placed emphasis on unusual materials and problem solving thinking while still following the design process. The general idea behind the activity was much more simple than the previous year, which worked much better. Because the activity was simple, we kept the talking to a minimum, maximized the work time, and left 10 minutes approximately for robot demonstrations. VEX tiles were set up in the middle of the gym, then all sat around the tiles while we drove VEX robots around. Specifically, from this year, we learned that simple is good, but it helps to have a large team of people helping to get the activity prepared ahead of time. Begin preparation for STEM day at least two-three weeks in advance rather than the week of.

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.

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