Service
So today I did my service. I was told I would be helping manage a game system at a FIRST Lego League Tournament. "help" is a big word right? It means no implying and it means there are people who know what they are doing. So, I call Mark, asking for instructions on Saturday. He tells me that tomorrow at 7:15 is when I should be at Newark Memorial. He also mentioned that I wouldn't need to bring anything.
I get there early in the morning and Mark piles onto me everything. All I am given are the field walls and floor. I need to setup the racks, the pucks, the tape, the Hub, the electronics, the game. AND, there was no one else. I was the sole manager for my field. *cough* let me rephrase that. I was the announcer, gamekeeper, gamemaster, Field Management System Manager, scorekeeper, field resetter, debugger, introducer, judge, and manager. >< Luckily for me, there were only two teams to scrimmage because the two Mission teams weren't ready. Unfortunately, I did have a full four robots at one point. However, the two robots from Menlo Park encountered technical difficulties we couldn't fix and had to go back home to fix it. Well, hopefully next time theirs will work too. What a day. First hour, I was the only one setting up the field. How awkward....It was in the middle of the cafeteria too.
But really, the whole payoff was seeing the kids do what they love. The FTC kids got lots of experience with their robots and if I may say so, did really well, scoring about 90 points at one time I think. Their manipulator picked up pucks like no others and really managed to score. You could tell they were really focused too on the game. They really enjoyed it too. Personally, I think friendly competition is the best feeling there is to these guys. Awesome.
The kids from FLL, the younger competition, were incredibly amazed by FTC. They came up in swarms. Some even dragged chairs up so they could sit for an entire game. I've never seen so many little kids entranced by robots. You know you got them when their eyes widen and widen and they just stare at the robot. :D It's incredible to me that by the simple act of organizing scrimmage, I may have influenced their decision to join FTC.
My only regret? I never got a picture of me doing what I was doing because 1. I couldn't get enough time to take a picture 2. I knew no one close enough so they could take a picture 3. I'm bad on camera 4. How do you take a picture showing me doing 1,00000000000 things at once? (blurring sounds reasonable, but......only so)
QUEST is actually turning out to be pretty fun. However, I just hate the documentation with every fiber of my being.
I get there early in the morning and Mark piles onto me everything. All I am given are the field walls and floor. I need to setup the racks, the pucks, the tape, the Hub, the electronics, the game. AND, there was no one else. I was the sole manager for my field. *cough* let me rephrase that. I was the announcer, gamekeeper, gamemaster, Field Management System Manager, scorekeeper, field resetter, debugger, introducer, judge, and manager. >< Luckily for me, there were only two teams to scrimmage because the two Mission teams weren't ready. Unfortunately, I did have a full four robots at one point. However, the two robots from Menlo Park encountered technical difficulties we couldn't fix and had to go back home to fix it. Well, hopefully next time theirs will work too. What a day. First hour, I was the only one setting up the field. How awkward....It was in the middle of the cafeteria too.
But really, the whole payoff was seeing the kids do what they love. The FTC kids got lots of experience with their robots and if I may say so, did really well, scoring about 90 points at one time I think. Their manipulator picked up pucks like no others and really managed to score. You could tell they were really focused too on the game. They really enjoyed it too. Personally, I think friendly competition is the best feeling there is to these guys. Awesome.
The kids from FLL, the younger competition, were incredibly amazed by FTC. They came up in swarms. Some even dragged chairs up so they could sit for an entire game. I've never seen so many little kids entranced by robots. You know you got them when their eyes widen and widen and they just stare at the robot. :D It's incredible to me that by the simple act of organizing scrimmage, I may have influenced their decision to join FTC.
My only regret? I never got a picture of me doing what I was doing because 1. I couldn't get enough time to take a picture 2. I knew no one close enough so they could take a picture 3. I'm bad on camera 4. How do you take a picture showing me doing 1,00000000000 things at once? (blurring sounds reasonable, but......only so)
QUEST is actually turning out to be pretty fun. However, I just hate the documentation with every fiber of my being.