Promote The Cultural Diversity of FIRST and our FTC Team

We believe that our FTC Team and FIRST have the concept of diversity in common.  FIRST is an international organization in 26 countries and our team members come over 12 different countries.  We want to be a model for other minorities and cultural groups. Therefore, for our 2018-2019 Season, our motto is ” 1-2-2-4-1 STEM is for Everyone”.  We believe that anyone can do robotics! Of course, FIRST is so much more than robotics: inspiration, respect, motivation, connection and more.  We want to spread and promote all of these aspects of FIRST

How?

We plan to visit several places of worship (ex. church, mosque, temple, and synagogue) to promote FIRST, our school, and our club (see attached).  We also want to allow the children (adults too) to interact with our Robot.  It’s your time to shine Promobot!

What Have We Done?

Ahwatukee Easter Parade:     On March 31, 2018, Panthers Robotics #12241 attended the 42nd Annual Ahwatukee Easter Parade. Walking in the Easter Parade gave us the opportunity to promote FIRST, our school, and our robotics club using “Promobot”. Promobot is the new robot we created to use at Outreach activities and show the ‘fun side of FIRST‘.   Watch our YouTube video to see our fun!

While we walked the parade route, we passed out candy, our FIRST business cards and a FIRST informational flyer about all FIRST programs.

Mentoring our ‘sister school’ SSA Phoenix and their Robotics Team Golden Eagles #10369:  On September 22, 2018, Panther Robotics went to SSA Phoenix to help our sister robotics team The Golden Eagles.  At their school, we were divided into groups with the SSA team members to do a series of activities. These activities helped us work together and gain extra knowledge about this year’s Rover Rukus game. Later, the builders, programmers, and outreach members of both teams discussed with each other and provided tips to help our two teams become stronger in all aspects. Share our experience by watching our YouTube Video.

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Learn more about our sister school’s Robotics team by visiting their website.

Stem Experience at ASU with the Chief Science Officer Program       

          One of our members, Jinia, is a Chief Science Officer (CSO).  She arranged for our team to attend an event at Arizona State University on October 17, 2018 in accordance with the CSO Program.  At this event we met Suni the robot, learning more about the design and building process behind him. Suni is a recycled robot created from an old wheel chair. In return, we advocated for FIRST and STEM at the event.  Promobot dispensed candy while we passed out our FIRST brochures and business cards.  Using Promobot and meeting Suni, we were able to ignite new opportunities in STEM and innovation.  For more information on the Chief Science Officer program, click here.  For more information on Suni, visit his YouTube Channel.

YMCA Children’s Event    On October 24, 2018, we went to the Daycare Center at the local Chandler YMCA. We wanted the children to learn about FIRST, STEM, and the opportunities they provide. We created an art contest for them to create a picture of a robot that could travel to space and allowed the winners to drive Promobot first.   We taught the children about Gracious Professionalism:  ‘be nice and kind to everyone’.  The event ended with the children driving Promobot once again, this time dispensing candy for them to take home.  Each child also went home with our flyer about all of the FIRST programs.

  PSA Fall Festival, October 26, 2018.  What better way to have FUN than at a school event!  Our team participated in our school’s first ever Fall Festival.  We had a stand where we talked to several parents and students about the First Tech Challenge. Promobot was also there, lighting up in different colors and passing out candy. We also passed out our FIRST flyer to everyone, telling them about all of the FIRST programs.

Feed My Starving Children, November 11, 2018

We volunteered at Feed My Starving Children, where we packed food for kids in the Philippines while representing FIRST, to show that FIRST goes beyond STEM and works to benefit both the local and global community. Mr.Parker and six of our members arrived at the Feed My Starving Children organization, where we were introduced to what Feed My Starving Children is and its goals. After some brief introductions and preparations, we then began volunteering and started working on packing the food for the children, where we packed around 223 boxes and provided around 48,168 meals. After volunteering, we were able to showcase our promobot to the volunteers’ at Feed My Starving Children and introduce children and adults alike to FIRST and robotics.

Helping Hand, November 16, 2018

We volunteered with the organization Helping Hand for Relief and Development, where we assisted in loading a container for Somalia while representing FIRST. In this effort, our goal was to aid the struggling groups that are in the global community under the banner of FIRST. We wanted to show that FIRST goes beyond the robot and the field and that benefiting the community, both global and local is an important aspect of STEM. After a brief introduction, we began to work, loading boxes of supplies into a container that would be heading to Somalia. After volunteering we showcased our promobot, during this we spoke to many of the attendees and volunteers about FIRST and our promobot. We were able to teach many of the volunteers and attendees about FIRST and we got the opportunity to talk about promobot and our competing robot. This was overall a very fun experience where we got to not only support a cause that would benefit the global community, but we were also able to inform people about FIRST and what it represents.

ICEV, November 16, 2018

One of the things that we believe makes our team really unique is our diversity, because of this we decided it would be a great opportunity to go to a local mosque in order to teach our own community about FIRST and robotics. At this event we talked about FIRST and what FIRST is about while driving and showcasing promobot. We had promobot give out candy to the children who were eagerly waiting to drive the robot and learn more about FIRST. The more we discussed FIRST and robotics the more captivated the children became, and as we drove promobot around the back lot of the mosque we even had parents of the children come to talk about the robot and learn more about FIRST. After giving out candy with promobot and telling the kids all about first and we gave each of them a chance to drive
promobot around. This experience was very enjoyable for both the children and our team as we were able to show kids the core values of FIRST, teach them about gracious professionalism, and introduce them to robotics.

Multicultural Day @ PSA, November 30, 2018

Jareen, Farrsh, and Nadra set up a booth at the event and drove the Promobot. Visitors and participants in the festival were able to interact with the robot and ask us questions about FIRST and robotics. We also had our swag at the event and gave out wristbands and pins. We talked about FIRST and the core values of FIRST. We explained how having this set of skills can help your child in the future. FTC is a great program and we showed that to the many parents that came down to our booth. There was candy for the little ones as well which they thoroughly enjoyed. Many children came up to the Promobot to check it out and ask questions about its motors. We answered them and explained what STEM and FIRST are, and how they can be a part of it. They collected candy: we hope that when they think of FIRST, they are reminded of their sweet experience at the Multicultural Day.

Turkish Festival @ The SEMA Foundation, December 01, 2018

We took Promobot (along with traditional Turkish Damla candies) and displayed it to the visitors and participants in the festival. Promobot was very popular especially with the kids in the crowd, many of whom were excited and asked about the construction of the robot, and how many candies were inside. We also made a point to talk about FIRST with the parents who were watching, and inform them about the STEM opportunities that FIRST provides to our communities and how their kids can be a part of it. Many of the parents were interested and asked if FIRST was available at their child’s school and if not, how they could get them signed up for a community FLL or FTC team.

FABU America, December 21, 2018

FABU has been around since August of 2017. FABU America uses help from IDesignSpec to mechanically create the register RTL, UVM models, C headers, and confirmation that is required for the SoC project. The current team leader is Bahaa Osman.

The Panthers Robotics Promobot has hit the road again. This time we introduced FIRST to FABU America, which is a startup located in Tempe, Arizona. Our coach has shown this company to us recently. Two other employees have heard about the FIRST Inspires program due to their kids participating in FLL and FRC. FABU is creating a new SoC for object detection for self-driving cars to support autonomous driving. Driving the Promobot is accessible to all ages; typically those who interact with Promobot ask various questions about the bot including material cost and build time. The employees liked the sturdiness and were impressed by the construction quality of this robot. The upgraded wheels are doing very well on solid surfaces, but they tend to struggle on carpet, especially with turning.

Chandler Science Spectacular, February 09, 2019

Today was one of our most successful Outreach activities! We spoke with many people about FIRST and engaged them with our displays. We passed out so many of our brochures and business cards that we actually ran out! Farrsh drove Promobot around and kids would immediately run towards it. They took candies and spoke to them about the fun in robotics. A news reporter also took photos of Farrsh and Promobot. We gave him our card and he said he will give us details about when he is going to put our team on the newspaper. Once again, the day was an overall success and we can’t wait to come next year!

What are we planning?

Southwest Maker 

Southwest Maker is a one-day association festival that allows a variety of makers to interact with the community and to be creatively inspired. This festivals mission is to allow anyone and everyone to socialize and commemorate the inner creativity in us.

ICC/Noor Academy

We plan to visit Noor Academy which is a private K-7 elementary school whose students come from various different countries. Their curriculum includes Arabic and Islamic studies as well as a good STEM program.

Arconic

Earlier in the season, the Arconic Foundation provided us with a grant. To show our gratitude and connect with our new sponsor, we contacted the Foundation to see if we could come show Promobot at their office. Stay tuned for more updates!

Legacy Master Martial Arts

Come back soon for an update!

Center For Educational  Excellence:  After attending their Science Fair on February 27th, we plan to continue speaking with the school Principal and Director, Mrs. Stacey Cochran about bringing FIRST Programs to her school.  Stay tuned for updates!

AccuProAdvisors:    We have been invited by Mr. Ron Odom, EA to introduce FIRST programs to his firm.  He also said that it would be ‘awesome’ to show off our robot(s).  We plan to look into this as soon as possible. Stay tuned for updates!