Happy Holidays from Gatorbotics! With our preseason coming to a close, we're taking time to reflect on everything we've learned this semester in Gatorbotics. While we're taking a small pause during winter break, the team is looking forward to beginning our 2020 build season when we return to the lab in January! Workshops Update By Katherine Byunn-Rieder After a semester of learning and experimenting, our preseason workshops are coming to a close. On top of our usual electives rotation, we had two "Electives Weekends" in November where each member chose four electives – deep-dives into more advanced topics. Electives Weekend was a great opportunity for new and returning members to meet people in Gatorbotics and discover what they’re most interested in. Students on the team went to upwards of four workshops and also spent time at lab hours. During the pre-season, we used our time in the lab to practice skills that we will use during the build season. For example, the build team practiced making a drive train, including milling a custom frame and designing gearboxes, which will be important in the game so that our robot can move around. On the other hand, the programming members learned about control systems – they talked about the differences between Bang-Bang and PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) controllers. The last few weeks of our preseason ended with Strategy, CAD (Computer-Aided Design), and Mock Kickoff workshops. With our build season approaching, everyone on the team is excited and ready for the challenge to be announced and the season to start! Entrepreneurship Update By Katherine Byunn-Rieder The Entrepreneurship Team has spent the semester working hard designing gear, communicating with sponsors, and updating our social media platforms. This year, the Entrepreneurship Team is composed of 11 members – eight freshmen, two junior liaisons, and our Entrepreneurship Lead, Riley ‘20. We meet every week to complete tasks such as updating sponsor materials, writing grant proposals, and designing this year’s team merchandise. The team takes a collaborative approach to brainstorm, innovate, and reach the best results possible. We build on what we’ve learned in previous years to achieve our 2020 goals to raise money for materials, competitions, tools, and food and get to know other FIRST teams. A lot of our learning took place during the Entrepreneurship Team’s branding workshop that spanned several weeks. We looked at how other companies present themselves using their branding and the impact that their visuals make. Then, we designed our own advertisements, posters, and social media posts for a made-up company and analyzed how the different design elements impact the viewers’ perception of the company. From this activity, we learned about the importance of a consistent color scheme, font, and logo design when creating branding materials. Members of the team look forward to continuing to photograph the team, write newsletters, design materials, complete outreach, and post on social media throughout the build season. Team Member Feature: Piper Lyons By Katherine Byunn-Rieder Piper Lyons is a new freshman and a member of all four teams – Build, Programming, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy. Starting high school, she was unsure about joining Gatorbotics, but became fascinated with the team after the first info session. When asked about her favorite things so far, Piper had many answers: she has enjoyed the relationships she is building with other students (including ones in other grades) and loves learning how to use new tools. Piper thinks everything that she is learning will be useful in real-life engineering, bridging the gap between classroom learning and practical applications. For example, she felt like her skills improved when she learned about the efficiency curve in programming. So far, Piper has loved every minute in the lab, and she appreciates Gatorbotics because of the inclusivity and how welcome she has felt from the very beginning. Piper feels that Gatorbotics’s inclusive approach is a unique attribute of the team: “Everyone wants to share their knowledge… they’ll always help.” Piper can’t wait for the season to start and she is excited to be a part of the journey to build the robot!
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