Dear Parents:
Your son or daughter has requested to join the Columbus Alliance FIRST Robotics team. This
academic team is similar to a varsity sport in terms of the competition and time involved. The
big difference is that any of our team members can go PRO!
This letter includes some information about the requirements of the students as well as
opportunities for parent input as well. The first page is for you to keep for reference and the
second page is a general permission form.
The 2013 FIRST Robotics season is the 2nd year for the collaborative robotics team inside of the
city of Columbus. A number of schools will be involved this year, to include Carver HS,
Columbus HS, Early College Academy, Hardaway HS, Jordan HS, and Spencer HS. Students
and teachers with various mentors will work together to reach the goals of the team. To help
facilitate this complex effort, this charter will establish the rules for interaction.
This academic team is much like a sport with intense time commitment to support the student
effort to build a 150 pound robot and do many outreach events. Students will learn many aspects
of engineering including mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering.
Mission Statement
Use a student centered technical team effort to sell the excitement of STEM activities to as many
people as possible.
Specific GOALS
A team of high school students from multiple schools will work together using system
engineering principles to reach the goal of creating a legal FIRST Robot for the 2013
competition with help and training from volunteer mentors. The student team will also
implement a significant outreach program to further the FIRST message.
Schedule
The FIRST Robotics season goes from December 2012 to March 2013. The team will meet
every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during 6 weeks starting the week of
January 6th, 2013 with other days added as needed. The Peachtree Regional event is March 14th
to the 16th, 2013 in Duluth, Georgia.
The physical space available for team to work is located at Jordan and Spencer High School.
Students will need to make arrangement for transportation. One of the roles for parental
involvement would be a schedule of parent volunteers who could take students out to Jordan or
Spencer from the home school leaving at 3:35pm on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Team members are expected to attend ½ of the meetings per week in order to learn enough to be
contributors.
Costs
FIRST Robotics requires a budget of $14,000 to support the technical effort. The students are
not required to contribute to this total. Local businesses like JCPenney, UTC, Best Buy, and
BAH have generously sponsored us, with more to come we hope. Each school will handle
student costs differently. The students may be required to cover costs of travel + T-shirts for an
amount not to be over $100.
Parent Roles
Some member parents and family may not have time to be full time mentors. However, there are
a number of areas where the team could use some help. Committees are formed to handle very
specific tasks as described below:
Weekly transportation
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday
Kickoff transportation
Saturday, January
5th, 2013.
Game piece building
Sunday, January 6th
and Monday,
January 7th
TBD
Chairman Award
Reviews
T-shirt Design and
Printing
TBD
Engineering Design
Reviews
TBD
Peachtree Regional
Transportation
March 14 – March
16, 2013.
Community
Networking and FIRST
Marketing
TBD
Catering
Saturdays and some
weekdays TBD
Meetings are from 4pm until 7pm. A parent
carpool carrying students could get taken to
Jordan if all students’ parents are aware of the
transportation arrangements.
The team would leave Columbus early
morning to return by evening. There are
training sessions for new members.
The game pieces are typically built of wood
and parents are needed with any work working
experience.
The Chairman Award is based on a short
presentation. Parents with experience with
presentations could review the student work.
The student members should create a graphic
for their team T-shirt. Funds will be collected
and a vendor found to print the shirts by
March 1.
Any parents with general mechanical or
technical experience could offer input to the
student proposed solutions.
Parents are needed to transport students and be
part of the Peachtree event though the day on
Thursday, Friday, and return on Saturday.
Getting key FIRST Leaders opportunities to
tell the FIRST story in the local community at
Civic or Corporate events, meetings or
gatherings
Meals, water, cups, utensils, plates, napkins,
etc.
Team Communication
The team uses a Wiki web-page to keep track of schedule and other details. The link is below:
http://columbusrobotics.wikispaces.com/
The team uses a site called posterous to send emails. If you want to join, go to:
http://columbus-alliance.posterous.com/#!/
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. If you think you can help with any of the
roles above, please indicate that on the permission form to be returned.
Luther Richardson
astro@mit.edu
Columbus FIRST Alliance Robotics Team Parent Permission Form
I agree to let my child, ____________________________________, participate in FIRST robotics for the
2011-2012 season.
I have read the 2-page information sheet and understand the requirements expected of my child.
There will be a parent meeting during the week of December 10th with the specific day to be announced
on the posterous site which all students will be registered to use.
Check below if you can help with the following roles to support the team (see information page for
descriptions):
Weekly transportation
Kickoff transportation to
Georgia Tech (most of the
day, Saturday 1/5/13)
Game piece building
(Sunday, 1/6/13)
Chairman Award
Reviews
T-shirt Design and
Printing
Engineering Design
Reviews
Peachtree Regional
Transportation
Community Networking
and FIRST Marketing
Food for late practices
Describe below an area you could mentor if you would like to help the team on a regular basis on areas
from mechanical skills (tools, engineering) to media team (photos, media, communication products):
Print Name: _______________________________________________
Email: ___________________________________________________
Phone: ____________________________________________________
Signature: ________________________________________________
Date: ______________________