Outreach

This year, we spread the importance of FIRST Robotics by visiting various libraries and museums in our local community and in San Diego. We were able to expose over 2500 kids to robotics at events such as EXPO Day, the Fleet Science Museum, Rancho Bernardo, Mira Mesa, and Carmel Valley Library.

At the venues, most of the kids were young. We showcased our old EV3 robots and the pre-existing programs within them. Each program had a different function, and we explained what the robot did in the program and the different sensors used. To keep some of the kids engaged, we even let them give cones to our robot when it came close to them, and then the robot would drop it off onto the poles.

Many parents and kids showed interest in robotics, so we offered to start robotic camps to teach building and programming skills. We're also considering starting an FLL team and mentoring kids so they can learn the basics of programming and building.

In the future, we hope to spread our outreach efforts to lower education areas in San Diego by visiting schools and inspiring kids to pursue robotics by showcasing our robots and programs and letting them build and program our robots. We are also holding a robotics merit badge session for scouts to earn the robotics merit badge while learning, building, and programming robots.

Carmel Valley Library

During our first session at the library, we weren't sure what to expect in terms of how many people would show up. The reservation was intended to be public, but it turned out to be private. Since no one else was there, we had to do our own marketing and bring several kids into the library. In the end, it wasn't too bad as 20 people showed up to listen to what we had to say. We demonstrated robotics to the kids and parents and showcased our past FLL Robots.

Mira Mesa Library

At our 2nd session at the library, we did some our marketing beforehand. We put a flyer on Nextdoor about our timings of our session, and people who saw the post showed up. Like last time, we gave a demo of our robot, and showed last years mission. We also talked about teams that their kid can join based on their age whether its FLL, FTC, or FRC.

Rancho Bernardo Library

During our third session at the library, we continued to market our event by putting up flyers on Nextdoor, announcing the timing of our session. As a result, more people showed up. Like last time, we provided a demo of our robot and showcased last year's mission. We also discussed the different teams that kids could join based on their age, and explained how each of those competitions would work.

Fleet Science Museum

We showcased our outreach efforts locally by attending the Fleet Science Museum. It was our second-largest venue, with over 500 people visiting our booth. We showcased our competition videos, explained the benefits of FIRST (such as gaining skills in engineering and programming), and gave a tour of our FLL and FTC robots. We plan to visit the museum again in the future.

EXPO Day

We showcased our outreach efforts in San Diego by participating in EXPO Day, one of our biggest venues with over 2,500 people visiting our booth. Although it was exhausting, it was also a lot of fun. We exhibited our competition robot and allowed some of the older kids to control our prototype robot. Additionally, we demonstrated our EV3 robots, previous programs, and the functions of various sensors. Through this event, we were able to introduce many children to the world of robotics, and both parents and kids expressed interest in getting involved.

Building Robots at Kevin's Workshop

Today, Kevin invited us to his garage to learn about soldering and help with constructing his robots. It was a great experience to play with the soldering kits as it was our first time. We loved the experience Kevin shared with us and we hope we could help him and solder again!

Outreach event at Horace Mann Middle School

Team Inspiration gladly invited us to Horace Mann Middle to help out some kids to build the LEGO Mindstorms Pathfinders Robot. There were many kids so we divided the kids into groups and rotated them into stations. To fulfill all of the time we had with them and go through most of the pages, we worked ahead and got the parts so that there would be no time wasted to find parts. We were able to build the robot with the kids and it was great to see the smile on the kids' faces.

Navy Gold Event at San Diego Convention Center

At the Navy Gold Coast Event at the San Diego Convention Center, we presented our robot at our booth along with Team Inspiration and Mechanical Advantage and saw other booths with people advertising their product. We were intrigued by how the booth was organized and we were able to gain contact with professionals at CPR Associates and G2Ops. We want to thank Mr. Kevin Bowen for this incredible experience and to be joined with others at this splendid event.

Scripps Miramar Library

Team Keep It Simple invited us to a library session at the Scripps Miramar Library it was our biggest library event yet with 50+ people coming to the event. We demonstrated two of our own robots and we also showed off some of the FLL robots as most of the people who attended were less than 10 years old.

Building Robots at Kevin's Workshop

Carmel Mountain Library

At Carmel Mountain Library in June, we held a interactive robotics workshop for kids ages, 9-12 to join. Many kids came to the library mainly because of our Nextdoor advertising. One of the kids who came to our event was super energized into joining robotics and was interested in the functions of our robot which made us happy to see that we exposed a person who is interested in robotics.

Space Day

Space Day was one of our biggest venues and attracted over 500 people. Many kids and parents were enthusiastic over robotics and many kids were interested in driving our robots. We split up our groups and focused more of the little kids on FLL Robots and the older kids on building FLL mechanisms and driving the robot. We were happy that we were able to expose many kids and parents into the world of robotics and we hope to see them compete in robotics soon!