January 23, 2014
If you – or a trusted person you know – has engineering or computer programming skills that they are willing to share with the MPA Robotics team, we are currently seeking volunteers over the next month. The FIRST Robotics season is in full swing, and MPA’s Upper School team is hard at work designing and building a 120-pound robot that will successfully compete in this year’s game, Aerial Assist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxp4dkMQ1Vo
While FIRST Robotics is a powerful student-led initiative, our great students will benefit from having mentors guide them on this exciting project. In particular, they most need help from mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and software designers. Their goal is to design their robot using CAD before creating a working prototype that will serve as a model for the real thing.
Mentors may be current professionals, college students or retirees. They need to have good people skills to engage the students in experiential learning. In return, they are likely to thoroughly enjoy getting to know and mentor these eager young adults, who are our next generation of engineers and technical professionals.
The team meets in the Robotics Lab in the NE corner of the Lansing Sports Center at MPA from 3:30 – 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 9:00 – 5:00 on Saturdays. As the Build Season ends on Feb. 18, the students are in high gear, having recently agreed on what they think will be their most winning strategy. Next steps are to CAD, prototype, iterate and build a successful robot that will compete at the University of Minnesota at the end of March.
Please contact team Coach, Jon Tomaszewski (jtomaszewski@moundsparkacademy.org), or Volunteer Coordinator, Dana Boyle (danaboyle@comcast.net), if you are willing to step up and volunteer anytime over the next month.
