Goal:
To grow and nurture the Robonauts family
The Robonauts consist of students from five high schools in our area, parents, mentors, engineers, administrators, and alumni. This creates a Robonaut family that spans across the US, multiple generations, and is over 200 members large. Over the past three years the Robonauts have doubled in size to 40 students per season.”
Recruiting is a large part of any team, and the Robonauts have developed a guaranteed way to continually increase our student base: grow the tree from the roots. This is what we achieve by putting so many hours into mentoring and spreading the younger level Robotics programs. Many students would not have ever become a Robonaut, or a FIRSTer on a different team, if they had not been introduced to engineering at an early age before stereotypes are formed, like "Robotics is nerdy," or "Engineering isn't for girls." By supporting FRC, FLL, EARLY, Tech(formally VEX), BEST, and other robotics programs in schools now, we are not only able to meet the needs of current children, but the future needs of FIRST and soon-to-be engineers. Many Robonauts have come through the ranks of these robotics programs to provide us with first hand knowledge that this method of recruiting works!
We also actively recruit in our schools. Students wear shirts, make announcements, showcase the robot, post flyers, and do whatever they can to get the word out there about what an incredible opportunity awaits on the Robonauts for each and every person.
2008 has also seen the formation of the very first Robonaut Parent Booster club, expanding our Robonaut family by leaps and bounds.
Integrating all the different schools and age levels can be a challenge though, and that is why the Robonauts founded the Team Eating and Motivation subgroup, or TEAM for short. TEAM's goals are to provide team bonding activities that bring together all members of the Robonaut families. These can range from paint-ball games outside of build season to massive pot-luck dinners during the heat of build. The success of these programs has been enormous, and the Robonaut family has never been stronger.
Being a Robonaut is a privilege, an honor and an esteemed position. The Robonauts are a family of dignified leaders capable of overcoming the most challenging obstacles. Once the Robonaut family has come together as a whole, there is an exchange of ideas, cultures and perspectives. As a family we realize that robotics isn't just an extracurricular activity; it's a way of life. The essence of being a Robonaut is responsibility, discipline, hard work and motivation.
