As the clock approached nine this morning, several members of FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 5066 had already started arriving. In several instances, coffee mugs in hand. Someone had thoughtfully brought two boxes of fresh donut holes. [1,2]
Other than having meeting space in one of the Saline High School CTE program classrooms, populated here by students, sub-team leads, and mentors, this Saline Singularity gathering could have passed for any other mainstream business meeting. It’s no random or last minute add, either. This is part of a detailed schedule set well before the official 2019 season launch. [3-5]
That schedule itself played significantly into the agenda. As one of our two lead mentors, Tammy McClellan challenged the group to assess the impact of having lost Wednesday due to snow, in terms of the date for an operational robot chassis, February 1.
Vision systems, for example, have already been taken as far as they can without need of mating to final hardware. Response to manipulator design direction during an update on CAD progress suggested interest in seeing another option, perhaps accompanied by prototype.
They’re also watching weather forecasts on this at least as closely as Jim Haessler is on his outside hotel work. “Should we add Tuesday to our schedule, then?” Ms McClellan asked. All agreed. Everyone? For sure? Check your calendars. [6]
Tuesday it is.
More particular to the business sub-team, proper, attention has quickly turned from budgeting to raising funds necessary to finance operations and competition participation. Business mentors Becky Bendes and Chris Tressler told Saline Journal that Saline Singularity needs to secure a minimum of $10,000 and that $20,000 is their target.
Annual registration fees for the first two area competitions constitute the first fixed cost item. They also have an opportunity to spend up to a set maximum of $5,500 on the robot itself, $1,000 for tools and a like amount for computers.
FIRST Robotics Competition provides important startup resources for teams in their rookie year; that was 2014 for Team 5066. Major STEM-invested corporations on the world stage are also dedicated to helping nascent efforts get up and running early on, before moving on to assist still others get onto the path. [7,8]
Saline Singularity currently has 2019 backing from Rockwell Automation and the Michigan Department of Education. Now they need to both grow those numbers and to develop a sustainable anticipated cashflow going into upcoming years. Although the high school facilities are invaluable in and of themselves, Saline Area Schools does not fund Team 5066. [9-12]
Impressively, then, the the business sub-team has developed a nine slide Google presentation to persuasively pitch their case. Students Spencer Schneider and Albert Liu reviewed this with us earlier today, carefully differentiating recognitions associated with five sponsorship levels.
- “The Big Sting” – Platinum: $5,000+
- “Swarm” – Gold: $2,500 to $4,999
- “The Big Buzz” – Silver: $1,000 to $2,499
- “Bug Bite” – Bronze: $500-$999
- “Hive Mind” – Copper: $1-$499
Earlier this week, they made their first pitch — to Liebherr Aerospace. The meeting went about an hour and took place at the company Woodland Drive facility during their regular business hours, after close of the school day. During the Saline Journal interview with Messrs Schneider and Liu this morning, word came in that Liebherr will, indeed, be joining the ranks of Saline Singularity backers. [13]
Closing the accountability loop, business members are also the creative marketing engine behind their own weekly progress updates on YouTube. [14]
It is now after 5:00pm as we file this report and the third build week for the 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition has drawn to a close here in Saline. Just under halfway to the Stop Build Day (“Bag Day”) of February 19, it’s clear that those responsible for securing finances to support Team 5066 success are under as much pressure to deliver as any other member of this group. [15]
With that, they’d have our readers know that they’ll be happy to hear from anyone in a position to help out today. That’s just good business. [16,17]
References
- “FIRST Robotics Competition Game & Season Info” FIRST Inspires.
- Saline Singularity Team 5066 (home page).
- South & West Washtenaw Consortium: SWWC – Manchester / Chelsea / Dexter / Lincoln / Saline / Milan (home page).
- “Office Space Weekend Work” Peter Ghosh (June 26, 2013) YouTube.
- “FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 season officially kicks off Saturday; here’s the background you need to follow it” Dell Deaton (January 3, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “Saline Lodging Group walked-the-talk on private-public transparency in its progress report to City Council last night” Dell Deaton (January 15, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “Start a FIRST Robotics Competition Team” FIRST Inspires.
- “2014 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “Sponsors” Saline Singularity.
- Rockewell Automation (home page).
- Michigan Department of Education (home page).
- Saline Area Schools (home page).
- Liebherr (home page).
- “Saturday Weekly #3” SingularityRobo (January 26, 2019) YouTube.
- “Stop Build Day” (February 19, 2019) FIRST Inspires.
- “Sponsor Us” Saline Robotics.
- “5066 Sponsorship Form” Saline Robotics.
