Outreach

Technophobia believes that outreach is a very important aspect of FIRST Robotics, and FIRST also believes this. Technophobia does its best as a team to go out into the community and speak to others about FIRST Robotics and the STEM field. Often times, this is through a presentation of the robot and FIRST, and then a quick Q&A session to follow. Depending on the type of audience, such as students and younger kids, the option to drive the robot will be available. We also have gone around to several classrooms at East Peoria High School, in order to show students how they can utilize knowledge they learn in their classes, and to apply it into robotics. This would include geometry, programming, and even English classes. Not only does Technophobia perform outreach to the surrounding community, but also aims to educate professionals in the STEM field about FIRST. Many STEM professionals have been invited to meetings, in which we can demonstrate the events and opportunities that FIRST allows not only their FTC teams, but Jr. FLL, FLL, and FRC. Technophobia has also gone to the workplaces of these professionals, to give an in depth presentation on FIRST and the team.

• Teaching Girl Scouts for one of their badges at two different meetings

• Teaching People at the Fondulac Library about FTC and FLL

• Riverfront Museum Engineering Day

• Recruiting at our High Schools Freshman night

• Showing what we do in FTC on our school's news broadcast Inside the Tribe

• Demonstrating for Junior High students

• Volunteering at South Side Mission

• Boys and Girls Club presentation

• Key Club Easter Egg fundraiser

• Helping with an Eagle Project to repair trials at a summer camp

• Volunteering at the festival of lights parade

• Talking with Mechanical Dropbears from Australia

• Hosting a season kickoff

• Mentored FLL Team 17022 The Bricks Awaken

• Interviewed on school news program Inside the Tribe

• Presented to the STEM class at EPCHS

• Presented to all 6th-8th graders at Robein School

• Taught robotics badges at 2 girl scout meetings

• Recruitment at freshman orientation for EPCHS

• Assisted other area FTC teams with technical issues

• Worked together with other East Peoria FTC teams

• Posted all match videos on social media to share with other teams

• Took part in a demo with other teams at a local museum

Due to the pandemic this year, we have had a difficult time performing outreach this year. However we have created a video that we can share with others to introduce FTC, this year's rules, and our robot. We also plan to present in person to a STEM-related class at our high school.

Link to outreach video:

youtu.be/HbgS0hCpEt0 

Advanced Programming:

Technophobia presented to a java programming class talking about how java can be used for projects in real life. In the presentation we talked about how FIRST uses programming and how that would help students in the future get jobs in the STEM Field. After our presentation we showed the students in the class our autonomous program and talked over how we programmed it. 

Geometry:

Technophobia presented to the enriched geometry class at East Peoria Community High School talking about how that class is applicable to things in the real world. We demonstrated a geometry problem that the team faced in 3d modeling a press fit piece for an axle. After demonstrating the problem we talked about FIRST and STEM and how it will help them in the future. The team got 3 students interested in joining FIRST in the Future.

Calculus:

In calculus, we gave a brief overview of a problem that we had, similarly to geometry. This was to use an equation for a deceleration program in the code. By using calculus, we were able to show how finding the derivative would help us show specific intervals of acceleration at a given point. Not only did it offer a new problem at hand, but it also gave the students a real-world application.

Physics:

Technophobia was also able to show the physics class about robotics. After showing how the robot worked, a real-world application was also given to the students about calculating torque for the rotation of our claw. After the demonstration, some students showed interest in FIRST and the STEM field, and is looking into possibly joining a FIRST team.

STEM:

We went to the STEM class at the high school and demonstrated how they could apply what they learned into a project they wanted to do. With our robot we showed parts of the robot that we 3d printed and carved using CAD since students in the class learn CAD. After the presentation we individually spoke to students about their aspirations to join the STEM field and how FIRST could help them with their career plan.