Since 2005 I have been heavily involved with competitive robotic. Due my participation I have gained excessive insight as to how teams function and work under different environments from being more student oriented to more engineer/mentor oriented as well as teams which have had higher budgets to teams that struggle getting enough local business support to participate with even the most basic of machines.
The teams I have been involved with include the Robonauts, a district team from the Clear Creek Independent School District as well as the P-51 Mustangs out of J. J. Pearce High School. My main roles on the Robonauts included leading the controls (electrical/software) team, developing strategies for game play and working on community outreach all as a student. Upon moving to University, I joined the P-51 Mustangs as a mentor with my main roles being to advise other mentors and students on design and controls decisions, developing and modifying CAD prototypes to have parts manufactured and modified, as well as leading the web design to a regional website award and leading outreach efforts and aiding students to win a Chairman's award.
Since my beginning I have been very involved with outreach and the education of the community to teach about why engineering, science, and technology are important. Over the years I have volunteered at numerous robotics competitions for various competitions (EARLY, GEAR, BEST, VEX, FIRST, MATE) and had the opportunity to speak to many different events and audiences. Along with my responsibilities on the teams, I have been involved with an online forum (Chief Delphi) to discuss design and game challenges as well as the development and design of projects (FIRSTtube.org) to help the community where needed.
Even as a University student I still maintain my involvement in robotics as I am able to bring a different perspective, often with experience, to the many projects for my classes
and work and even for brainstorming and helping with other projects.
