Where do teams meet?

Teams meet in the RJ FTC Build Rooms at Meadows - Rooms #200 (primary workspace) and #204 (overflow workspace).

How do team members get to and from meetings?

• Afternoon (3:15-5:15p) Meeting Slots

  • GATE students may walk to the build rooms at dismissal

  • AMS students may walk to Meadows between dismissal and the start of meeting OR may get a ride from a caregiver

  • Auburn, Deerfield, Graham, and Woodland teams will not be scheduled in afternoon slots due to conflict with dismissal time

  • Team members from all buildings will need to secure transportation home from afternoon meeting slots.

• Evening (5:30p-7:30p) Meeting Slots

  • Team members from all buildings will need to secure transportation to and from evening meeting slots.

What is the weekly schedule for teams? How often do teams meet?

• Each team will select ONE primary meeting slot each week.

• Meeting slots are every weekday from 3:15-5:15pm and from 5:30-7:30pm. 

• Teams that choose to add bonus time may select an additional evening slot OR take turns taking their kit and equipment home to work bewteen meetings

What is the fee to join?

There is no fee to join or be a team member.  The RoboJackets K12 Foundation funds the experience for student team members. Donations from families are greatly appreciated and help sustain opportunities for all students.

What does a team leader do?

Be present for team meetings

• Provide supervision that ensures a safe and effective environment

• Assist team members in maintaining cleanliness and organization of the build room

• As needed, redirect behaviors that inhibit a safe or effective team environment

Manage and coordinate communication between team members, caregivers, and the RoboJackets program administrators

• Join and be active in the RJ FTC volunteer slack workspace

  • Relay technical difficulties or challenges that team members are experiencing to the the team leader group

    • RJ FTC team members are not old enough to have messaging access themselves, so this connects them to technical support

• Use a communication platform of your choice to be the conduit to caregivers of your team members to coordinate logistics and schedules

• If needed, communicate behavior challenges and team member conflicts to RJ program administrators and/or caregivers of team members

Ensure rosters and consent forms are completed for team members

• Ensure that the team roster in the FIRST Inspires and FIRST in Michigan systems are completed

• Ensure that RJ youth information forms are completed and that RJ rosters are accurate

Complete requisite Youth Protection related tasks

• Complete a background check for both ASD and FIRST

• Complete digital fingerprinting and turn in form to ASD (The RoboJackets are willing to cover the cost)

Optional: Provide technical guidance to team members

• If team leaders feel so inclined, they are welcome to provide technical guidance or assistance, but that is not an expectation or requirement.  Team leaders will generally find themselves to be more capable than they might expect themselves to be, as success in competitive robotics is more driven by a general problem solving ability than by a specific engineering ability.

Who can be a team leader?

A team leader must be an adult that is willing to support a positive experience for youth team members.  Adults can be caregivers (such as a parent of a team member), another relation (such as an elder sibling), or a community member that would like to volunteer.