Team 2489 started in mid November of 2007 when our mentor Mark Edelman brought us the good news that we had the sponsors to be able to compete in the 2008 FRC tournament.

In the beginning, we had no idea what we were in for. As our mentor described us, we were “deer in headlights” during our first sponsor meeting with Abbott. We started gathering people from different backgrounds who all shared a common interest in building and working with power tools.

The six weeks proved to be very challenging but exciting at the same time. There were many problems and difficulties that needed to be solved, but that was what made the experience so great. In the first week, we went over everyone’s ideas for different kinds of manipulators and discussed the pros and cons for each. We then made a plan to create and execute the building of the manipulator. Unfortunately due to the fact that we didn’t know how to use inventor and we ordered our parts late, the manipulator was not finished on time.

Build period was an amazing rollercoaster of an experience. It was a learning experience for all of us on many different levels. We all learned how to safely handle and use power tools, but more importantly we learned how to work with many different kinds of people who were for the most part outside of our normal social circle.

 

During the last few days before ship date, we had to choose a driver. The driver was an essential part of the team because of the nature of the challenge. There was a tremendous amount of pressure placed on the driver, but he never lost his cool, and delivered amazing driving at every game.

Tournament was an experience that was out of this world. We met many new people, and created interteam bonds. The innovation and ideas in that room was breathtaking. Many of the manipulators that we saw there were ideas that we had ourselves, but tossed out because we thought they wouldn’t work. Its amazing to see all of those ideas work. For the Saturday of tournament we weren’t competing, but we spent our time doing something no less important. We were as my history teacher says “majoring in success” we talked to teams that were extremely successful and asked them how they dealt with and solved their problems.