Team 2834 · The team makes it to the world championship as part of the winning alliance in the...

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Business Plan

Team 2834

2017

Contributors:Mitchell Cook - Business Plan Team LeaderEzra KalmowitzZack PiperHilary LamJim Cook - Business Plan Mentor

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Business Plan Team 2834

Contents1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................3 1.1 Mission Statement of the Bionic Black Hawks ..........................................3 1.2 Summary of our successes ..........................................................................52.0 TEAM OVERVIEW & MANAGEMENT .........................................................7 2.1 Team Origin...................................................................................................7 2.2 Bionic Black Hawk Historical Highlights ...................................................8 2.3 Relationships & Member Benefits ..............................................................9 2.4 Team Management ....................................................................................11 2.5 Team Structure ........................................................................................... 14 2.6 Deployment of Resources ....................................................................... 16 2.7 Training ........................................................................................................173.0 TEAM IMPACT / OUTREACH ...................................................................... 18 3.1 2015-2016 impact/outreach highlights: ................................................ 18 3.2 Focus on FIRST Lego League ................................................................... 204.0 STRATEGIC PLANNING ................................................................................21 4.1 Team Goals ..................................................................................................21 4.2 SWOT Assessment .................................................................................... 22 4.3 SWOT Diagram .......................................................................................... 26 4.4 Contingency Plans .....................................................................................27 4.5 Future Plans ................................................................................................ 295.0 TEAM BUDGET ............................................................................................. 326.0 SPONSOR BENEFITS, MARKETING & FUNDRAISING .......................... 34 6.1 Tri-Fold Brochure, Sponsor letters & Thanks You’s ................................ 35 6.2 Additional Sponsor Interaction ................................................................37 6.3 Fundraising Sources, Sponsors & Strategy .............................................377.0 WHY WE ARE UNIQUE ................................................................................ 39 7.1 Our Summer Camps ................................................................................. 39 7.2 Focus on GIRLS .......................................................................................... 40 7.3 Television Series - “Full Steam Ahead” ................................................... 40 7.4 STAG Outreach - Chicken Coop Door .....................................................41 7.5 Accountability ............................................................................................ 428.0 CONTACT INFORMATION ......................................................................... 43

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1.0 Executive Summary 1.1 Mission Statement of the Bionic Blackhawks In order to support the vision and mission of FIRST, the Bloomfield Hills High School FIRST Robotics Team adopts the following mission statement which can be summarized in three words:

Learn | Serve | Grow

Learn: We strive to make learning fun.Teamwork: Each team member learns the responsibilities and benefits of teamwork.New Skills: We support and develop STEM skills such as computer, electrical and mechanical engineering. We also encourage and expand knowledge and skills in areas like photography, graphic design, entrepreneurship and writing.STEAM Opportunities: Team members are exposed to a wide range of learning opportunities throughlocal businesses, mentor relationships, and FIRST ongoing educational support.

Serve: We build robots, and relationships!Community: We cultivate relationships and interactions with community organizations and businesses through planning and participation in programs that focus on science and technology.School: Our team provides a welcoming, diverse environment to help Bloomfield Hills High School students who have imaginations and strong desires to learn.Fellow team members: Life on a robotics team can be hectic, so, we value a culture of support and encouragement where we help each other do our best.The FIRST Robotics Competition Community: We support the FIRST philosophy though our emphasis on enthusiastic and exemplary participation at tournaments.

Grow: We grow through competition and gracious professionalism!Team: Growing our numbers through the cultivation and promotion of a winning and welcoming environment in order to spread the message and mission of FIRST.Personal: Providing mentored growth paths and leadership opportunities for every team member.

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• The mentors and students treat each other with respect as they work towards a common team goal with no personal agenda using the credo “FIRST Team, TEAM First.”

• In cases where the competition rules are unclear, we will go by the spirit of the rule rather than the letter of the rule, even though it may put us at a disadvantage.

• We measure success in how well and efficient the team works together within the constraint of rules, time, money and human resources.

• We prioritize our time and effort toward giving back, honoring the vision and mission of FIRST to create a positive impact on our community and promoting science and technology, which is just as important as creating a competitive robot.

We also follow these operating philosophies:

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1.2 Summary of our successesSince our rookie year in 2008, we have been fortunate to have many successes over the years. This business plan provides an outline and details explaining the who, what, when, where and how’s of our journey. This section highlights some of the most recent successes and unique features of our team.

Awards• Winner of two District Championships (Howell and Gull Lake) - 2016• District and Michigan State Chairman's Award - 2016• Entrepreneurship - 2016

Community Outreach

• STAG - This year we blended our Science and Technology skills to benefit the AGriculture community by creating a robotic door solution to protect the chickens in our community farm from the predators that threaten their safety. We are in the process of pursuing our first patent for this !!!

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Focus on Girls• Our girls summer camp attracted 60 female

students • We hosted our 4th annual All Girls FRC

competition

Promoting FIRST• Scouting Best Practices presenter at World

Championship.• We created a video series called “Full Steam

Ahead” on our local access cable station to promote STEM and FIRST by creating and testing science experiments in a fun and educational way.

• We hosted our first FLL State Championship with over 53 participating teams attending.We are very proud of our continuous improvement and most recent accomplishments. Let’s explore a little further what makes the Bionic Blackhawks SOAR!

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2.0 Team Overview and Managment2.1 Team Origin

Our team was founded in 2008 by Jason Law while he was still an 8th grader. He was surprised that Andover High School (where he planned to attend) did not have a robotics team. Jason convinced the associate principal at Andover to let him start one. Working with his dad, Jason started FIRST Robotics Competition Team 2834, the Bionic Barons with 6 members.

Team 2834 now represents Bloomfield Hills High School (the combined former Andover and Lahser High Schools, in the Bloomfield Hills School District in Michigan). As a result of the team’s success on and off the field and increased effort in recruiting, student membership has grown from 6 to 38 and the number of female team members has increased from 0 to 8. In the fall of 2013, we changed our name from Bionic Barons to Bionic Black Hawks in keeping with the new Bloomfield Hills High School mascot.

As a result of the team’s success on and off the field and increased effort in recruiting, student membership has grown from 6 to 38 and the number of female team members has increased from 0 to 8.

Jason would be proud of the legacy and impact that his entrepreneurial spirit left behind in Bloomfield Hills. Hundreds of students, parents and mentors have benefited from his efforts to bring FIRST to our community.

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2.2 Bionic Black Hawk Historical Highlights:

2008-09The team forms in June 2008, with 6 members. In fall of 2008, the team is assigned the number 2834, and picks the nickname “Bionic Barons.” The robot build site is set at the Auburn Hills campus of Oakland Community College. The team wins the Rookie All-Star Award, the Highest Rookie Seed Award at the Michigan State Championship, and also qualifies for the World Championship in Atlanta.

2009-10Lahser and Andover teams merge to form the Andover/Lahser Robotics Team. Twenty-two high school students and a number of 8th graders make up the new team. The robot build site moves to Andover High School. The team wins the Best Website Award, wins the Michigan State Championship, and qualifies for the World Championship in Atlanta.

2010-11The team participates as a finalist in the Waterford district competition, qualifies for States, and wins the Best Website Award.

2011-12The team successfully overcomes severe robot damage to make it to the National Competition. It is picked 1st, of the eight finalist teams, for the Newton field finals. The teams hosts its first tournament, attended by 24 teams.

2012-13The team makes it to the world championship as part of the winning alliance in the Ohio Buckeye Regional.

2013-14Andover and Lahser High Schools combine into the new Bloomfield Hills High School. The team re-brands as the Bionic Black Hawks! We work closely with the school to meet new branding requirements, and create a unique brand personality for our logo, colors, pit, team shirts, and other materials.

While Andover High School is under renovation, the team moves its operations several miles away to the “Farm Activities Building” of Bowers Farm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The limited space poses a challenge, but despite this, the team wins Chairman’s and Entrepreneurship awards, goes to the Michigan State Championship Semi-Finals, and qualifies for the World Championship in St. Louis.

2014-15The Bionic Black Hawks are able to move their work space to the shop of their old high school campus. The team does extremely well, and is part of the winning alliances at both the Center Line and Gull Lake regional tournaments. After these regionals, the Bionic Black Hawks have the third most total points of all the teams in Michigan. The team also wins numerous awards, such as the prestigious Engineering Inspiration award. After that, the team qualifies for the Michigan State Championship and the World Championship in St. Louis.2015-16It was another banner year as the team is on the winning alliance for both the Gull Lake and Howell district tournaments. The Blackhawks also soar to new heights this year winning the prestigious Chairman's Award and the Entrepreneurship Award at the district tournaments. After that, the team won the Chairman's Award at the Michigan State Championship, qualifying them for the World Championship in St. Louis.

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2.3 Relationships & Member Benefits

It truly takes a community of relationships to make our program successful. Here are some of the many benefits that our students, mentors, school and sponsors get from their involvement

• Connect with students of similar interests• Develop confidence and communication skills• Develop multi-tasking and time-management skills • Experience and be part of another community• Gain opportunities to earn scholarships and acquire internships • Get an exposure to STEM related careers• Have fun• Help and teach others through community events• Learn how to plan and build a working robot • Learn teamwork and leadership • Work with and learn from adult mentors who have workplace experience in science,

technology, engineering, math and business• Be part of a community and work as a team • Have fun • Help and teach others through community events• Help give students a “real life” learning experience not accessible in a regular classroom• Share knowledge and experience with students to help them accomplish their tasks, in both

the engineering and business areas• Help give students a “real life” learning experience not accessible in a regular classroom• Share knowledge and experience with students to help them accomplish their tasks, in both

the engineering and business areas

• Expose students to more scholarship opportunities• Foster STEAM and business interests in students• Increase recognition as a school that cultivates exemplary students• Support an exemplary student development program

• A marketing opportunity for their company (see Section 6.0)• Reach out and connect with communities positively• Develop future employees and interns• Inspire students to pursue STEAM and business careers• Provides opportunities to be outstanding corporate citizens

Student Benefits

Mentor Benefits

SchoolBenefits

SponsorBenefits

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CAD Teach students to use our PTC CAD software

Finance Assist with team marketing and creating a team business plan

Travel Logistics Organize the team travel to regional events outside of the local area

Prototyping (A.K.A. The Design Team) Assist with the design of the robot and teach the students how to create basic mechanisms

Awards Presenter Mentors Assist team award submissions and teach the students how to speak in front of potential Sponsors and Judges

Electrical Show students how to wire, organize an electrical board, and update and check robot’s wiring.

Entrepreneurship Help students prepare a business plan, manage team funds and assist with fundraising.

Programming Work with the students to program the robot for competition

Graphic Design Create banners, logos, team handouts, and t-shirts for competitions

Engineering Work with the team to pick a strategy, design a robot, and manage robot

Social Media Work with students to set up and manage social media sites

Website Teach students how to build and manage a website

Project Management Work with students to set time and performance goals to meet deadlines, etc.

Video Animation/Production Teach students the technical aspects of animation and video editing while competing for the Safety Video Award.

In addition to enjoying the benefits of being on a team, mentors can help out in numerous areas as seen below. Many mentors bring knowledge and experience from their current career field.

Mentor Roles Role Descriptions

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2.4 Team ManagementThere are many ways a FIRST team can be organized. We want an organization structure that will best support our mission statement and long term team sustainability. We are recognized by the Bloomfield Hills School District as a student club, but we are also considered a school team when we go to robotics competitions. As a rough time frame, we are a team from January to August and we are a club from September to December. There are also off-season events during the summer. As a club, we function like other student clubs. There are positions for Secretary and Treasurer. For leadership continuity, the co-team captains act as co-Presidents of the club. We adhere to school district rules for high school student clubs. Elections of officers for the following year occur before the end of the school year. Since this is the Robotics Team Business Plan, we will concentrate on organization of the team. All team members have specific responsibilities to help achieve the team goal. This is similar to a school sports team where each athlete has a specific responsibility based on their strength. Students may need to participate in more than one role in order for the team to achieve its goal. They have one major responsibility, but are expected to help out in other areas. Seniority on the team is based on number of years on the team and knowledge in a particular area. Veteran team members can become team subgroup captains. As captains they mentor rookie team members and pass on their knowledge.

New students participate in a formal rotational orientation program we developed this year. Returning students typically participate in more than one sub-team as part of their on-going training and development.

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MembershipTeam membership requirements are set up by the steering committee and can be modified each year as needed. All adult mentors will also be granted full membership based on their involvement.

Student Membership ApplicationThere are informational meetings for students and parents. The Team Handbook, which contains the application form and consent form, is handed out at the parents meeting. After the students and their parents/guardians review the Team Handbook carefully, they fill out the application form, sign the consent form in the handbook acknowledging that they will abide by all the rules as stated, and return them to the team coach along with payment of the team fee. If financial assistance is needed, students can contact the school office.

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Opportunities For StudentsActive participation by students on the Bloomfield Hills High School FIRST Robotics Team can be very rewarding. Many colleges across the United States are familiar with FIRST Robotics Competition. Some mentor local high school teams and many have students who are alumni of high school robotics teams. These students are highly sought after by colleges because of the leadership skills and work ethics that they acquired. Some colleges even offer scholarships to attract these students.

In a similar way, many corporations around the country are interested in these FIRST students. Some of them provide scholarships or co-op opportunities to FIRST students when they are in college. The FIRST experience is definitely a plus to have on one’s resume.

This year, there will be over 200 colleges and universities, professional associations, and corporations from the United States and Canada providing more than 900 individual scholarship opportunities, valued at over $50 million, to FIRST high school students. This is an official recognition of the knowledge and technical and life skills these students have gained from participating in a FIRST competition. FIRST scholarships enable students to pursue majors and careers in engineering, computer science, science, math, design, aeronautics, and many other technical fields. Information on scholarship opportunities can be obtained through the team mentors and from www.firstinspires.org.

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2.5 Team StructureThe team is divided into two main groups – Program Management & Awards and Robot & Competition. Each group has many sub-teams in order to properly manage the tasks associated with the group.

Each sub-team has an adult mentor and student captain. The sub-team captains are responsible for managing the tasks associated with their team and providing a status report at each team meeting. Adult mentors offer technical training and support when necessary, and make sure the sub-team captains and members are on track to reach their goals.

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Sub-Team DetailProgram ManagementFinance

• Prepare and submit proposals to obtain grants and sponsors

• Create financial budget• Fundraising, deposit into accounts

and track incoming funds• Track expense to make sure we are

within budget• Maintain Bill of Materials of the robot• Track cost and weight of robotNewsletter/PR

• Publish calendar with all relevant dates and deadline

• Write, distribute and maintain Newsletter

• Develop and maintain team handbook

• Responsible for internal communications

• Photo/video documentation• Document team activities and public

events through pictures and video for use on website and other media

• End of year team picture, individual pictures with robot

Public Relations/Gracious Professionalism

• Interface with FIRST organization• Interface with school• Interface with parents• Develop public relations brochure

and other materials• Plan outreach events to promote

science and engineering• Organize team building and training

workshops• Update website with latest

information about team• Represent team to speak to judges• Send thank you cards to sponsors

and supportersEvent Readiness

• Organize parent volunteers for food, travel coordinator etc.

• Maintain team rosters/team member responsibilities

• Kickoff registration• Register for regional events• Build field / shipping crate / cart• Look for suitable meeting space and

workshop• Tools Training• Conduct team and mentor training

for tools• Ensure students use tools safely

FUNDRAISING• Organize and implement fundraising

activities• Website• Develop and maintain the website

Award Sub-TeamsChairman's/Engineering Inspiration

• Present our team accomplishments and our impact on the community.

• Create Chairmen’s Video• Entrepreneurship• Keep Business Plan and Executive

Summary up to date• Imagery/Robot Award• Coordinates team identity such as

logos, nickname, appearance of robot and crate, uniforms (t-shirts), mascot, and team spirit activities.

• Create display for competition pit area

• Brand shipping-crate and robot cart Safety

• Develop safety policy• Update Emergency Contact Sheets• Update Safety Equipment• Implement and enforce safety

rules (e.g. safety glasses, machine training record)

• Keep pit area clean, organized and safe

Safety Animation• Plan, write, and create the team’s

annual safety animation videoSpirit

• Organize and lead cheering for team at events, create a positive, fun atmosphere

• Create awards to give to other teams, such as pit trophies

• Organize team promotion giveaways

Special Sub-TeamsSTEM Advocacy

• Meet and discuss about what what is going to be discussed with Congressmen from our state

• Read and become well educated with what is currently happening and the current state of STEM and education related bills

MathcadWINDCHILLEngineering/Design FeatureSTEM Expo3-D Printing

• Discuss what parts we might need to 3D print for the robot

Robot/Competition Sub-TeamsEngineering/Design/Planning

• Work with engineering teams to transfer game strategy into functional requirements of robot

• Design chassis and mechanism parts based on engineering requirement

Electrical/Batteries• Wire the robot• Build• Build chassis and mechanism parts• Assemble robots• Build prototypes to test concept

when necessaryProgramming

• Develop code for autonomous mode• Develop code to reduce driver/

operator burden• Develop code for rules conformanceProject Timing

• Create and update Gantt chart to insure we stay on track and on schedule

Drive Team/Human Player• Practice driving and operating the

robot for as many hours as possible before the competition using the situations created in the playbook

• Relay robot performance issues to engineering teams for improvement

• Drive and operate the robot in the competition, focus on our robot only during the match and listen to instructions from Drive Team Coach

• Arrive early and stay late for extra practice of different anticipated maneuvers

• Communicate robot performance issues to the pit crew if adjustments or maintenance is needed after matches

• Relax, watch matches and take time to reflect in between matches

• Exhibit good sportsmanship as you represent the team in battle

• Discuss with Drive Team Coach on strategies of upcoming match

Design/CAD• Package all chassis components in

CADLabview Programming

• Build operator interfaceScouting App/Java

Scouting/Strategy/Tableau

• Incorporate scouting statistics into tableau software

• Update scouting database with weekly regional results

• Gather information on teams which will be competing in the same regional competitions as our team

• Maintain desired alliance partners list in case we are ranked high enough to pick partners

Scouting Management• Prepare scouting plan during pre-

season• Lead the team in discussing what

game strategy we will adopt, prepare playbook by anticipating what opponents may do

• Update playbook after watching matches and report to Drive Team Coach and not the Drive Team members

• Monitor Chief Delphi website daily on other teams’ discussions of rules, strategies, etc.

• Coordinate all available team members at the regional competition to talk to other teams and watch matches to gather information

• Report to the Drive Team Coach on other teams’ strength, weakness and strategies before each match

• Establish alliances with other teamsCompetition Pit Crew/Batteries

• Plan during pre-season how to setup the pit area

• Pack and unpack robot crates• Pack and unpack tools and spare

parts for pit• Monitor and maintain batteries• Keep pit area organized, clean and

monitored at all times• Ensure preventive maintenance and

repair of robot at competition• Have runner to acquire tools, parts

and help• Be the rule masters for the team by

reading and understanding all the rules in detail so our robot will not be in violation of any rules

• Monitor FIRST website daily for updates to rules and documents

• Monitor FIRST website daily in Questions and Answers Forum to clarify rules and interpretation

Pit Setup/Trailer• Handle all paperwork with shipping• Make sure the robot is packed safely• Make sure the robot is shipped by

deadline and track the whereabouts of the robot at all times until the end of season

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2.6 Deployment of Resources

Each year we create a plan to deploy our team financial, logistical, and other resources well beyond robot building. We host numerous FIRST tournaments/events which continue to increase and expand. This year we added the Michigan FLL State Championship with 53 teams participating. We also continued hosting our Bloomfield Bash FLL Jr. Expo. Both events bring in dozens of adult volunteers and judges, many of them not previously affiliated with FIRST. They are always amazed by the experience! Our Girls-only off-season FRC competition has been publicized regularly on newspaper, radio and TV. This year we launched our cable TV show

“Full Steam Ahead” that can be viewed throughout Bloomfield to learn about STEM topics and promote FIRST. It’s working! Bloomfield Robotics has grown to 49 FIRST teams, the highest number in Michigan, including at least one team in every school, and over 350 total students involved. On Team 2834, we spend time to improve our mentor/student interactions, and create structured sub-teams to allow more team members to get leadership opportunities while working closely with a specific mentor. Also, we put measures in place to provide a student to mentor ratio of no greater than 4:1 for each team meeting. Following each season we incorporate a feedback process for students and mentors to capture ways the team can continuously improve the FIRST experience for everyone involved.

2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

MichiganStateFLLChampionship

FRCKickOff

BloomfieldBashJr.FLLExpo

BloomfieldBashFLLTournament

24Teams 24Teams 24Teams 32Teams

53Teams

12Teams 26Teams

10Teams 16Teams

2016-17:5majorFIRST eventshosted,135teams

GirlsOnlyFRCRoboticsCompetition

24Teams 24Teams 32Teams 32Teams

SpringJr.FLLExpo 3Teams 8Teams

11Teams

FIRST EventHosting

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2.7 Training

An integral part of joining the team is going through training. Students are onboarded by being divided into four sub-groups where they learn about the four building sub-teams: CAD (Computer-Aided Design), Electrical, Build, and Programming. At each weekly meeting students rotate through the different sub-groups . In the CAD group, students are exposed to Creo, a PTC software, used to design the robot. Students learn about Creo and use it to create a beam that could be used on the robot. In Electrical, students learn the basics of wiring a robot and how to add connectors to wires. Thirdly, students are exposed to build team by learning how to operate all the machines. This training also certifies students to work with the machines. Lastly, students learn about programming through an interactive presentation. Students learn about what the software is and the many uses of programming on this team. Additionally, students are introduced to the other nonbuilding sub-teams through presentations presented by mentors. The sub-teams that presented were: Chairman's, Safety, Scouting, Media and Technology, Entrepreneurship, Program Management, and Spirit.

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3.1 2015-2016 impact/outreach highlights: FIRST Advocacy

• Tableau Scouting presentation at Michigan State FRC and World Championships

• FTC Kick Off CAD Training• Multiple hours of FLL team training in our shop;• Numerous team members provide embedded mentoring of FLL

teams• Presenting a seminar on “What it means to be a Chairman’s

Award winner” • FIRST Lego League’s EV3 software programming workshop• FIRST Lego League building and strategy workshops• PTC FIRST Robotics Competition hands-on workshop• FIRST Tech Challenge PTC CREO Kickoff workshop • Represented FiRST of Michigan at Michigan Association for

Gifted Childrens Conference

• STEM FIRST Advocacy, Washington DC trip

Hosted Tournaments:• FIRST Lego League qualifying tournament- Bloomfileld Bash Jr

FLL - 26 teams• Girls FRC Off Season tournament - 32 teams• Michigan State FLL ( one of the two Championship flights) - 53

teams

• FRC Kick off - 16 teams

Summer Camps• Neinas Elementary FLL camp• Detroit Science Center FLL Camp• Bloomfield Hills Middle School - FLL Camp• Bloomfield Hills Middle School - FTC Camp

• Girls STEM Camp

3.0 TEAM IMPACT / OUTREACHOur team works hard to promote the positive impact FIRST can have on the community.

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Demonstrations & Sponsor meeting• Maker Faire Henry Ford• Girl Scout International River Crossing• Bloomfield Hills Library• SIM Detroit• Panasonic Automotive

Volunteering• Orchards Bike Assembly

• Life Remodeled

Community Outreach• Memorial Day Parade• Stem Expo• Team Building Activities with team Crevolution

from Sterling Heights, Michigan• 88.1 WBFH radio broadcast by team members• Cable TV show "Full Steam Ahead"• Initiation of STEM/AG activity with the

Bowers Farm - Smart Poultry Protection from Predators - SP3

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3.2 Focus on FIRST Lego LeagueIn order to feed the FIRST program from the earliest possible age, we focus our growth on developing the strongest FLL program we can. We believe, the earlier we can spark the interest of students in STEAM, especially the girls, the more likely they will continue on with the program.Open Houses - In each of the last eight years, we hosted an open house and invited the community, our school board, FIRST Lego League students, and sponsors to come in and learn about FIRST, inspect our practice robot, review the game challenge, tour our website, and view our design process, along with our CAD model of the robot. Demos - During the off season, we have taken our robot to demo at the middle schools and elementary schools in our school district, and also at Preview Nights and the STEM expo at the high school for prospective students and their parents. Over the past few summers, we have demonstrated our robot at the Maker Faire event hosted at the Henry Ford, the Kettering tournament, and the MARC tournament to help promote FIRST.Hosting one of two FLL State Championships in Michigan - We hosted 53 teams this year for one of the two Michigan State FLL Championship tournaments this past fall. Our school district leaders came out to kick off the tournament and welcome all the other teams with open arms. The tournament took of lot a work, coordination and cooperation from volunteers within our team and across the FIRST community but was totally worth it.

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4.0 STRATEGIC PLANNING4.1 Team Goals

To be a Bionic Black Hawk means striving to be the best you can, every day. We keep the bar pretty high, and take pride when we reach our goals. We organize our goals into three categories: FIRST Goals, Award Goals and Team Goals.

FIRST Goals• Promote the FIRST brand.• Inspire students to seek careers in engineering, science, and technology fields as they make college choices.• Continue to promote science and technology in the community.• Start new FIRST Robotics Competition teams in other high schools in Oakland County and help mentor rookie

teams.• Start and mentor new and existing FIRST Tech Challenge teams in our school district as they start in Michigan.• Start and mentor new and existing FIRST Lego League teams in our school district.• Continue to be involved in community services that are not related to robotics.• Continue to cultivate strong partnerships with community, business and educational institutions.

• Contribute to the FIRST community by being active on Chief Delphi and the FIRST forum.

Award Goals• Win the Chairman’s Award at the district, state or national competition.• Win a Technical Award at the district, state or national competition.• Win a FIRST Robotics Competition Title at the district, state or national competition.• Be recognized by other teams by winning peer awards.• Have our seniors receive FIRST related college scholarships.

• Achieve a 100% graduation rate and 100% college attendance rate.

Team Goals• Promote involvement of girls in STEM & FIRST Robotics• Train rookie members each year on the basics in all areas. • Provide more in depth training to veteran members based on interest and needs.• Follow the team design process each year to build a successful robot consistently.• Gradually increase the complexity of the design to make it technically challenging for veteran members.• Gradually increase design and manufacturing options by adopting technologies and machinery that are new to the

team.• Gradually shift responsibilities to the students in terms of leadership and design as they become ready.• Continue to have engineering mentors work side by side with the students to provide inspiration and guidance.• Gradually increase the size of team.• Gradually increase participation by girls from the school.

• Look for sponsors that give internship or co-op programs to our students.

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4.2 Swot AssessmentStrengths

“It’s not all about the robot.” This is a phrase commonly heard in FIRST Robotics. We band together not only to build robots, but to build a family so strong that sometimes even time cannot fray our wires.

The Bionic Black Hawks believe in learning from and supporting other FIRST Robotics Competition teams. In the past, our team assisted self-risen rookie Team 5252 by sending student mentors to them and inviting them to join us in our own shop. As a result, Team 5252 managed to build a working robot and connect with other students pursuing the same passions as themselves. Our team learned many valuable lessons from this relationship that serve to inform and improve our decisions in the future. Last year, we reached out on a more globally scale and started working with a Turkish team we met two years ago. We had Skype calls and discussed our robot and problems we both have encountered, such as space limitations in recent years.

As a team, it has had tremendous growth over the past couple of years. It has grown from 10 to 49 teams across its district totally over 350 students, the largest in the entire state of Michigan. We have 7 First Tech Challenge teams, 15 First Lego League teams, and 26 FLL Jr. teams. The team also have had a great involvement in our summer robotics camps, including an all-girls camp and one at the Detroit Science Center. These one week long camps are a great introduction into robotics and have shown continuous improvement annually with almost 100 students. Another positive side effect of these camps are the way FRC students have been able to improve their leadership due to the fact that the camps are student driven, and the majority of the kids go on to join FLL teams in the following year. Reaching beyond this our girls in STEAM is very strong in our district with an all girl’s FTC team along with strong involvement of girls on our FRC and FLL teams.

On our FRC team, we have a strong diversity and mentor involvement as we have more than 35 mentors including non-parent mentors on our team, which has been a big growth especially since we strived to improve our students to mentor ratio. Assets of our team extend beyond our experienced veterans. In Team 2834, we are fortunate enough to have experienced mentors willing to teach and learn alongside the students. Two of our most prominent, long-time mentors are parents whose children were once a part of the team.

Another strength of our team is our great balance of sub-teams and great variety thereof and once students join, they can easily find a sub team they fit into with more than 25 different sub-teams.

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Weaknesses Even with these tremendous strengths, our team recognizes that there are collective weaknesses

that will need to be addressed and solved. A smaller weakness is a risk the team took last year by starting a crowdsourcing page which only raised a little less than $200. It was a weakness in the fact that it did not take off well on the team’s social media platforms and could have gone much better.

Our team has also utilized the concepts that we have learned in FIRST and applied them to the real world. With our partnership with our community’s farm, we discussed an issue with their chicken coop and then went on to design and prototype a machine that automatically opens and shuts a chicken coop without the farmer needing to be around. But this is not all the door does, it also is equipped with the capability to detect unusual noise levels and odors and alert the farmers as well to maintain the coop.

A new strength for the team in addition is the team’s TV show that airs on public TV as well as is broadcasted across the school on a regular occasion. With these, the team is making the message of FIRST robotics loud and even reaches out to its audience through experiments and prizes.

Our team has also had our school rewrite foundations plans in order to allow for funding of money in after school programs similar to FIRST, and later on the school went on to write a grant for FIRST teams in our district. The team has also partnered with the school to host two big FIRST events, the Michigan FIRST Lego League State Championship with over 50 teams and the team’s annual all girls competition with over 30 teams, both which are a huge success. Finally, our team’s ability to maintain a continuous strain of growth over a long time period has been essential in keeping the team moving ahead and onward.

One sub-team that has especially grown is the safety team, through educating the students with presentations and training days, we ensure that our team’s safety is a priority.

In addition, our team has capitalized on the idea of sustainability with our numerous sponsors, with 25 sponsors, we have achieved sustainability and have made sure to continue these growth for the future. But we also give back to our sponsors and give them opportunities to volunteer at events we host, or invite them to team meetings and competitions. The team forms a deep connection with its sponsors and develop a long term relationship.

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Girls vs. Boys”: an unfortunately trendy form of competition that should not be commonplace. To eliminate this, we seek out women and urge those who are interested to join the robotics program to expel the idea of robotics being a “guy thing.” There are nine girls on the team, and we hope to grow this number even more.

Also, with the team growing so quickly, it is becoming difficult for us to accommodate the continued growth in our number of team members. We are currently thinking of ideas to manage this weakness, such as creating separate Varsity and Junior Varsity levels of robotics.

We have targets for our plans of constant improvement, which will cause our weaknesses to diminish every day.

OpportunitiesThe team also has many opportunities as well, with hosting the Michigan State FLL Championship in the future. The team can also improve on the summer camps with the expansion to the Detroit Science center. There is also room for growth in areas such as real world applications of concepts similar to the chicken coop door at our community farm. Also, with the current team composition, a lot is able to be learned this year and applied in the following year with only 5 seniors graduating, however, the team must ensure that their knowledge is properly passed down.

A big weakness for the team is the loss of valuable mentors and the coach in the upcoming year which has the possibility to affect the team in the future. Along with mentors and coaches departing, we also have some of the team’s sub team leaders graduating, meaning that they must pass down all the knowledge they have learned to the incoming and upcoming students in order to keep the team flourishing.

Our future home is also a weakness; by not knowing where the team could be located in the near future, the team can not properly become fulling grounded at their current location in case they have to move again. With this, the location of the team’s shop can cause limitations to growth which can be a huge weakness and big issue if not properly handled. Through these weaknesses, our team is able to address them properly and focus on them in order to learn and further its growth.

Launching a FIRST Robotics FLL State Championship Competition at our High

School to spread the word of FIRST and help other teams by being easily accessible in a centrally located school in

the Metro Detroit area.

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ThreatsThere are certain predicaments that do not yet affect Team 2834, but may be hidden, imminent predators that stalk us. The team also faces threats such as loss of current location and sponsors. The team is currently in a tight spot regarding its current location and is highly reliant on sponsors to supply funding to keep the team afloat; and with an economic downturn, the team could lose both unfortunately. Finally, with these other weaknesses, the team may be at risk for the loss of growth in some sections that have been very big for our team, such as FIRST participation, which would be a huge loss to the team. Overall, the team needs to recognize these threats and combat them in order to continue to be a successful and well operated team.

This year, we were given a short term shop to work in. This was the old shop at Lahser High School building, which may be closed and torn down next year. This means that after this year, we may have to move again. Another move coupled with threat that the space the school district offers may not be as large could threaten our stability.

The current funding for Team 2834 is relatively stable and meets our needs, but with all the younger teams that we have created and that are being created in our area, competition for private donations may become fierce and limited. Another much larger financial threat is a downturn in the economy. In the Detroit Metro Area we are surround by automotive makers, suppliers and many other STEM related corporations . The financial and mentoring support is tremendous, but in a financial recession the area is usually hit hard. Grant and sponsorships may dry up quickly and we would be forced to look to others sources and decrease our spending expectations.

Another possible growth for the team in the future is the addition of a grant writing team to assist in receiving grant money, which can further funding of the team and keep the team running fluently long term.

Our expertise in technology grows each season. We are able to use our knowledge of engineering to take advantage of the opportunities for greater fundraising and outreach to others, such as our current hosting of our 172 collective campers and training clinics for programming and engineering.

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4.3 SWOT Diagram

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4.4 Contingency PlansThe following contingency plans have been prepared to prevent or mitigate the impact of the key threats identified through our SWOT assessment.

Problem Loss of work team location/shopPrevention: Demonstrate to our school board how much the shop means to the team and how much it has been utilized. Through communication with our school board and township board we can display how much and effectively, our shop is used.

Solution: Bringing school board members and display how the shop is utilized as well as hold STEAM Expos that illustrate how FIRST has impacted kids across all levels.

Problem Economy downturnPrevention This was discussed in detail is Section 6.2

Solution Follow our fundraising sources as detailed in detailed in section 10.2. Start with the most effective way and go down the list. Need to obatin funds from other places to replace the loss.

Problem Funding lossesif school rewrites funding billsPrevention If our school rewrites the funding bills, we will lose funding that is essential to our district and teams in our team.

Solution We can avoid this by bringing district board members out to our shop. We can also host STEAM Expos similar to those in the past that demonstrate how the money is utliized efficiently.

Problem Loss of student LeadershipPrevention Choose student leaders who are handling their school work well and able to take on responsibilities. Have four captains, one secretary, and one treasurer.

Solution Mentors should keep an eye out for the next student leader and start to groom them by giving increasing responsibilities over time. Student leaders need to be more than just skilled but interact with team members effectively.

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Problem Loss of adult leadershipPrevention Spread out the work as much as possible to prevent burnout. Show appreciation to all volunteers.

Solution Team coach should identify possible sucessors to each position. Ask parents to volunteer. For the team coach and lead mentor position, if no parents step up to do it, we can invite a mentor or retired mentor from another team to take over.

Problem Loss of growthPrevention By making FIRST loud in our district through having teams of all levels in all of our schools in our district, we ensure that FIRST will continue to grow in our district.

Solution Through our annual FIRST Lego League Camps, and FIRST tournaments that we host, we are able to have our community be impacted in a major way of FIRST and ensure that every generation is a part of FIRST.

Problem Team liability and protection of adult mentors and studentsPrevention Instruct mentors and team members to review our team handbook for our policies on mentor/student interaction to protect both students and mentors. Have all mentors and students do background check at FIRST.

Solution Adhere to team safety policies in Team handbook. Parents and students also signed a Liability Waiver to protect mentors, sponsors and school from frivolous lawsuits.

Problem Broken machines and equipmentPrevention Make sure all power tools are installed correctly. CHeck power tools before each use to make sure they are operating normally. Train all students to use power tools correctly and safely.

Solution Have spare parts such as band-saw, sanding belts and drill bits on hand to replace them if broken. Have multiple tools of each type.

Problem Drive team members cannot attend competitionPrevention Make sure all team members stay healthy by getting enough sleep and eating properly during build season. Have the backups train with the drive team operator and driver.

Solution Identify backups and train operator and driver.

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4.5 Future PlansSustainability is imperative for future success. No amount of planning will do any good if the team fails to exist because of lack of funding. Hence, it is important to have a good process in place to ensure long term sustainability of the team. In order to ensure this sustainability, we have specific strategies for financial sustainability through perpetuation of sponsorships and other strategies for financial responsibility. Additionally, we ensure sustainability of resources such as mentors and team members through team and community outreach as well as other strategies for team management. Following are some of the strategies we used in our startup plan and continue to follow in our long term plan for the future:Sponsorship and Financial Sustainability Strategies

• Before Kick-off each season, prepare a budget with best and worst case scenario.• In the summer each year, prepare a fundraising plan and work hard to get sponsors and donations.• Every year, create a team wish list of tools and supplies needed, and ask for donations, or borrow the

tools instead of purchasing them.• Early in each season, create an expense reimbursement form and create an approval process for

verifying expenses.• Stock up on materials and supplies before the build season so we do not waste time waiting.• Expand business partnerships in case our current sponsors are unable to support our future

endeavors. As new members join get our marketing piece “Trifold Brochure” to the new parents’ employers and have the new parents explore for grants.

• Keep our existing sponsors by showing appreciation, inviting them to our annual awards banquet, and proudly showing their name and logo on our banner and robot. Details are included in Section 10. We will give back to our sponsors through participation in corporate events, volunteer activities, and student internships.

• Have sound financial management to manage the funds that we get each year.• Write to the school and work hard to receive grants and grant money from as many places as

possible. Team and Community Outreach Sustainability Strategies

• Each year, prepare a recruitment plan to attract students to join and encourage diversity.• Update the team handbook to clearly define roles and responsibilities of students, mentors and

parents.• Update the computerized spreadsheet to keep track of work hours to monitor commitment of all

students.• Prepare training materials to teach students in all areas related to FIRST Robotics Competition robot

design and build.• Have new students go through week of training and exposure to all sub-teams.• Invite mentors from other successful local teams as guest speakers so we can learn from other

teams.• Retain mentors and engineers by showing appreciation of their time and effort and make sure they

find it rewarding.

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• Actively recruit mentors and engineers to continue to grow the non-parent mentoring team.• Get coverage by the student newspaper to increase our visibility, as well as coverage in school

district newsletter, and continue to issue press releases to local newspapers to recognize our sponsors.

• Maintain and expand our website (www.team2834.com), a very important tool to market our team. It won the Best Website Award at the State Championship in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It contains information about our team, sponsors, and schedules as well as information about what FIRST is about to visitors who are not familiar with it.

• Invite all students, teachers and staff at the school to attend the State Championship. The atmosphere in the arena during the competition will spark interest among some students who might want to join our team the following year.

• Attend two off season competitions event to let our new members get excited about FIRST Robotics Competition.

• Recruit students in the fall who are new to the high school and continue to invite 8th graders from FIRST Lego League and FIRST Tech Challenge.

• Continue to grow and support FIRST Lego League Jr., FIRST Lego League teams and FIRST Tech Challenge teams in our school district so that we will maintain a consistent interest level in the robotics team from the incoming freshman class.

• Display our latest newsletters, photos, and newspaper articles throughout the high school in our trophy cases to generate interest in FIRST.

Team GrowthAs part of our mission statement as stated in Section 1.0, the team needs to continue to mature and grow. The growth is in terms of both membership and impact on the community. Our district’s robotics programs have been growing steadily for the last 8 years and now have 49 teams with 355 students. Due to a combination of increased recruiting effort and the success of the team in competitions in the last 8 years, we have attracted a lot of new members. We also made a conscious effort to recruit female students to our team. We have been extremely successful in doing that as well.

Diversity in race and nationality is a strong constant for our team. The Bionic Black Hawks resemble the United Nations. Our kids come from Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Romania, Jordan, Japan, China, Greece and Turkey! At last count, our team is comprised of over 20 ethnicities and nationalities.

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Gender diversity has required constant attention, but is now becoming a strength for the team. We have been able to climb to 21% female members in 2017. The Bionic Black Hawks utilize a successful three prong approach to recruiting and growing the number of young women. First, for the past 4 years the female members hosts a girl only Destination Stem summer camp. Elementary and middle school girls are taught diverse curriculum and our female team members run the camp proving to be excellent role models. The Society of Women Engineers is a past sponsor of this program. In the next two years some of these girls will join our high school team. Secondly, we host an off seasons girls only FIRST Robotics Competition tournament to promote awareness of robotics. This year, our efforts were coordinated with the Girls Scouts, so over 100 Engineering Badges were earned at the event. Finally, we have promoted the development of some all-girls teams in our FIRST Lego League programs to develop their early interest, confidence and enthusiasm in FIRST.

However, growth in numbers cannot continue forever. The team could reach a size where it no longer provides meaningful results for the students. However, with careful planning, this size limit does not need to be artificially low, which most people think is 25 to 30. With our expanded facilities and 38 members on the team this year, we are re-assessing our plans to accommodate more growth. We need to come up with a future plan to accommodate a higher number of students, up to 40 to 50, for example. One idea could be to split the team into Varsity and Junior Varsity level. By finding creative solutions to our challenge, we can continue to grow the team, while also providing a valuable experience for all involved.

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5.0 TEAM BUDGETTo have a successful FIRST Robotics Team, it is important to have a good financial system in place. This includes a fundraising plan, budgeting and financial tracking. Running the team finance like a business is a good learning opportunity for the students. Besides funding from corporate sponsors, students are required to pay a team fee to join the team. This covers a variety of expenses including team shirt, snacks, team parties and some general team expense. To encourage participation, each student is also responsible to raise a certain amount of money from corporate sponsors, donations from community businesses, and fundraising events. The amount may vary from year to year, but we keep it in line with what other local FIRST Robotics Competition teams are doing. We felt that charging a team fee and requiring fundraising goal is important even if we have enough funding from other sources. We do not want students to join just because the activities, including team travel, are free. These students are usually not committed to the team, because they had no equity in it. Team Income and ExpenditureEach year, as soon as new officers are elected for the following year, the treasurer puts together a preliminary budget plan. Based on expected revenues and the best case, worst case and most likely scenario, we can see what expenses can be covered. The team then decides what competitions we want to attend and any special purchases we would like to make. This gives us an idea how much money we need to fundraise and then we work towards that goal. The budget can also break down the expenses into different categories so we have better control and not overspend in one area over another. As time progresses, the budget needs to be adjusted to reflect the actual revenue and expense to make sure the team is financially solvent. A process for expense reimbursement was developed. An expense reimbursement request form needs to be filled out and turned in with original receipts. It will be reviewed and approved by the team’s mentor on budget finance, signed by the coach and then submitted to the school account administrator for a disbursement of funds. This system will also keep track of the cost of additional material and parts that goes on the robot to comply with FIRST rules.

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Additional Opportunities for Support: In-Kind Donations

Many of our sponsors give non-monetary donations. Some sponsors, in addition to cash donation, give software or building support services. For example, PTC, along with a generous donation, donates free licensed Creo, Windchill and Mathcad software. PTC also sends a presenter/trainer and lunch for a Creo workshop that the Bionic Black Hawks host for FIRST Robotics Competition teams each fall. In return we provide continuous updates and feedback on use of their software and our final design with photo of the robot used for promotional services.

The Bionic Black Hawks have other in-kind donations including donuts, pizza and drinks from local food chains for tournaments. Also, two of our sponsors, Ralco and Knights Industries, provide safety glasses, ear plugs, truck transport, laser cutting, powder coating and industrial metal cutting services

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6.0 SPONSOR BENEFITS, MARKETING & FUNDRAISINGThere are 2 categories of donors: Sponsors and Supporters. Each group is further divided into levels that receive different benefits depending on the scale of their donation.

$4000 and over Platinum Sponsor Company name as part of our team name (in order of donation amount) Company name announced on the field at all competitions our team attends Large company logo/name on our pit banner Large company logo/name on our robot Recognition such as press release Receive tickets to our annual awards banquet And everything below$2000 - $3999 Gold Sponsor Large company logo/name on our team t-shirts Company logo/name on our pit banner Company logo/name on our robot Company logo with link on every page of our team website And everything below$500 - $1999 Silver Sponsor Company name on our team t-shirts Recognition on our website with logo/name and link and our e-newsletter And everything below$250 - $499 Bronze Supporter Invitation to special events Recognition on our website Receive team photo And everything below$25 - $249 Supporter Recognition in our e-newsletter Receive e-newsletter Receive letter of thanks

Donation Level Benefits

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The tri-fold brochure (following) is our main marketing and fundraising piece we use to recruit and keep corporate sponsors. Each fall it is updated and mailed to past sponsors with a letter asking for their support for the coming season. Team members send them to their parents company to enlist new sponsors. Parents and team members also spend time each fall exploring

employer grants. When writing for a grant the tri-fold is included or the data is used to fill out the grant application. This fundraising piece brings in more funds than any other marketing or fundraising activity. For the 2015-2016 competition year, corporate sponsors provided 65% of the funds.

Be a Sponsor of this Winning Team! We would be happy to provide you with more information to help with your decision about sponsoring us. We are always excited to tell others about the FIRST Robotics program.

If you would like us to contact you, please provide the information below.

Company:

Address:

Contact Name:

Phone:

Email:

I am enclosing a check to support your team (please make check payable to BHSD) I am considering being a sponsor and would like to get more information, please contact me I would like the students to come to our location and give us a presentation

I would like to schedule a visit to your shop

Help Needed The FIRST Robotics program cost is substantial. An average team’s annual budget is about $45,000 to $60,000. The money is used for robotics parts, material for building, tools, travel expense, and robotics competition registration fees. All donations to our team are tax deductible.

We need engineering mentors and technicians to work side by side with the students on designing and building the robot each year and inspiring them to become science, technology and business leaders of the future.

The students work very hard each year on fundraising events to raise money for the team. A team fee is also required from each student to help offset the cost.

Our 2015-2016 Platinum and Gold sponsors were:

Our Contact: Andrew Raine Robotics Team Coach Bloomfield Hills High School 4200 Andover Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302

www.firstinspires.org Email: [email protected]

www.team2834.com

Team 2834 Bionic Black Hawks

Bloomfield Hills High School

Robotics Team

2016-2017

Sponsorship Brochure

6.1 Tri-Fold Brochure, Sponsor letters & Thanks You’s

Tri-Fold Brochure

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Sponsor LettersThis year we enhanced our fundraising, we created custom sponsor letters reminding each sponsor how much they contributed last year, what the results of the team were and what we hoped to accomplish this year In order to prompt our existing sponsors to contribute again.

This approach was well received by our sponsors. More than 80% of our sponsors renewed their sponsorship from last year.

Sponsor Thank You’s

As a Thank You to our key sponsors, last year we started sending out framed photographs of our team for the sponsors to display at their offices. This investment paid great dividends as it create additional

“water cooler” conversation and interest from our sponsors employees and became a physical reminder of their commitment to the FIRST program.

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6.2 Additional Sponsor Interaction

Among our many things we need to do, fostering and maintaining a good relationship with our sponsors is a priority. Sponsors help provide our necessary fuel, cash,that keeps our team running. Thus, we host multiple functions throughout the year to connect with them and also remind why they want to support FIRST Robotics and especially our team. During the off-season, we invite our sponsors to demonstrations featuring one of our robots. These demonstrations help the community learn about robotics and especially encourages children to grow an interest in STEM. We also reach out to them for judges to help our FIRST Lego League events run smoothly. Additionally, sponsors who contribute in-kind donations are given photos of our competition robot with the Creo plans for their own promotional use. Lastly, we always send a small group of students to reconnect with them every autumn to remind them that donation time is coming up.

6.3 Fundraising Sources, Sponsors & Strategy

Fundraising SourcesOur fundraising program has five sources:1) Team fees2) Team Fundraising3) Tournaments & Summer Camps promoting FIRST Lego League. 4) Corporate Sponsorship 5) Grants

Corporate Sponsors

The following graph shows the growth in the results of our fundraising effort. Since 2014, we have grown the number of platinum, gold, and silver sponsors from 8 to 23. We have created a balanced fundraising program with contributions from all our sponsor levels .

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Fundraising Strategy

We have a two pronged approach to our fundraising strategy:1. Diversify our fundraising between corporate and other sources2. Diversity our fundraising across different sponsor levels so as not to become too dependent on the Platinum level sponsors.

As the chart demonstrates, we are achieving our strategy of creating a strong balance of sourcing between corporate and other areas of fundraising.This diversity of funding sources provides us some protections from any one group or sponsor while also engaging many parts of the community to have some “skin in the game”.

And, as the following chart demonstrates, we have also been successful at diversifying our sponsors by level, so as not to become too dependent on our Platinum level sponsors.

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7.0 WHY WE ARE UNIQUE7.1 Our Summer Camps

We believe that combining our outreach goals with our fundraising goals by developing and delivering summer robotics camps to over 300 students makes our program unique. We have been doing this program for several years now and now have students who once attended the camp themselves teaching the new campers. What a rewarding and fun experience for everyone involved!

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7.2 Focus on GIRLSWe focus on promoting Girls involvement in STEM through four key initiatives:● Girls only STEM camp - where they learn to build websites and program using EV3● Girls-only off-season FIRST Robotics Competition tournament - where they get to do all the operating and robot repairs● Girl Scouts Engineering badges - We host a Girl Scout event at our competition that allowed 140 Scouts to earn a product design badge. Outreach - Over the last two years we have taught over 1,000 Scouts and Guides from the United States and Canada at the International River-Crossing. We have also demonstrated our robot at a Girl Scout STEM Expo and the Girl Scout FIRST Invitational at the Detroit Science Center.● College Scholarships for women - The funds raised through our Girls-only off-season FIRST Robotics Competition tournament are used to create four college scholarships for women.

7.3 Television Series - “Full Steam Ahead”

During this past summer we created a Television Series that was broadcasted through our local cable television channel. The goal of creating the Television show is to improve on Engineering Inspiration, and get people in our community exposed to STEAM. We created and aired 3 episodes so far and have two more in the STEAM works, LOL. Episodes, with each episode having put 200 man hours into creating them.

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7.4 STAG Outreach - Chicken Coop Door

Just like STEM has expanded to STEAM to include the Art’s, we believe that Science and Technology can be leveraged into the Agriculture Community, thus creating our STAG outreach project. We contacted the head of our school district farming program and Bowers Farm and offered our services to brainstorm on a problem we could solve for them. We were given the challenge of making the chicken pen at our local farm safer so that less chickens would die due to Predators. Our solution to this was to create a robotic door. Our door would open during the morning and also close during the night, this would happen by placing a light sensor on the door which would open and close based off of the light outside.

This also makes the farmers not have to wake up at the crack of dawn to open the chicken coop and close it at night. Also, we put a sensor that looked at the bottom of the door, so if the door was closing and a chicken is under it, the door would stop and go up. Another feature is we put an odor sensor on the door, so if the odor by the chickens got too intense, the farmers would be notified. Lastly, we would put a bright light by the door so chickens would be encouraged to go into the door at night, because generally, chickens are attracted to bright light.

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7.5 Accountability

We pride ourselves in personal accountability, ownership, and recognition for a job well done. To be successful entrepreneurs requires tracking and measuring our results. Here are just a few of the key metrics we maintain to promote accountability throughout our team:

● Percentage of students attending college and percentage in science and technology field● Number of rookie teams we help start and number of rookie teams we mentor● Number of Attendees at our Summer camps● Number of FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Lego League teams we start and mentor● Number of freshmen joining as a result of FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Lego League programs we support in the middle school and elementary schools● Number of judges and peer awards the team wins in competitions.● Number of FIRST Scholarships received by seniors.● Percentage of students returning to the team each year excluding graduating seniors.● Placement of students into internships and co-op programs with sponsors.● Growth and diversity of team membership.● Growth of number of mentors and engineers on the team.● How well and efficient the team works together within the constraint of rules, time, money and human resources.

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8.0 CONTACT INFORMATION

Bloomfield Hills School District273 Wing Lake RoadBloomfield Hills, M-I 48302http://bloomfield.org/(248)341-5400Superintendent: Dr. Robert Glass Bloomfield Hills High School4200 Andover RoadBloomfield Hills, MI 48302http://bloomfield.org/(248)341-5700Principal: Mr. Charlie HollerithAssociate Principal (oversees clubs and activities): Mrs. Margaret Schultz

FIRST Robotics Competition Team 2834http://team2834.com/sponsors/Coach and Lead Mentor: Andrew Raine, [email protected]

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