TEAM 1403 COUGAR ROBOTICS
PROJECT/ ACTIVITY: Ping Pong Catching
Date: 12/3/14
Where: Montgomery High School
Number of Students: 45
Number of Mentors/Adults: 6
Action Items: a block of wood, wooden sticks, tape, Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, hot glue, ping pong sessions in balls, and paper
Impact on Team:
The meeting started with a presentation from mentor Michael Leicht He taught Number of Mentors/Adults: group about branding and how to present oneself to the judges during competitions We discussed the definition of branding and how it relates to robotics. The positives and negatives of branding, including talking about real-world examples in which branding is valuable were also listed. The importance of utilizing every special skill of every team member for the benefit of the team was also touched upon He concluded his presentation by explaining that this characteristic of the team goes two ways and that every individual member must provide their best strength when contributing to the team as a whole After Mr. Leicht’s presentation, class split off into eight teams and was given a series of instructions complete for the activity of the night. Teams had to strategize in picking their materials because they were only allowed to choose 4 of the 7 available materials, and some materials were more abundant than others. The teams collaborated to build a contraption out of these different materials to catch a ping pong ball dropped from a height of eight inches from the highest point of the structure. Another goal was to launch the ping pong ball. The team, whose invention shot the ping pong ball the farthest in the air, won the game. During the construction time, teams were also given two five minutes which they were able to trade materials with others. All the team’s projects worked in different ways allowing everyone to learn from each other thus making the activity a success.