So this is an idea our team had, and we wanted to bounce it off you guys. Our club was thinking of making a “3rd team” who basically only did the online challenges. They would count as one of our two actual teams and could scout during the competition. We have lots of interest, but very limited funds, and this would be for the people who can’t show up the required amount of hours. We would love it if you would share thoughts, suggestions, etc. Thank you!
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I mean, it’s a good idea, it just sounds kind of dry. I mean, who wants to be considered a part of robotics and not get to, like, build or anything?
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Plus, what happens if they win a worlds spot. What would they do for a robot?
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They would be incorporated in one of the actual teams, I guess we would technically have to have two online challenge teams.
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Resume builders, there are a lot at my school. We could charge them a reduced fee, and that would help with our team funds.
…I’d be really careful if they can’t show up the amount of hours. Although you don’t really need to be building the robot at events, if they are busy with other things, Online Challenges are going to be another thing to balance at home. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be committed to many things, but it gets increasingly harder with each thing piled on.
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This is what many FRC teams do. They have dedicated media/award/business subteams which handle sponsorships and awards. So if there is an award where a set group of people are to be interviewed, they are the people interviewed. When there is an essay to be written, they write it. If they need more sponsors, they are the ones to reach out.
These media/business subteams are often smaller than the others, and also are made from people who are mixed with the other subteams. As in most media people are also on either design, building, and or programming. So if you want them separate, make sure the kids signing up know what they are signing up for. All in all not a bad idea. Sadly though sometimes it is a good idea to understand your budget and limit the people coming it. It may not be ideal but overcrowding does not help the team.
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Well, here’s the thing. We have lots of interest, but lots of people come like once a month because they’re so busy, and we’re technically not supposed to kick them out. We honestly don’t really need an online challenge team, we’re just trying to shrink our two teams to people who actually come so we can actually get stuff done. But yeah, I see where you’re coming from.
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Our team actually has that! Although it didn’t work out too well this year since we’re a completely new team (I ended up doing everything…), we’re planning on having classes to teach those interested (usually people that want to be involved in VEX but don’t have any experience in building or programming). This definitely allows people to still be involved even without experience and don’t have to commit as much to VEX.
EDIT: Also adding onto this. By having a team that focuses solely on online challenges allows you to create better quality content and submit to more online challenges. For example, this year we created a music video (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeRCgKJ6D08 ) along with a photo and power point. It was a train wreck since everything was done by me (I only had 2 hours to film, 4 hours to script, and 12 hours to edit and sing). The idea was there but the quality suffered from the lack of man power and time. We did pretty well in the Girl Powered challenge (making it to the finals) https://challenges.robotevents.com/challenge/110/vrc-girl-powered-online-challenge-sponsored-by-google/entry/6987 and ultimately won a spot for the photography challenge. https://challenges.robotevents.com/challenge/107/entry/6986
If you understand the ins and outs to online challenges and want to make mind-blowing content, having an entire team dedicated could definitely have your team number leave a long lasting impression on the VEX community.
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