Our FIRST Journey

Preface

Team 5773 Ink and Metal was founded in 2011 by a group of curious high school students at American High School in Fremont, California. Since then, the team has been on a rewarding journey. Since the team advanced to the World Championship in 2019 for the first time, it has become our team’s ultimate goal to have a shot at competing at the highest level once again, while inspiring and helping as many teams as possible along the way. This, of course, is made more difficult by competing in Northern California; many teams in this region are elite competitors, worthy of competing at the World Championship. Our team now is not the same team from five years ago. The FIRST Tech Challenge has become the forefront of many members’ dedication. This is apparent through the multitude of unique stories.

None of it would have been remotely possible without the amazing people behind the wheel. The members who pushed the team through this drastic change are the alumni you will be hearing from in the rest of the book. It seemed that every week, each member experienced a distinctive story; with each story came knowledge. Ink and Metal is made special by these stories. As each alumni moves on in their professional careers, we found it important to solidify their stories, knowledge, and advice in a record. We wanted to make sure their legacies are not forgotten, and remain for members of Ink and Metal and teams across the globe to read, understand, and share. Through this book, we are remembering and sharing the experience that makes our team special. Moreover, the alumni provide excellent pieces of advice for any individual or team to follow. From their years of experience, they have truly a valuable insight on how to approach the FIRST Tech Challenge. We hope you are looking forward to learning more about FIRST, the competition, and our team. So, buckle up, and get ready to be inspired.

-WaleedYagoub,SenioratInk&Metal

IsFor Discovery

1Hi,I’mRahul,afreshmanatUCLAstudyingcomputerscience.As I enter this next chapter of my life, I am quite heartbroken that I am leaving behind my favorite hobby throughout high school—FTC robotics. Despite FTC being my absolute favorite theselast4years,restassured,itwasnotthesmoothestofjourneys and was, infact,acompleterollercoaster.Hence,hereIamsharing my experience riding this roller coaster to help you all succeed in the rest of your robotics journey, through which you will make memoriesthatwilllastalifetime.

Rover Ruckus. Sky Stone. Ultimate Goal. Freight Frenzy.

While these are the four “challenges” I completed in my four years, in retrospect, they are your biggest friends, paving the path for knowledge and victory. Surprisingly, the real challenges that youneedtosolveliebeneaththenamesoftheseasons.

2“Creativity is intelligence having fun ” Albert Einstein

“Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.” Bum Phillips

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time ” Leo Tolstoy

I entered the team a couple days before kickoff of the Rover Ruckus season, and withtheteambeingbusygettingmaterialsand parts ready for kickoff, the upperclassmen could not focus on us—the newly recruited team members. Whilethiswasthecasein early September, I was confident that oncekickoffwasover,times would change and we would get an opportunity to work hands-on on the robot. October passed by. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. November passed by. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. December. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. January. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. February. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. March. Tick-tock. Tick-Tock. 7 months had passed, I had stilldone no hands-on work with the robot’s mechanisms or autonomous programs, the NorCal State Championshipwasover,andourrobot wasnomatchfortheotherteamscompetingthere.Adejectedteam came back to the garage, knowing we would have to wait several more months before getting thechancetocompeteagain.Theonly senior on our team that year, Francis Ung, was disappointed that despite all his efforts, he could not will the team to the World Championship in his final year. It wasalwayshisdreamtogetthis team to the biggest stage of the FIRST Tech Challenge: Houston, Texas.

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Before moving on about my journey in Rover Ruckus (I promise it’ll get more interesting), I’d like to share a story about Francis, one of the most creative students to have participated in FTC. It was the night beforeoneofourqualifyingtournaments,andoneof the pins on our old REV Expansion Hub had broken.Withoutthat working port, we would have to disable one of our motors for the competition; however, considering all of the motors had a crucial role on our robot, we needed a solution desperately. Most team members resorted to the straightforward solution: contact other local teams and find an Expansion Hub that we could borrow for the next day. All efforts in this regard had failed, and a feeling of panic began to surround the team. In the meantime, Francis had been contemplating how to resolve this issue, and the creative genius that he is, he used a staple, attached it to the broken Expansion Hub, and akin to a magic trick, our robot was up and running again. In essence, this is the creativity that FTC requires. Robotics requires you to think outside the box, and solutions that mightseem“dumb”ataglancemightactuallybethebest.

A few weeks after the State Championship had ended, I opened a text from my momafterschool,anditsaidWEHADADVANCED TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! Although it was through lottery, we were excited and extremely grateful to have this opportunity presented to us. Most importantly, I was content that Francis’ efforts had not gone down the drain. My brother, the captain of the team that year, ran through the school in joy, and once we got back to our workspace, which was my garage, he immediately began to work on the autonomous programs as we only had a few weeks before we would havetoleaveforHouston.

Section2|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Being a driverfortherobotthatyear,Iwasnervousaboutstepping down on the field on the biggest stage, but when the time came, I wantedtoembracethemoment.

Here’sasnippetaboutmymemorableexperienceatHouston:

Skipping school for a couple days to compete at the World Championship. Boarding a Southwest Boeing 737, on which we played cards a bit too loudly. Entering the large George R. Brown Convention Center, where judging and robot matches would take place. Jaywalking on the streets ofHoustonatnight.Frogjumping through the nearby park. Playing wallballtowardsthebackendof the convention center. Eating Chick-Fil-A every day for lunch. Entering the Minute Maid Stadium to watchthefinals.Witnessing the winner of the Inspire Award run down hastily to receive the mostprestigiousaward.

Out of the 160 teams competinginHouston,wewere81st,andwe were content that we were effectively in the top 50% of teams in such a large competition. At the end of the day, we came back home with no awards at all, but there was still a feeling of fulfillment and happiness within us all.Goingintothecompetition withamediocrerobotandminimaloutreach,weknewwewerenot going to be among the top teams there. However, we wanted the experience of competing at the World Championship, and we got that. It fueled me forthenextthreeyearsbecauseIknewonething for sure—I wanted to come back, next time wanting to be recognized as a force to be reckoned with by other teams. Hence, on my flight back home from Texas toCalifornia,allIcouldthink about is one question. And the rest of my high school experience

Section2|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

andmyeffortsintheSkyStone,UltimateGoal,andFreightFrenzy seasonsrevolvedaroundthatquestion.

Would Ink & Metal be back totheWorldChampionship,andwhat rolewouldIplayingettingtheteamthere,ifatall?

And what I didn’t know as I was asking myself this question was that I would have to be patient, which I learned as time went on. Getting to the World Championship isn’t an easy and quick process. It’s a path that treads onforever,apaththatrequiresmore outofyoueachtimeyouwalkdownit.

3“Our bad memories and our bad experiences are what make us who we are and what make us grow and allow us to learn, if we choose to see the lessons in those experiences.” Elijah Wood

“Regret is unnecessary Think before you act ” William Shockley

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

As my sophomore year embarked, we knew we could not rely on our luck again togetustotheWorldChampionship,andwewould have to work much harder for it. An FTC team can have a maximum of 15 team members, and we need to get maximum effort from each and every oneofourmembers.Butunfortunately, we only had 10 members that year. On paper, sure, we hadfifteen members, but soon enough, we realizedthatthefiveseniorsonthe team that year were ALL about the fun and none about the hard work. And trust me, with 10 people, our final goal appeared unimaginable. But a lesson I learned from the seniors was that when I became one, I wanted to be nothing like them. Not someonewhoprioritizedTacoBelloverbeingontimetomeetings. Not someone who drove off away from our workspace at random points. Notsomeonewhomaderandomjokeswhenaskedforhelp. Until my final moment on the team, I knew I wanted to be someonefruitful.

Section3|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

This year, I applied my knowledge of Java to write programs for the autonomous and TeleOpperiods.Ourcodeteamwasexcitedto use odometrythisyear,buttheinfamousstoryofoneoftheseniors accidentally sitting on oneoftheodometrypodsstillfloatsaround. With one of the odometry pods being broken and the new necessary materials being out of stock, we were forced to use encoders, resulting in a decently inefficient autonomous. Nevertheless, I was happy that I was gaining hands-on experience withtherobot.

Our first competition in the Sky Stone season was on December 8th, 2019. Heading in, we were decently confident about our chances of advancing to the State Championship. But nearly EVERYTHING went wrong. Both of our REV Expansion Hubs magically stopped working at the competition, and we were scoring close to 0 points in each match because our robot was sitting still. We scurried from table to table trying to find another team with spare expansion hubs, but we had no luck. Tired from the lack of sleep the previous night, my team members andIwere falling asleep on the bleachers of the competition after the qualification matches were over. Andofcourse,accompaniedwith our poorperformanceintherobotmatches,wecamehomewithno awards. And it hurt to know that a competent robot became lackluster because of an electronics issue that wasn’t really under ourcontrol.

Our second competition was on January 19th, 2020, and I can confidently say this one went smoother. We advanced to the State Championship at the end by winning Inspire 2nd place, and more importantly, for the first time in the history of our team, we were

Section3

FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

the winning alliance at the qualifying tournament. We were the 8th-seeded team paired with the 1st-seeded team to make up an alliance. Despite being the lower seeded team, we helped our partner significantly and scoredmorepointseachmatch.Whilewe greatly appreciated their help, what this experience showed me is that the competence of a robot is not defined by its seed number. Once you make it past the qualification matches, it’s a new beginning, and it’s a freshopportunitytotakethegameunderyour control.

But the biggest lessons from this season for me was the time between our second qualifying tournament and the State Championship. For one, Ayush, a close friend of mine, and Iwere not satisfied with the robot design we had. We wanted to completely change the design before the State Championship to what would arguably be more efficient, but we waited to make a decision until we only had 3 weeks remaining until the day of the competition. If we took apart the robot, we only had 3 weeks to rebuild it with the new design, code new autonomous programs, and give drivers sufficient time to practice. Without thinking this through, Ayush and I took apart the robot in a couple hours. But one thing is important: destruction is easy, construction is hard. Moreover, we did not take the seriousness of the situation into account as taking apart the robot could have numerous ramifications on the chances of our new robot performing well. ThepicturebelowconcurswiththestatementIjustmade.

immature choice, we did notmakeanyprogresswiththerobotand set our team back by a week. And while I do regret the choicewe made, only after the issue escalated to this level did I learn an importantlesson:tothinkbeforeacting.

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

We ended up taking the exact same robot to the State Championship, and while we did make it past the qualification matches, we came back home with no awards. Not even a 3rd place in any of the categories. And this deeply hurteverymember of theteam.Forme,therewerenowonly2moreseasonstogetmy team back to the World Championship. I understoodthattheclock was winding down for me to deliver a positive response to the question I posed at the end of the previous chapter (Would Ink & Metal be back to the World Championship, and what role would I play in getting the team there, if at all?). But our loss did help me learnmorevaluablelessons.

Change, albeit difficult, is necessary. Keeping the robotdesignthe exact same between competitionsisnotthewaytogo.Whileother teams wereimproving,wewerestayingatthesamespotwestarted at. The iterative design process does not allow for teams to be satisfied with their robot at any given point. There isalwaysroom for improvement, and it's our job as roboticists to continually find howtoimproveourproducts.

Our outreach needed to be stronger. We were a team full of members who wanted to give back to the community. We had the potential to do bigger and better outreach, and it was just a matter of unlocking the potential, which we would do in the next couple ofmonths.Andtheideaofunlockingpotentialgoesfarbeyondour team’s outreach. It applies to a team member’s performance as well. When I saw my brother and Francis working late at night in the garage in the Rover Ruckus season, I thought to myself that I could never work as hard as them. My sleepless nights forFTCin

Section3|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

theSkyStoneseasonsayotherwise,buteveryonehasthatpotential to work hard for something they’re passionate about within them. It’s simply just a matter of finding the activity that helps you unlock it. For me, that activitywasFTC,andformanyofyou,I’m sure robotics can be that activity. If or when you have a moment about how passionate you are about robotics or another activity, that is when you’ll find a new animalinsideyouthatworksharder thaneverbeforetoreachyourultimategoal.

And might I say that’s a fitting transitionformetowriteaboutmy favoriteseasonoverthecourseoffouryears—UltimateGoal.

4“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you ” Fred DeVito

“Art is making something better without knowing what better is until you make it.” Walter Darby Bannard

“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

March8,2020:ThedayoftheSkyStoneStateChampionship.

March13,2020:ThedayIwasmadethecaptainoftheteam.

People generally say when something bad happens, something good is tofollow.Iguessthisisanexampleofthatstatementbeing true, but I do wish we had won in Sky Stone along with me becoming captain. However, by that point, I had to put our losses behind me and takeonthisjourneywithanew,freshmindset.And a season that started in March 2020 did not end until May 2021, and I am forever grateful to have led this team in the longestFTC seasonofalltime.

We can all agree 2020 and2021wereprettyweirdyears.InMarch 2020, our school shut down, and I completed the rest of my sophomore year online. While we thought the situation with COVID-19 would get better by the end of summer, it only got worse, and my entire junior year was online as well. As COVID

4

FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

got worse and worse, I could only think about one thing: the consequencesthatthepandemicwouldhaveonFTC.

We worked that offseason from March to September like none other. Although the pandemic paved the way for more outreach opportunities, our team was severely limited by the pandemic because most members could not attend in-person meetings. In Rover Ruckus, we were rock and rolling with 15 people attending meetings. As I said, in Sky Stone, we only had 10 people due to the seniors’ lackluster contributions. And with the unfortunate introduction of COVID-19 into our universe, we had a mere 5 people come in-person while the rest were working online solely. But I embraced the situation, hoping to make the best out of what seemedlikeyetanotherdeadend.

Starting April, we led a coding and engineering camp for sixteen weeks that attracted a large audience—over 50 students. Due to COVID, there was a shortage of such classes since many tutoring organizations had shut down, so we seized this opening. We charged a small fee for these classes (5 dollarsperhour),andwith somanystudentsattendingtheclass,theprofitswerenorthof8000 dollars. Following the road of engineering and coding classes led to multiple avenues afterwards. For one, we donated $5,320tothe Alameda County CommunityFoodBank,whowasstrugglingwith giving out meals to the community after the increase in the length of the lines once the pandemic hit. In addition, we open-sourced the curriculum wecreatedfortheclassesonourwebsiteandsentit to over 15 schools in India, providing over 30,000 students internationally with access to STEM curriculum. Finally, with around five students excelling intheclasses,weworkedwiththem

Section4|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

to design a board game that would educate people about COVID-19 and eventually donated 20 board games to a local daycare to teach students about the effects of the pandemic and sanitaryhabits.

Presenting$5,320ChecktoACCFB

This is an example of one outreach idea splitting into three more outreach events that were all of high quality. But as people who wanted to help the community, we did not end our offseason outreach there. We 3D-printed 100 face shields and 80 door openers, donating them to Washington Hospital to limitthespread of COVID-19 in acontact-heavylocation.Andasbusyaswewere doing outreach in these months before the season started, we took on the challenge of designing a custom chassis. In previous years, we had always bought a kit, usually off of AndyMark or

Section4|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

goBILDA. However determined to make huge jump in the functionality fit customcomponent.

Just based on the offseason, whether or not we would end up advancing to the World Championship, I knew this would be my favoriteyear.

During distance learning, school would start at 9 AM andendat2 PM. I’d get on FaceTime with two of my close friends and teammates—Ayush and Vishwa—at 10:20 AM every single day, and we’d talk about FTC-related action items from 10:20 AM all the way until 1 or 2 AM in the night. Sometimes, it wouldn’t always be doing FTC-related work, butwe’dtalkaboutthingsthat would end up benefiting the team. For example, once we made a five-page fundraising plan for ways to make money for the team.

FaceShields,DoorOpeners,&CustomChassisinGarage

Section4

FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

None ofthoseideaswereeverexecuted,butwewerealwaystrying tomaketheteambetterandachieveourfinalgoal. During the season, we continued doing more outreach and were occupied with building a robot for the challenge. When Ifirstsaw the video of the challenge, I remember calling Ayush and telling him “I have no clue how we’re going to do this,” and he was as confused as me at the time.Butyoumighthearmesaythisalotin this chapter, but in the Ultimate Goal season, we were on a mission. We were not ready to be stopped. Not ready to accept defeat. Not ready to come back home with no awards. (Yes, I’m just saying the same thing in different ways because I need to conveythatwewereonamission.)

The main issue with us getting the robotdoneontimewasthatwe onlyhad1persononourteamwhocouldCAD.AndhespentALL the time in the world that he possibly could in getting our robot’s CAD done for each competition, but it was still a hefty load for him to carry. Unfortunately,hecouldnotparticipateinwritingpart of this book, so a special shoutout to him—Nishanth Allam. Ultimate Goal was the first year we followed a proper, iterative design process, where we prototyped first, then 3D modeled our robot,builtandtesteditin-person,andmadethenecessarychanges toimproveitsperformance.

Ayush, Vishwa, Nishanth, and I poured in hundreds of hours of effort each and every month, and around October, we learned that competitions would be held remotely. The pandemic continued to affect us, and we assumed this would be the case for the majority of the year but prayed that if we did qualify for the World Championship, it would be held in-person in Houston. Our first

Section4|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

competition was in late February, and for some reason, no matter how hard we tried, we were unable to getaworkingrobotintime. The robot was mechanically ready two nights before the competition, and this only left two days to do the coding for the autonomous period. From this experience, here’s an extremely important lesson: code requires time, and for any hope at success, the mechanical branch needs to plan far in advance to leave code sufficient time. Inourfirstqualifyingtournamentoftheseason,we did not qualify for the State Championship, and we spent the next night immediately discussing ways to improve for our next competitionamonthlaterinMarch.

Robot1.0

We obviously needed to find a way to plan better to avoid procrastination and to leave code more time as mentioned previously. And that’s where strategic planning came in. In my

Section4|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-Rahul

Ravi

opinion, every team should practice strategic planning, and it will boost their productivity significantly. Through strategic planning, at the start of every month, each branch of the team plans every meeting they will hold inthatmonthandmakeageneraloutlineof what they will do in each meeting. This assisted the mechanical branch because with a plan to follow and meeting the deadline each day, it was inevitable thatcodewouldhavetimetoworkwith the robot. Each member of the branch would then fill out the spreadsheet with a green or red cell to notify the captain of the branch whether or not they could come to that particular meeting. This way, captains could change or cancel meetings if attendance was especially low, and they could also start the meetings withno delaybecausethegoalforthemeetingwasalreadyset.

ExampleofStrategicPlanningSpreadsheet

Strategic planning was a game changer for us, andunderstandably so, we were more prepared for the second competition. I had around oneweektocodetherobotthistime,andusingRoadrunner to implement three-wheel odometry, the efficient andhigh-scoring output of the autonomous programs surprised me. On March 28, 2021, we won the Inspire 1st place award at our qualifying tournament, advancing us to the State Championship. The Inspire 1st place award is the highest ranking achievement a team can receive at any competition, and this being the first time our team

IsForDiscovery-Rahul

Ravi

won the award, I was extremely proud of what we had accomplished, sleeping well that night after an average of only 3 hoursofsleepperdaythepreviousweek.

Although we had already advanced to the State Championship in our second qualifying tournament, we competed in a third competition to gauge the competition level and more importantly, have fun. A few of my teammates stayed the night at my house before we were going to record our matches for the third competition, and they went to sleep with an autonomous that was not working. I told them that since this competition does not matter, I didn’t want to waste my time coding an autonomous or losing valuable sleep. But when they woke up, a high-scoring autonomous was ready for all of the paths. I truly enjoyed what I was doing. I am and was extremely passionate about robotics,and therewasnowayIwaslettinganopportunitytogetmorehands-on experience with coding a robot slide. And the hard work paid off—that competition,wewerethehighestrankedteamintermsof our robot, yet another accomplishment of our team’s for the first time.

Section4|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Robot2.0

The changes between the first and second robot versions were drastic, and it is importanttobereadytomakechanges,something we learnedinSkyStone.Itisessentialtofollowthedesignprocess over and over again until you are satisfiedwiththerobotyouhave built and coded. But like I have said before, there will always be roomforimprovement,andthatiswhatyoushouldseize.

Afterourthirdcompetition,wereceivedheartbreakingnews.News that took me and my teammates forever to contemplate. Even today, I struggle to think about it sometimes. I was eating lunch during distance learning while on FaceTime with Ayush and Vishwa,andanemailhitmyinboxabouttheWorldChampionship. FIRST had announced that it would be canceled for the Ultimate Goal season due to the pandemic. Of course, the State Championship hadn’t taken place yet, so we didn’t know by that

Section4

FIRST

IsForDiscovery-Rahul

Ravi

point if that news even affected us. But we were still heartbroken because a big reason for our motivation was to compete in Houston.

We didn’t let that news deter us from trying our best in the State Championship that was coming up in two weeks. We preparedfor our judging interview like never before, made mechanical adjustments to the utmost precision, and tested our autonomous programs untilwehadcompleteconfidenceinwhatwehaddone.I got no sleep on the night of April 29th and 30th because of the amount of pending work that remainedonourrobot,outreach,and portfolio, but on May 1st,afterourjudginginterviewandmatches, there was nothing else to do but wait until the award ceremony. Working off of absolutelynosleepoverthecourseof3days,Iwas unbelievably tired and hungry. The Domino’s Pizzathatoneofthe parents dropped off for us disappeared quickly as Ayush, Vishwa, andIgobbledeachsliceinamatterofminutes.

And the awardceremonythatwasscheduledtobeginat6PMonly started at 6:20 PM. Most of the team assembledatmygarage,and our hearts were racing. As each team was called for an award, we were hoping it would be us as that would mean we performed better in the State Championship in Ultimate Goal than in Sky Stone—a clear sign of improvement. We were through 80%ofthe award ceremony, and having still received no awards, we had all started to get disappointed. We hoped to be one of the top ranked teams based on robot performance, but we were only eighth. And finally, the emcee was ready to announce the winners of the prestigious Inspire Award. My heart was pounding as these winnerswerebeingannouncedasitwasourlasthope.

TheInspire3rdplace……………………….Innov8rz.

Only2awardsleft.

TheInspire2ndplace………………………HypercubeRobotics.

Groans filled the garage. Confidence gone that we would win anythingatall.Only1awardleft.ThecovetedInspire1stplace.

“And here’s what the judges have to say about our Northern California Inspire Award winners. They donated to charity and open-source. They CAD-ded their robot and offer a crash course. Their automated metal makes them a force, with a thorough sustainability plan we happily endorse, and relationships with many FIRST teams reinforce. The Inspire Award is presented to team 5773 Ink and Metal from Fremont.”

The paragraph I just typed up is what the emcee said about us before presenting us the award at the ceremony. Each and every word is ingrained in my brain, and I typed it up purely from memory. Each time I watch the video of how we reacted to the announcements, I still get goosebumps. It takes me back to each andeverymomentofjunioryear,ayearI’llneverforget.

But back to the reaction: I hugged the person closest to me in the garage and opened the garage door. Before the door was even completely open, we all ran outside and kept running back and forthonthestreetuntilwewereoutofbreath.

Section4|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

It took over 2 hours to process what we had accomplished, and once it finally settled in, we realizedthatdespitewinningtheState Championship, we would still not be competinginHoustondueto the World Championship’s cancellation. If we had not been stuck in the paranoia that COVID-19 developed, we wouldhavebeenin Houstonthenextmonth.

Yet again, I bring back the question posed attheendofChapter2: Would Ink & Metal be back totheWorldChampionship,andwhat role would I play in getting the team there, if at all? Despite qualifying for the World Championship,wedidnotgotoHouston, and so for me, at least,theanswertothisquestionremainedahard “no.” But IwasproudofmyleadershipskillsandwhereIwasable to take thisteamasthecaptain.Theprocessmayseemsmooth,but no number of pages in this bookcandescribehowdifficultvictory was to achieve. One has to be a part of the process to understand the value and power of victory and knowledge. And I hope my story of my Ultimate Goal season encourages you to be a part of theprocess,andtooneday,becomethechampionsofyourstate.

1 more season. 1 more chance to go to Houston for the World Championshipinamorenormalyear.Whatwillhappen?

Get ready to finally find the answer to thequestionwehaveposed forsolong.Getreadyforthisfrenzy.

5“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of ” Bruce Lee

“Not too many people could walk a mile in your shoes. Only you know your struggles, challenges, and obstacles; so be proud of how far you have come. ” - Edmond Mbiaka

“These things happen. It is not the end of the world.” Geraldine McCaughrean

With the storm of the Freight Frenzy offseason marching uponus, we let the offseason rain down on us in what we like to call a “3-month hiatus.” Other than running coding and engineering classes again, we did no new, unique outreach events, and only when school was starting again did we realizethattheoffseasonis extremely valuable time, and we just did not make use of it this year. But despite a slow start, I was determined to not let a weak beginning result in aweakending.Keepinmindthattheoffseason is THREE months where you do not have to worry about academics,anditisinyourhandstomakethebestofit.

On the day of kickoff,wespenttheentiredaybrainstorming,andI finally felt like we were a full team with everyone attending the kickoff event at my garage. No team had ever won Inspire 1st at the State Championship twoyearsinarow,butIthoughttomyself everyday,whycouldn’twebethefirst?

Section5|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Here’s where we gettoanembarrassingbutimportantstory.Itwas around the startofOctober,andasasenior,Ihadthreemainthings going on: academics, college applications, and of course,FTC.As mentioned previously, there was no way Iwasgoingtobeasenior thatdidnotdoworkbecauseIknewhowfrustratingandinfluential (in a negative sense) that could be for younger members of the team. With the deadlineforcollegeapplicationscreepinguponme and other team members not attending and contributing in meetings as frequentlyastheyshouldhave,Icontemplatedleaving the team. I had sent a message in our Slack workspace and everything because frustration had finally sentmeovermytipping point: I just could not handle the amount of work I had to do for the team anymore. And so that’s when my dad finally stepped in. In the four years I had been doing FTC, althoughmydadwasthe designated coach for the team on the FIRST dashboard, he had only stepped in for the financial aspect because he knewwecould besuccessfulasafullystudent-ledteam.

So he met with the team for a few hours to understand what the overallissuewasandtoldmethefollowinginthelivingroom: Just try your best. If you make it to Worlds, you make it. And if you don’t make it, you did everything that you could. And if Worlds is one of your primary driving factors behind FTC, allofyoushould keepwhat’sitalicizedinmindaswell. And so from there on out, I realized that IshoulddothebestIcan do and as much work as I can do while leading my teammates in the best direction possible. At the end of the day, we’ll know the results in early March, and I should have done enough to be satisfiedwithmyself,mywork,andmyworkethicbythatpoint.

Section5|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Early December was our firstcompetition,andyetagain,therobot was mechanically ready only one night before competition day because our design was too complicated. EVERY mechanism was on linear slides, and that was a clear-cut recipe for disaster. I did my best to code anautonomousinafewhours,butIwasonlyable togetthebluesideautonomoussuccessfullydone.Consideringour team’s horrible luck at competitions,fourofourfivematcheswere on the red side, soourautonomousbarelyscored.Withnotimefor drivers’ practice, the team suggested I drive because I knew what the controls on the controller were, having coded it the night before. As you can expect, with an excessively complicatedrobot, low-scoring autonomous, lack of drivers’ practice, and zero sleep the previous night, the competition did not go well. Below are a couplepicturestakenbyFrancisatthecompetition.

AutonomousatCompetition

Section5|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Despite our horrible robot performance, we won the Inspire 3rd place award, but that was not enough to qualify for the State Championship. And it would all come down to the second competition because this year, we only had 2chancestoqualifyto States due toCOVID-19budgetcuts(yes,thecoronaviruswasstill haunting me in my final year in FTC). But twothingscameoutof my experience in this competition. For one, we learned that in initial competitions, weshouldkeeptherobotsimpleandnottryto have it do everything. Eachcompetition,wecanimprovetherobot as we move from iteration to iteration, but at the very least, we should start off fairly simple, and in the future, we need to strike thatbalance.Andfortwo,agreatteampicture!

TeamPictureatDecemberCompetition

Byoursecondcompetition,wehadcompletelyredesignedour robot,andwehadtimetocodeacompetentautonomous.Wewere

IsForDiscovery-Rahul

Ravi

proudofwhatwewereenteringthecompetitionwith,andwewere confidentinourabilitytoadvance(somuchsothatAyush,Preet, andIwenttothemalltobuymatchingflannelsthepreviousnight). Igot7hoursofsleepthenightbefore,andweevenhadtimeto stopat Chick-Fil-Ainthemorning!Takeamomenttoreflectand seehowmuchlesshecticthissoundsthantheprevious competition,wheretherewasjustnosleepandnotimetocode.

Thesecondcompetitionwentmuchmoresmoothly,fromour judgingpresentationinthemorningtoqualificationmatchesinthe afternoontoeliminationmatchesintheevening.Forthefirsttime inourteam’shistory,wewereanalliancecaptainandchoosingour allianceatacompetition,Iwashonoredtobedownnearthefield graciouslyinvitingteamstobeamemberofouralliance.Andsoon afteritallended,wewerethewinningalliancecaptainatthe Folsomcompetition,yetanotherfirstforourteam.AndI’llnever forgetthatmomentthescoresreleasedforthefinalmatch,norwill IforgettheteamdinnerthatnightatBurmaBurma,atwhichweall hadablast.Andwhatcameoutofthiscompetitionwasnotonlya tickettotheStateChampionshipbutalsomyfavoriteteampicture.

Section5|FIRSTⓇ IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

MyFavoriteTeamPicture

Fast forward to the State Championship, where we essentiallyhad a lightweight version of our robot from the previous competition, an autonomous that was twiceasefficientasourpreviousone,and outreach expanded upon from the previous year. Due to COVID, only 3 teams would make it to the World Championship this year (on the bright side, at least it did not get canceled!). Sothismeant we had to win Inspire 1st, Inspire 2nd, or Winning Alliance Captain—a pretty selective group. We successfully made it to the finals of our division, but in both matches in the best of 3, the opposing alliance played heavy defense on us, for which we were not prepared. Our alliance partners also received penalties for certain illegal actions. And if it were not for the penalties, we likely would have made it to the finals of the entire competition. The only way to avoid penalties is to read the game manual

Section5|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-Rahul

Ravi

carefully, and the drivers must put what they read into practice.In addition, as I mentioned, we were not ready for the defense that was played because of our not-so-wide chassis, so when the challenge comes out, don’t overlook any part of it. For instance, going over the barrier was an integral part of Freight Frenzy, but our team overlooked itasunnecessary,anditcametobiteusinthe end.

But we still had hope for Inspire 1st or Inspire 2nd place, and we had won nothing until the Inspire Awards were about to be announced—the same case as last year. My heartwaspoundingas these winners were being announced as the last four years were leadinguptothismomentformeandmyteam.

TheInspire3rdplace……………………….InkandMetal.

It was truly heartbreaking. Some team members cried. For some reason, although IhadputhoursandhoursofeffortintoFTC,Idid notcry.Iwalkedupandadmiredtherobotthatdefeatedus(respect to MSET Cuttlefish). The car ride back to my garage was silent. The next 30 minutes we spent in the garage before leaving to our homes were silent. We acted like the world had ended when it really hadn’t. The four years I did FTC, the World Championship seemed like the only thing that mattered to me. The moment my FTC career as a member of the team was officially over, Worlds seemed fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things soon enough. So it brings me back to the point: do your best, and even after that, if you don’t make it to Worlds, it’s okbecauseyoutried your best. Due to a shortage of medals that we received, Ayush,

Section5|FIRST

IsForDiscovery-RahulRavi

Championship might seem like the grand prize here, there’s a lot more to FTC than that. I learned a lot. Yes,Ilearnedtobuild.Yes, I learned to code. Yes, I learned to help the community in various ways. But more importantly, I learned to be a better person and leader. After the State Championship, when oneofmyteammate’s dad came up to me and said “Rahul, what you did this yearandat the competition was truly inspiring,” that itselfwasmorefulfilling than qualifying for Worlds would have been. And that’s the case with my FTC career and with any extracurricular activity, in my opinion. It’s about transforming into a bigger and better person morethanitisaboutwinningatrophyortwo.

6And that brings me to the conclusion of my section of the book. I hope you learned numerous lessons that you can apply to your journey in FTC, many of which I wish I had when I started participating. If you ask anyone, based on what they have read, they’ll say it was a fairly tragic ending. But the journey hasn’t endedyet.Only4yearsofitareover.Thefifthhasjustbegun.

Rover Ruckus. Sky Stone. Ultimate Goal. Freight Frenzy. Power Play.

In my fifth year in FTC, I am excited to take on this new role as both a mentor and a coach and can’t wait to participate in this robotics challengefromanentirelydifferentperspective.Whilethe hands-on role I have with the robot will be significantly lower, I believe I can excel at a supervising role. And Ink & Metal will make it to Houston again, and although I willnotbeahighschool team member, I will happily join this team that has my heart in theirjourneytoWorldsasamentor.

IsFor Impact

1My name is Vishwa Vijayasankar, a freshman majoring in Computer Science at UCSC. As a sophomore at American High School, I entered as a new recruit to the school affiliated FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team, Ink and Metal. Although most faces were new, two of my friends from freshman year, Rahul and Ayush, guided me to understand my role on the team and get involved with other members. I entered as an outreach member, specializing in coordinating events aimed towards inspiring non-STEM communities to gain exposure to STEM.However,the team that year struggled with balancing initiatives centering towards this goal and completing the robot due to the team structure which limited an outreach member’s participation in the robotandviceversa.

Under the captainship ofKaranGandhi,asenioratAmericanHigh School who had earned thenicknameasthe“SoulofOutreach”on our team,westartedoutreacheventsthatyear. Amemorableevent was one hosted in theOaklandAviationMuseumasitwasthefirst in-person event Ihadgoneto.Priortothisevent,Irecollecthaving to send multiple emails for sponsorships and grants to companies, which I did not enjoy when required to do it in a singlesitting.At the museum, we hosted a basic outreach event (a namethatwould be coined in my following year on the team)whereweshowcased our robot, explained how it works, and distributed flyers.

Section1

FIRST

IsForImpact-VishwaVijayasankar

Following this format with around twenty people, we realized improvements to enhancetheexperiencefortheattendees.Moving forward, we believed having younger audiences drive the robot would further appeal to their interest beyond them onlybeingable to watch us control the robot.Moreover,introducingtheaudiences to the procedures, even briefly, when they are in-person would persuadethemtotakeinitiativetowardsformingtheirownrobotics teamorjoininganexistingone.

Our aerospace engineering workshop near the end of that season offered a more hands-on experience for the elementary schoolers who attended, requiring them tobuildanairplaneusingstyrofoam, hot glue, rubber bands, and popsicle sticks. We had a minimal audience of only three elementary students but what I believe set this event apart from other events was the involvement we maintained with our audience. Rather than merely providing them with instructions and allowing them to complete the task, we guided them step by stepthroughthedesignprocesssotheywould be able to understand itsimplicationinsimpleprojectssuchasthis one.Attheendoftheseason,ourteamrealizedthatwehadlimited the scope of our outreach as we were unable to appeal to a wider audience and host specific events catered for the purpose of outreach. However, we were abletosavetimeduringthecourseof our season as most of our events involved the robot. While this meant reduced additional costs for outreach, it depleted us of options for unique and compelling events. As days passed and events hosted, weunderstoodtheneedtodiversifyouraudienceby havingdifferentfocusesoneachevent.

1|FIRST

IsForImpact-VishwaVijayasankar

11thgradeisarguablythemostdifficultyearofhighschoolwith multiplecollege-levelclassofferingsandstackedassignmentsbut itwasoneofthemostmemorableyearsinmylife.The2020-2021 seasonwasstructuredtobeentirelyvirtualjustasmanyschools hadshiftedtoduetothepandemic.

Beyondthesechangesandincreasedacademicpressure,Iwas excitedtotransformourteam’soutreachintoaWorldsworthy effortastheOutreachCaptain.Theinitialmeetingspassedwitha breakdownoftheawardcriteriaandareflectionoftheprevious season.Iwasquicktoincludeacriteriadetailingdifferent categoriesthatassessthequalityofanoutreachidea,including impact,audience,feasibility,anduniqueness.Outofallthese factors,Igaveutmostimportancetoimpactbecauseoutreach revolvesaroundchangingthecommunityinapositivelightwith thehelpofSTEM.Inthataspect,oureventsaredesignedtoinspire audiencesofmultipleagegroupstoturnpassionateaboutSTEM andinvolvethemselvesoutsideofattendingourevents.Although eventscanbeassimpleasteachingsuchastheEngineering& Codingclasseswehostedduringtheoffseason,ourimpact resonatesthroughtheboardgamedesignedbythestudentsto combatCOVID-19,andtheirprojectssubmittedforthe5773 DesignChallenge.

SneakPeekatourEngineeringCurriculum

Apartfromteachinginitiatives,Iaimedtoengagestudentsby offeringmorehands-onexperiencesforstudents.Theywillonly participateinSTEMoncetheyunderstandwhatisSTEMandhow itfeelstoengagewithit.Emphasizingthesetwoaspectswould appealtoanyaudienceandinterestthembyspurringtheirpassion. InadditiontoshowingthemexamplesofSTEMintherealworld, itisasimportanttoallowthemtoexperimentwithSTEMto discovertheirhiddentalents.Theinternationalroboticsclubswe formedindifferentpartsofIndiaenabledstudentstodesignand programavirtualrobotwithWeBotSimulationsusingthetopics welearnedineveryclass.Theeasyaccessibilityofthissoftware allowedforstudentstoworkonitofflinewhilewewereableto effectivelymentorthemevenfromadifferentcountry.

2Themostcrucialskillaccompanyingoutreachisadvocacy.The qualityofanideaisdeterminedbythemannerbywhichitis communicatedandthus,onemustnothesitatetosharehisorher opinionconcerningathoughtregardlessofwhatothersmaythink. Whilethismayseemobvious,itissomethingIhavestruggledwith beyondmycaptaincyposition.Theentireteamhasopposed multipleideasofmine,consistingofsomethathavesucceeded suchastheCOVID-19BoardGame,andsomethatwerenever pursuedsuchascommissioningourcurriculumtohelpfundthe season.Regardlessofwhetheritistheteamcaptainopposingyour argumentoranotherteammember,thereisnoneedtoaccepttheir pointsmerelybecausethemajorityoftheteamissupportingthem. Unlessyouareconvincedbythereasoningontheopposingside, youcanmaintainyourargumentbecauseitmayeventurninyour favorattheendoftheday.

Aproblemthatstartledourteamforasignificantportionofthe seasonwasatermknownas“doublestandard.”Itessentially referredtoteammemberschoosingtosupportonepersonover anothersimplybecauseofabias.Thisaffectedourteamdynamics butalessonIlearnedfromitwastonevergiveupeventhrough situationsthatseemimpossibletowinover.Thissoonstartedto fadeafterweunderstoodthestrengthsofoneanotherontheteam andthisledtomoreconstructivediscussionswithinbranchesand betterbondingwithoneanother.

FIRST

IsFor Inclusion

1Hi,I’mMaithili,andI’mafreshmanatUCBerkeleymajoringin mechanicalengineering.MyFTCjourneybeginsfrom9thgrade, butIguessIshouldgiveyoualittlecontextfirst.Myparentsare bothsoftwareengineersandIdidateenytinybitofrobotics afterschoolin5thgrade.Inthatsense,IwasexposedtoSTEMand especiallyprogrammingsinceIwaslittle.Luckilyforme,STEM seemedrightformealmostimmediately.Ilikedusingmybrainto thinkthroughtoughproblemsandIwas*fairly*goodatittoo. WhenItriedcoding,asfrustratingasitwas,Ilikedgettingstuck andspendingmytimeworkingthroughaproblemuntilIfoundthe rightanswer.Iwasalsoabletoruleoutbiologyandtheotherlife sciencesprettyquicklyafter:

1. Seeing my sister’s AP Bio textbook with size 10 font *shudder*

2. Taking a Biotechnology class over summer withoutfeeling anyrealexcitement **(please note that this is an oversimplification of my thought processes and each person has a unique path to figuring out what theylikeanddon’tlike).

SO. That brings me to 9th grade when I heard there were tryouts for the school robotics team. Someone told me the info session was happeningafterschoolsoIthoughttomyself#whynot (Ayush saysthisallthetimeandnowIuseittoo:[]help).Iwalked through some intense heat to the garage where the info session was. When I got there, I waited a while, listened to what theyhad

Section1|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

to say, and didn’t really comprehend much. All I knew was that there was gonna be a tryout where wehadtodesignsomethingfor a specific set of constraints they would give us and whatever you do, “DON’T DESIGN A CLAW”. When the day rolled around, I went there, watched the challenge video and drew an intake that I can best describe as a pair of tongs. No, legitimately, it was a glorifiedpairoftongs.Iwalkedoutwith0expectations.Afterall,I was just there for funsies. If I got in, I would get to learn a lot of newthingsandifIdidn't,ohwell.

ThedaycamewhenresultswereannouncedandIwassittingatmy desk. I saw a Facebook notification and there I was, on the team! At first, I obviously thought they made a mistake. Then, I called my dadandasked,“WhatdoIdonow?”Soyeah,Ijoinedtheteam :DD

2It’s important to alsoknowthat9thgrademerarelyusedFacebook Messenger, and unfortunately, that was the primary mode of communication for our team. Soooooooo when the message about our first meeting was sent out, I did NOT see it. I only figured it out when a teammate’s mom was talking to my mom and asked why I wasn’t at the meeting. I felt absolutely terrible. I was SUPER embarrassed and thought theothermemberswouldthinkI wasn’tdedicated.Iwroteaheartfeltapologyinthemessengerchat, explaining myself and saying I would never repeat the mistake again. Funnily enough, I soon realized that the team was VERY CHILL and did not care in the slightestaboutperfectattendance.I guess the lesson here is, I hope you don’t beat yourself up for the mistakes you make. Yes, try your best to minimize your mistakes, butsometimes,it’sreallynotasbadasyouimagine.

Freshman year went by inablur.Atthetime,ourteamwas…nota very competitive team. We met once a week (every Friday afterschool) and worked on our robot. We then grinded for a couple days when there was a competition since nothingwouldbe finished. Not to mention, our outreach efforts were nonexistent. Needless to say, the amount of work we put into our team was clearly reflected in our awards. However, a series of fortunate events (haha book reference) changed the course of our team forever *cue dramatic music.* We hostedaqualifyingcompetition

Section2|FIRSTⓇ IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

at our high school where much of what I did included arbitrarily inflating the price ofdonuts(I’msorrytothekidwhopaid$5fora donut) and resetting the field. However, in hosting this competition,wewereabletoautomaticallyadvancetostates.From there, we appliedforthelotteryandsuddenly,wewereinHouston, participating in Worlds! Bet you didn’t see thatcominghuh?Even though we all crazy to bein the huge convention by the really competitiveteamsthere.

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

After Worlds, something slightly shifted inourteamandwebegan to become a *little* more serious about going back to Houston. Although at that point Houston wasn’t an official goal, we did begin to think about ways in which we could get more organized and become a competitive team. And with that new resolution camethestartofacrazyjourney.

3Let metellyouastory.Originally,whenIjoinedtheteamIwanted to learn more about mechanical engineering and robotics since it was new to me. But I assumed I would eventually do code since that was what I hadexperiencewithandIwas*mostlikely*going to study CS in college. By the end of freshman year, it was announced that I would be doing code along with Aryan and Rahul. IwasstillnotthemostcomfortableontheteamsoInodded stoically, but was secretly pleased. Eventually, Aryan began to code while I mainly stayed in the garage and watched the mechanical subteam work, silently trying to learn what was going on. And then, there was a day that confirmed the death of my CS career.

I was sitting on the pelican case when Aryan asked Rahul to grab his laptopsotheycouldstartcoding.IlockedeyeswithAryan.My inner voice urged me to open my mouth, to just say four words, “Can I help too?” But no, I broke eye contact and an unspoken agreement passed between me and Aryan. ThatwasthedayIgave up on coding for the team. Not because I didn’t want to do it, but becauseIwastooafraidtoask.

Eventually, my dadbeganquestioningwhyIwasn’tdoingcodefor the team. After all, he assumed that was what I wanted to do, and at the time, it was what I wanted todo.Idodgedthequestionuntil finally, I had to come clean. I simply told him thatIdidn’tthinkit

FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

would happen. That day, I got the lecturing of the century. The thing is, I don’t blame my dad. He was completely right.Iwanted to do code and Ididn’tspeakupformyself.Doingcodeversusnot doing code would have a huge impact on the experiences Igained on the team, how I applied for other opportunities,andeventually, how I applied for college. ThetearsIhadbeenholdingbackforso long came flooding out and I cried in the backseat of the car, hearing not only my dad’s disappointment but also the disappointment I had in myself. Why couldn’t I have just spoken up?

There’s a LOT I learned from this experience. For one, it’s SO important to speak up for yourself when you have to. You are in charge of your own learning, and while you can get help, the responsibility is ultimately on your shoulders. Yes, it will be hard to learn how tospeakupifyouaren’tusedtoit.Yes,itwillrequire putting yourself out there and taking a risk. But at the end of the day, you shouldn’t let opportunities pass you by and fill yourself withregret.Onamorepositivenote,thisexperiencetaughtmethat almost everything has asilverlining.Ididn’tendupcodingforthe team. But because of that, I became more involved in the mechanical aspect. And slowly, but surely, I grew to love the mechanical aspect of robotics, way more than I have ever loved coding. And now, here I am, writing this as a Mechanical Engineeringmajor:D

4It seems about time to maybe address the elephant in the room. I was, at most times, one of the few girls on the team. Therefore, I would argue that I had a unique experience. When I originally joined the team, there were roughly 17 people on/related to the team, and I was one of the 3 girls. To begin, I had never really worked with a group of mostly guys. Whether it was group projects, friend groups, or extracurriculars, I was always surrounded by girls. That meant that for me, regardless of the personalities of the others, I was already not as comfortable as I would have been on a team of all girls. And for me, that heavily influenced how willing Iwastoaskquestionsandcontributetothe team.

I was already somewhat shy, and Iwasterrifiedofpeoplethinking I was dumb or judging me. To some extent, I still have the same fears. But I realized that without asking questions and putting yourself out there, you won’t be able to learn quite as much. Sometimes, you have to take risks and ignore what other people think in order to help yourself. WhenIlookattherestoftheteam, I see people who boldly throw their ideas out. Even if they’re wrong and people laugh at them, they never stop asking questions and contributing. If they can do it, so can I and so can you. Confidence! (Also, being on a team withpeoplewithbackgrounds different than mine taught mewaymorethanIwouldhavelearned ifIwascomfortablyworkingonateamofallgirls).

Section4|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

The other main point I want to make is that the combination of being a minority in a group and being the one with the least experiencecanbeverydifficulttonavigate.Itcanattimesfeellike you aren’t as smart or as good as otherpeoplesimplybecauseyou are different or have less experience. For me, the solution should have been to work hard to gain the experience, since that was withinmycontrol(moreaboutthatinthenextsection).

5This is a lesson that I learned only at the end of senior year, and one I wished I started practicing A LOT earlier. I realized that I forgot to do the most important thing that would help me find a better place on the team: work hard. Yes, I was at a disadvantage since I came onto the team with no experience. Yes, I was at a disadvantage because I was in an environment where I was much less comfortable than the others there. But, there was a solution that I didn’t attempt, and that was to put in the extra worktoeven theplayingfield.

If I had spent the extra time to learn more about FTC and to increase my knowledge, then I wouldhavebeenmoreconfidentin my abilities and knowledge, and therefore, more willing to contribute todiscussions.(Thinkaboutpreparingforapresentation versus not preparing; preparing usually makes you more comfortable and confident). While experienceisarguablythemost useful asset to have, pure knowledge foundbywatchingvideoson Youtube, researching parts, or even CADding on my own would have greatly increased what I could bring totheteam.Idon’thave much else to say because I am still working on being more productive and efficient. All I know is that I think I would have had a much more enjoyable experience on the team if I had cut down the time I spent doing things I didn’t care about (like scrolling through Youtube) and spent more time putting in the worktolearn.

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

**NOTE: This is a complex topic that definitely requires balance. Scrolling on Youtube is perfectly fine, especially whenyouneeda break. By no means would I completely stop having meaningless fun. However, when workingtowardagoalortryingtocatchupto others who are already ahead, there are times when I need to put my head down and put in the time and effort to do what I want to do. And often, I find that once I start learning about something, I really enjoy going down rabbit holes! Like learning about a centrifugal clutch or what voltage really means. Taking the first step is always the hardest, but I’m glad that I’m slowly getting betterattakingthatstep.

And before I finish writing this part I have to say, this lesson is ESPECIALLY influenced by the people around me. My grandparents andparentsworkincrediblyhard;they’resomeofthe most selfless people I know. I also have to give a lot of credit to Ayush andRahul.Myparentsandgrandparentsaremybiggestrole models, but to see someone your own age work as hard as Rahul and Ayush is inspiring (yes I’m being very cheesy). The only reason why I started to cut down on my social media andbemore productive is because I realized how hard they worked. If y’all readthis,youguysaresupercoolB)

6Well, I put off writing this section as long as possible because to this day,itbringsbackalotof…notsogreatemotions.But,Iguess it’s important for me to write it down because I learned a lotfrom the experiences. As you’ll be able to tell very soon, my experiences during Ultimate Goal were vastly different from the other alumni in this book. While the others will probably say that Ultimate Goal was their favorite season, for me, it was the worst. So,let’sgetstarted,shallwe?

Ah– the world of team dynamics. Avery,verycomplexworldthat I still don’t completely have figured out and probably never will. There are hundreds of thousands of books on team dynamics and leadership, but I’lljustsharemyexperiencesbecausemaybeitwill resonatewithsomeonewhoreadsthis.

It’s hard to find a place to start on this topic. By the beginning of my junior year, our team had shifted intobeingaverycompetitive team requiring each team member to work hours everyday. This shift was the first major cause of issues I faced for a reason that I didn’t realize until 6 months later: we had different goals. While many otherteammemberswereintentongettingtoWorlds(asI’m sure you will be able to tell from reading the other alumni’s perspectives), I honestly didn’t care that much. School was my number one priority and I didn’t feel the same desire to win and

Inclusion

-MaithiliKumar

advance, especially if it required that I had to lose sleep and sacrificeonmyotheractivities.

This key difference in our goals led to strongly opposing stances on how the team should be run, what time commitment should be expected, and more. For instance, when trying to get the best chance to win at a competition, a team may need to sacrifice on training new recruits, because new recruits will require extra time and practice before they produce competition level ideas. Furthermore, the time that was expected of each member was vastly different based on the goal. (My dad always tells me that I have to work according to what my end goal is. If your goal is to have a 4.0 GPA, then you may have to work harder than if your goal was a 3.5 GPA. Both goals are valid and acceptable, youjust can’t expecttoworklessandachieveadifferentresult).Something else that definitelydidnothelpwasthefactthatIwasn’tabletogo in person due to the pandemic. While I went once or twice in the beginning of the season, I couldn’t justify going outtodorobotics while others were quarantining and doing their part to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.Ontopofthat,Ineededtolookoutfor myparentsandotherswhoIknewIwouldbeincontactwith.

Being online created a huge gap between me and the people in person. For one, FTC just wasn’t fun for me. The thing is, Ayush, Rahul, and Vishwa are best friends. I didn’t have anyone I was very close with on the team. For me, everyone was “just a teammate” or a “somewhat friend” whereas they were basically family. Watching members in person goofing off and reducing meeting efficiency while Iwasstuckstaringatanonlinescreenfor 14+ hours a day didn’t make me feel good about the time I was

Section6|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

spending for FTC. Since only a single member CADded and I thought I didn’t have enough experience to make critiques, it felt like I was wastingtime:neithercontributingtoFTCnorbeingable todoschoolwork.

It didn’t help that we had a lot of debates about everything from what theme for a slides presentation to overarching goals for our robot. In particular, I remember team meetings being especially lengthy. We would start at 10 AM,hopingtofinishinanhour.But pretty soon, debates would occur so that the team meeting would lastlongerandlonger,pastlunchto1PMormore.

Why did I stick around, you might ask? There were definitely many many times when I wanted to just give up and quit. But, I still loved robotics. I enjoyed designing and making mechanisms and doing outreach. When we were playing Avalon (board game) or making jokes after a meeting ended, I had a lot of fun and enjoyedspendingtimewithmyteammates.

7Considering all these factors, it’s clear howourteamdynamicwas quite complex. We had starkly different opinions that led to numerous arguments. On top of that, we had different methods of communication. I had always been around polite people who generally chose their words very carefully. To now be in an environment where blunt honestywasthenormwasahugeculture shock.Forthoseofyoureadingthis,Ihopethatyouareabletoself reflect and understand when you have differences in communication styles. With this knowledge, it can become easier to understand how someone’s words affectyouorhowyourwords affect someoneelse.Mysolutiontodifferentcommunicationstyles was twofold. For one, I changed my mindset to understand that others’ words shouldn’t affect my belief in my abilities. Secondly, I simply developed thicker skin and realized that I shouldn’t alwaystakethesewordsanddebatestooseriously.

So differentopinionsanddifferentcommunicationstyles.Thefinal component wasthatIwasanextremelyidealisticperson,andallof us were stubborn. I wanted the team to be a place without these debates, where all of us coexisted peacefully. However, that is nearly impossible to do when individuals have different goals. If the foundation of your team is already shaky, then it’s nearly impossible to have a stable dynamic. Iwassoconcretelysetinmy

7|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

ideas that everyone should have an equal say in our decisions and that we should follow every single unspoken rule to the smallest detail.Forinstance,whenitcametopublicizing,Ihatedtheideaof reaching out through personal connections or spam emailing because itfeltlikeusingpeople.Oneoption(utilizingconnections) will yield good results for turnout, but I didn’t feel right to constantly ask my friends to do me favors. This was just one of manypointsofcontention.

There are a couple takeaways from this. For one, my self-righteousness blinded me from seeing that I was being just as close-minded as the people who I didn’t agree with. Being open-minded means that when you are so sure that you are right, you must stop andreallyconsiderotherpeople’sperspectives.And by consider, I don’t mean on a superficial level. Youcan’tjustsay “I understand that you feel this, but…” and continue with your argument. Instead, really think about whatyouaresayingandhow it applies in a non-ideal world. One of complex feelings and dynamics and very morally gray areas. Of course, if something is so fundamental to your core beliefs, youshouldn’tcompromiseon it. But for other issues, pick your battles wisely. Sometimes, you have to give up on some things for the sake of a team, and that’s okay. Your name is part of the team, but you are not the team. At the end of the day, your options will be to either compromise, get your way, or leave the team. So pick your battles based on where you stand. HadIjustletsomethingsslide,Iwouldn’thavebeenso mentallyexhaustedorfrustrated.

All of this came to a head around AP testing, when I was kindly informed that I had a month to provemyselforIwouldgetkicked

7|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

off the team.Great.ItwastruethatIdidn’tputinasmucheffortas everyone else, but the feeling was not a good one. To begin, I didn’t tell anyone about this ultimatum, not my parents, not my friends, not my sister (I still haven’t told them). It was embarrassing for me. It’s still embarrassing to write about. Atthat point, part of me really wanted to quit, to save myself from the humiliation of being “kicked off” and to just leave with whatever dignityIhadleft.But,somethingtoldmetostickwithitandtojust push for a little longer. After all, I only had onemoreyeartogo,I could suffer through it right? Even if my motivations were a little twisted,IamsogladIpushedthrough.

I began to putinmoreeffortinordertoprovemyself.Whatstarted as forcing myself to go to meetings became looking forward to meetings as I got closer with the small group of members I was working with. Eventually, I was in the clear, and I was slowly on thepathtoonceagainenjoyingFTC.

8That brings metosenioryear.Thefirstpartofsenioryear(upuntil around November) was riddledwithargumentsstemmingfromthe past season. At some point, however,webegantohaveanewstart (my theory is that we were all tired of arguing haha). We all mellowed out and began to become more reasonable. Slowly, we workedtogether.

When we onboarded new recruits, they were like a breathoffresh air. It was amazing to see people who were so passionate and had so much fun with FTC. ItfeltlikeseeingthepersonIwantedtobe in my freshman year. On top of that, I was finally able to comein person!! That made a HUGE difference. I could actually make friendsandenjoythetimeIwasspendingforFTC.

KickoffwiththeNewRecruits

FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

Toward January to March, I had some ofthebesttimesever.Iwas able to spend a lot of my time at the garage, especially since college application season had finished. I continued to grow close with the members andIoveralljusthadsomuchfun.Lettinggoof the desire to be a perfect,sociallyconsciousteamandtojustfocus ondoingthebestIcouldwasliberating.

I remember pulling an all-nighterwithAyush,Rahul,andRishabh. Honestly, we didn’t get much work done and there wasn’t reallya pointindoingit.Butletmetellyou,Ihadfunthatday.Iremember goingoutsidethegarageat6amwiththecoldwindbitingmyface, and the football stinging my arm when I caught it. Or working outside at 7 PM in the winter when it was already dark and messing around in between building Waste Sorters. FTC completely changed when I was having fun. I was much more willingtoputthetimeandeffortintotheteam.Sometimes,itsucks because it feels like you always learn your lessons just a little too late. It’s easy to regret the past instead of making changes in the moment. But, I am glad that I at least had one enjoyable season filled with memorable moments and peoplewhoI’llcarrywithme forlife.

The day we lost was sad. For me, I still wasn’t super competitive and didn’t care much about losing. I honestly just felt bad for the other seniors who didn’t get their chance to either go back to Worlds or to go to Worlds for the first time. They had put their every hour into FTC, and not having it pay off washeartbreaking. When I went home, I was feeling okay, just a little sad. Until….I got on a video call with the other members who were just talking and unwinding. Suddenly, there were tears flowing down my face

8|FIRST

IsForInclusion-MaithiliKumar

(and I do NOT cry in front of other people). Luckily for me, my face was mostly shadowed because of my camera placement. At first I wasconfused:Ihadn’tbeenthatinvestedinwinning,atleast notasmuchastheothers. But suddenly I realized that I wasn’t cryingbecausewelost,Iwas crying because I was gonna miss these people. The people who I had fought with, laughed with, lost with, won with, played cards with, argued with, hiked with,builtrobotswith,stayedupallnight with. These people hadanundeniableimpactonmylife,andIwas really really really gonna miss them. And as time passed, I was also filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Despite our differences, we stuck together, figured it out, and had the best season I could ask for. How bittersweet. All I have tosayistomy fellow members, thank you. I can’t wait to see what we’llachieve next :)) And to those of you reading this, I wish you the best of luck. I hope you learn a lot, forgive yourself for the mistakes you make, remind yourself of your worth, and just have fun without regrets.Goodluck!

Epilogue

Discovery has opened our eyes towards the world of STEM, in which we are eager to share our boundless knowledge over the years. By sharing our experiences with those around us, we hope to foster an era of innovative thinking and passion to inspire future generations to participate in robotics. We have times, and we have lost. But our persistence and confidence soared towards the sky. Countless awards have been added to our shelf yet we remain graciously professional towards other teams because of what we are a part of: the FIRST community.

Developing discipline in respect to the efforts of other teams and organizations, creativity in designing the robot and brainstorming outreach events, and collaboration in working together to establish an accomplished team, FTC has extended us the opportunity to seek our better selves. Hours upon working at the garage to make our dreams come to life, and seeing the smiles on those we have encouraged to pursue their passion, has further instilled our love for FTC.

This journey, filled with memorable times of fun, dedication, and trust, has molded us into the close knit family we have become. Our mission is to instill the values of perseverance, leadership and gracious professionalism in students in our local and international community while educating them about FIRST and the applications of STEM in the real world. Together, we can become the change of tomorrow!

-ManasaMaddi,SenioratInk&Metal

Our Alumni