FRC Team 8053 Non-Technical Booklet 

Table of Contents 

Table of Contents 2

Executive Summary 4 Mission Statement 4 Team Summary 4 Team Location 5 More Than Robots 5 Sponsors 5 Sustainability and Growth 5

Team Overview 6

Team Management 8 Team Membership 8 Team Bonding 8 Other Team Activities 9

Team Structure 10

SWOT Analysis 11

More Than Robots 12 History 12 Sustainability And Growth 13

Sponsors 14

Budget 17

What Makes Us Different 18

Contact Information 18 Team 18 Primary Contacts 19 Team Meeting Information 19 Nonprofit Information 19

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Executive Summary 

Mission Statement We strive to bring high-school aged students throughout the community together in order to help them get involved in STEM, regardless of whether their school has the ability to participate in FRC.

Team Summary Team 8053 was founded in March 2019 by five students from Roosevelt High School in San Antonio, Texas with the goal of allowing students from around the city to participate in FRC, regardless of whether their school had a team. Since then, we have successfully applied for and been awarded 501(c)3 nonprofit status, gained over 25 members from schools across San Antonio, and raised over $16,000 from eight different sponsors. We currently meet at the house of one of our coaches, on the northeastern side of the city. We use the garage as our build space, and have outfitted it with workbenches, CAD stations, bandsaws, miter saws, and more. As of February 2020, we had 25 student members, spanning from 10th grade through 12th grade, from an area covering nearly 40 miles. Additionally, we benefit from having two adult mentors, two student mentors, and being mentored by FRC team 3481, the BroncBotz. We also receive mentorship from FRC teams globally through the FullCircle Program.

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Team Location Location: San Antonio, Texas Date Founded: March 2019

More Than Robots The majority of our outreach has been focused in three areas: volunteering at local FTC events, spreading the values of FIRST through robot demos, and mentoring FLL teams at nearby schools.

Sponsors Rage Against The Machine Robotics is Sponsored Financially by the Argosy Foundation, the Texas Workforce Commission, Northern Oaks Bird and Animal Hospital, HEB Tournament Of Champions, the 4-H Screaming Chickens (Formerly FRC team 3997), Systems Engaged IT Services, and our Individual donors: The Walker Family, the Porter Family, Kyle and Stacey Dicke, and the Weikel Family. In addition to financial sponsorships, we regularly receive donated foods from Panera Bread, and have been donated gift cards from Sam’s Club.

Sustainability and Growth We have set up several outreach events at local schools, and currently have several scheduled outreach and recruitment events to allow us to continue the team after the 2020 season by attracting more students and mentors to our program. We maintain close communications with school affiliated teams, as well as with FIRST in Texas to ensure that any student who wishes to participate in FRC but cannot is able to join our team.

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Team Overview 

Team History Team 8053 was founded in March 2019 by five students from Roosevelt High School who wanted to create a team that would give students across the region the opportunity to participate in FRC. We met for three months at Starbucks on Walzem Road to discuss the future of the team and whether we were ready to put in the time and effort required to start a team. In April 2019 we received our 501(c)3 nonprofit status, which allowed us to receive sponsors to help pay for expenses. In May 2019, we began holding general team meetings for fundraising, in order to start the program. Beginning in July, we held bi-weekly team meetings, both for fundraising and for general FRC preparation, such as tool safety lessons, etc. In August and September, we reached out to several other teams in San Antonio, including team 5572 at Lee High School, and team 3481 at Brandeis High School, and have continued to partner with them for additional training and ideas. In November 2019 we participated in an FRC workshop at Brandeis High School that helped us learn the basics of programming, design, build, and marketing. In December, we began to hold weekly meetings, starting first with a team thanksgiving gathering, followed the next week by a mock FRC kickoff based around FRC 2017: Steamworks.

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Team Members Team 8053 currently benefits in having a diverse group of students, from a range of areas throughout the greater San Antonio region. Our main sources of members are Roosevelt High School, Basis Shavano Park, Johnson High School, and home-schooled students. Our members live in an area that spreads over 38 miles, from north of New Braunfels to central San Antonio. Our members range in grade level from sophomores (age 15) to seniors (age 17 and 18), and come from a large spectrum of interests, talents, and backgrounds. Future career interests include music, computer science, engineering, business, and more. Rage Against The Machine currently is made up of nearly 80% minority students, with a total of five ethnic groups represented on the team. Unfortunately we currently only have three females on our team, but we are working to help even out our gender ratios to ensure accurate representation of our communities. All of our current members plan on attending college after graduating high school, with 85% intending to pursue a STEM-related field, and 77% wishing to pursue a career relating to engineering or computer science.

Mentors We currently have two coaches, one of whom serves additionally as a business mentor, and both of whom serve as members of our nonprofit board of directors. In addition to our coaches, we have two adult mentors, both of whom are parents. One serves as a programming and design mentor, and one serves as a design and build mentor. Our programming and design mentor has two prior years of FRC experience, in addition to a career in science and IT, while our design/build mentor has no prior robotics experience,

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but does benefit from several years in the aerospace field. In addition to our coaches and adult mentors, we also have two student mentors. Both currently participate in FIRST robotics, and have done so for multiple years. One is a programming mentor, who has helped us immeasurably with our vision and basic drive code, while the other is a marketing mentor, and has done exciting work with us in establishing a team brand and image.

Team Management 

Team Membership Joining Rage Against the Machine is a serious time commitment. We ask that members attend at least two weekday meetings throughout the build season, in addition to mandatory full team meetings on saturdays. In order to join and compete, we also ask that members pay club dues ($30) which also purchases a shirt. In order to participate in the build season, members must pass both a shop safety test with at least 95% and a test over the game manual for that year with at least an 85%. Each Sunday, members are required to fill out a form to inform team leadership which days they will and will not be attending meetings. During the build season, each division is given a specific set of tasks to complete each week, to be delegated to team members by the division’s captain. Each member is expected to contribute their share to a given task, and will be asked to leave the meeting if they are being a distraction or actively reducing productivity.

Team Bonding The Saturday before our first competition, we host a movie/ board game night for the whole team so that we can bond

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and grow closer as a group and work together effectively at our first competition. This year, we gathered at our captain’s house and watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure as a team. It was, needless to say, excellent! Following this, we all played board games as a group , including Settlers of Catan, a strategy game that helped to increase communication and cohesion between our drive team. The first Sunday after Thanksgiving, we held a robotics potluck, where all of our members brought a dish to our shop, and we sat in a circle, enjoyed a full team meal, and had the opportunity to say what we were thankful for. This event helped to increase team cohesion and form a bond between members.

Other Team Activities

Workshops at Brandeis High School Our friends at FRC 3481, the Broncbotz, invited us to several FRC workshops that they were hosting, where we learned key skills that we have been able to use throughout our time as a team, especially throughout the build season. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend two of these events, and learned a great deal about what it takes to be an FRC team.

FTC League Meets We have volunteered at two major FTC events so far this season. First, in November 2019 we helped to run FTC League Meet One, and were able to reach over 80 students on that specific day. In February 2020, we had several students volunteer to help at the FTC Central Texas Regional event, where other students also were competing. Here, we were able to reach out to hundreds of individuals, and make a good impression for our team.

Mock Kickoff Event In December 2019 we planned and hosted a mock kickoff event for our team, using the 2017 game FIRST Steamworks. We watched the release video, went over the manual, held a long, Kickoff day style strategy session, in

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which we came up with a priority list in a Need (to be competitive), Want (to do well at our events), and Dream (to win worlds) format. This event helped to prepare our members for the rigors of kickoff day and the build season beyond.

Cibolo Green Elementary School Visits We had the opportunity to visit Cibolo Green Elementary School in February 2020, to give a robot demo to their FLL team. We had an excellent time, first giving a presentation about FRC, then Q&A session, then we showed off our shooter for the kids.

FLL Mentoring At Cibolo Green, we had the opportunity to help mentor the Subway City Shapers, their FLL team. We provided help with programming, design advice for an obstacle they were struggling with, and general competitive advice for their upcoming competition.

Team Structure 

Nonprofit Corporation

Corporate Officers ● President ● Vice president ● Treasurer ● Secretary ● Public relations

FRC Team

Adult Leadership ● Coaches ● Mentors

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Captains ● Team Captain ● Build Co-Captains (x2) ● Design Captain ● Marketing Captain ● Programming Captain ● Safety Captain

Team Divisions ● Build/Design ● Marketing/Outreach ● Programming/Electrical

Build/Design ● Design ● Robot Build - Chassis team: Builds Chassis, Mechanism teams: Shooter, Intake, etc. ● Field Build - Build wooden field components, robot cart, pit equipment, etc. ● Electrical (works with Programming)

Marketing/Outreach ● Outreach - Organize outreach events ● Awards - write/ put together awards materials ● Scouting - Put together a scouting sheet, later becomes scouting captain. ● Fundraising - Apply for grants, sponsor relations, etc. ● Media - Keeping the teams online presence and developing connections with teams

Programming ● Electrical (works with Build/Design) ● Code - drive, mechanisms, etc. (teleop) ● Autonomous ● Vision

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SWOT Analysis 

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More Than Robots 

History Since our founding as a community team, we have been focused on reaching out into the FIRST community and beyond, in order to positively impact the lives of our members and those around us. The majority of our outreach has been volunteer work, with over 600 volunteer hours logged in total by our members since our founding. As a team, we have volunteered at an FTC league meet, and an FTC regional championship event. In addition, we currently mentor one FLL team, the Subway City Shapers from Cibolo Green Elementary. We currently have robot demos planned at two elementary schools, two middle schools, and a community based FTC team in the area. Through our outreach efforts, we have reached over 200 students as a team, with others having been reached by our individual members’ volunteer efforts. In addition to our interactive outreach initiatives, we also maintain a very active social media presence, with a combined 200 followers across Instagram, Facebook, and

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Twitter. Our online presence allows us to reach out to many teams from our area and around the world, and helps us to spread the news of our team to large groups of people to whom we would not otherwise have access.

Sustainability and Growth We have made a point to visit with local schools, and currently have several scheduled outreach and recruitment events to allow us to continue the team after the 2020 season by attracting more students, mentors, and sponsors to our program. We maintain close communications with other teams, as well as with FIRST in Texas to ensure that any student who wishes to participate in FRC is able to join our team.

Elementary School Visits We currently have visits planned at Roan Forest Elementary School and Encino Park Elementary School in addition to the visits we have already had with Cibolo Green Elementary School.

Middle School Visits We have robot demos planned for the after-school FLL teams at Tejeda and Tex Hill Middle School, with more potentially scheduled. We plan on showing them our robot, presenting a slideshow about FRC, having time for a Q & A, and helping them with their robots.

Spicy Ketchup Team Visits We have multiple events currently planned for FTC team 16377, Spicy Ketchup. Several of their members will be visiting our shop to look around, see how our FRC meeting is run, and see the robot. After our competitions, we will be attending one of their Saturday build meetings to do a robot demo for both the FTC team and their FLL team. Our hope is that we can forge a partnership to create a membership pipeline, from FLL to FTC and then to FRC.

FRC Mentoring In addition to working with FLL and FTC teams, a couple of our veteran members have been working closely with team 5681 to provide help with wiring, design, team administration, and fundraising.

FLL Mentoring We are currently mentoring the Subway City Shapers, an FLL team from Cibolo Green Elementary School. We will continue to visit their shop to help provide programming and design advice to help them do as well as possible during their future events.

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FIT New Braunfels Setup Rage Against the Machine will be volunteering the day before the FIT New Braunfels District event to help with the event and field setup, to help ease the burden on FIT staff and volunteers.

FIRST Ambassadors At each event we are competing in, we have two students volunteer to be FIRST ambassadors, to give tours, help with the event outreach, and spread the word about our community team.

Shop Visits Students with siblings of FTC or FLL age are encouraged to bring them to certain meetings to allow them to see future robotics activities and bring back enthusiasm to their current teams. This provides an opportunity to see what FRC is like, and allows us to start on recruitment for several years into the future, ensuring sustainable membership.

Sponsors 

Argosy Foundation The Argosy Foundation is supporting us with a two year, $6,000 total ($4,000 then $2,000) grant directed to assist rookie FRC teams with sustainability and funding. The Argosy Foundation is a private family foundation that “seeks to support people and programs that make our society a better place to live.”

Texas Workforce Commission The Texas Workforce Commission is supporting us with a $5,000 FIRST Rookie Grant to help us pay our registration and event fees. The Texas Workforce Commission aims to “promote and support a workforce system that creates value and offers employers, individuals, and communities the opportunity to achieve and sustain economic prosperity.”

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Northern Oaks Bird and Animal Hospital Northern Oaks Bird And Animal Hospital is supporting us in several ways. In addition to their $2,500 sponsorship, they are also providing us with access to a large scale, on which we can weigh our robot, and business/ outreach mentorship, which has been incredibly valuable. NOBAH is a Small animal and exotic veterinary office located in Northeastern San Antonio, Texas. They are among the 15% of Veterinary hospitals to hold a prestigious AAHA accreditation, And have been serving the greater San Antonio area since 1997.

HEB Tournament Of Champions The HEB Tournament of Champions is supporting us through a $1,500 Grant. This grant is being used to help us purchase the tools and equipment that we need to compete as an FRC Team.The HEB Tournament of Champions is a charity golf tournament in San Antonio, Texas, sponsored by HEB. Proceeds from the event go to benefit local charities focused on youth and educational initiatives.

4-H Screaming Chickens Following their unfortunate disbanding, Rage Against The Machine received several members from the 4-H Screaming Chickens (formerly FRC team 3997). We were able to contact their former coaches, and received a donation of their remaining funds ($1,500) and some supplies (Lexan, Metal, Cameras, etc.)

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Systems Engaged IT Services Systems Engaged IT Services is providing us with support through their $500 donation, and through IT support within our shop. Systems Engaged is an IT Support business specializing in small businesses and nonprofits in the San Antonio area.

Panera Bread Panera Bread has provided us with free baked goods for the entirety of our build season, allowing us to save hundreds of dollars in food expenses, and providing our members with an enjoyable snack during meetings.

Individual Donors The Walker Family The Porter Family The Dicke Family The Weikel Family The Swartz Family

Sponsor Benefits Platinum $5,000+ Your name or logo will feature prominently as a "Platinum Sponsor" on our Robot, T Shirts, and Banner, and you can choose to receive a newsletter once a month on the status of our robot. You will also receive a Columbia Jacket with the team logo embroidered on the chest, and a team t-shirt, with our logo, team number, our sponsors, and on the sleeve, the words 'Platinum Sponsor'

Gold $2,500+ Your name or logo will feature prominently as a "Gold Sponsor" on our Robot, T Shirts, and Banner, and you can choose to receive a newsletter once a month on the status of our robot. You

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will also receive a team t-shirt, with our logo, team number, our sponsors, and on the sleeve, the words 'Gold Sponsor'

Silver $1,500+ Your logo will feature prominently as a "Silver Sponsor" on our Robot, T Shirts, and Banner, and you can choose to receive a newsletter once a month on the status of our robot. You will also receive a team t-shirt.

Bronze $500+ Your name or logo will feature prominently as a "Bronze Sponsor" on our Robot, T Shirts, and Banner, and you can choose to receive a newsletter once a month on the status of our robot.

Official Supporter < $500 Your name or logo will feature prominently as an "Official supporter" on our Robot, T Shirts, and Banner

Budget 8053 Budget

Projected Actual Over (Under)

Expenses

Admin $500.00 $412.97 $87.03

Registration $6,000.00 $6,000.00 $0.00

Tools/ Equipment $2,500.00 $2,274.81 $225.19

Robot Parts $2,000.00 $2,282.22 -$282.22

Travel $1,000.00 $0.00 $1,000.00

Food $500.00 $0.00 $500.00

Total $12,500.00 $10,970.00 $1,530.00

Incomes

Grants $6,000.00 $10,500.00 $5,500.00

Corporate Donors $5,000.00 $4,500.00 -$500.00

Individual Donors $1,000.00 $400.00 -$600.00

Dues $500.00 $780.00 -$280.00

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$12,500.00 $16,180.00 $3,680.00

Final $0.00 $5,210.00 $5,210.00

What Makes Us Different We are unique because we are a community team made up of people from all around the city, and from diverse backgrounds and experiences, all coming together in one place with a common goal. We are uniquely dedicated to the team. Rather than just being a short walk across a school campus, we meet, in some cases, almost an hour from a given school (because of traffic), meaning that our members have to be invested, otherwise, they would not make the effort to attend meetings. Many of us did not know each other or even go to the same school a few months ago, but we are now all close knit, and will remain friends for years to come.

Contact Information 

Team email: rageagainstthemachinefrc@gmail.com website: frc8053.com

instagram.com/frc8053

twitter.com/frc8053

facebook.com/frc8053

github.com/frc8053

Primary Contacts Name: Travis Byrd Title: Team Captain, President, Founder Phone: (210) 294-1740 Email: travisb@swbell.net

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Name: Robert Byrd Title: Coach Phone: (210) 275-9415 Email: b.byrd@swbell.net Name: Robert Trevino Title: Coach Phone: (210) 800-4727 Email: trevino.rob15@gmail.com

Team Meeting Information

Times Weekdays, 5:00 PM-8:00 PM, CST Saturdays, 9:30 AM-5:00 PM, CST

Location 22911 Fossil Peak, San Antonio, Texas 78261

Nonprofit Information Rage Against the Machine Robotics 501(c)3 Public Charity, EIN 83-4479918

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