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Techno Wolves

Team Handbook 2017-18

FRC Team 5518

Team Handbook

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Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 5

Mission Statement ......................................................................................................................... 5

FIRST Overview .............................................................................................................................. 5

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) .......................................................................................... 6

Team History .................................................................................................................................. 6

Team Core Values ........................................................................................................................ 7

Team Structure .............................................................................................................................. 8

Booster Club .............................................................................................................................. 9

Elections .................................................................................................................................. 9

Adult Leadership ..................................................................................................................... 10

Adult Mentors ....................................................................................................................... 10

School Liaison ...................................................................................................................... 10

Student Body ........................................................................................................................... 11

Business Division ................................................................................................................... 11

Engineering Division ............................................................................................................ 12

Strategy Council .................................................................................................................. 13

Executive Leadership .......................................................................................................... 15

Appointed Leadership ....................................................................................................... 20

Student Mentors .................................................................................................................. 28

Leadership Commitment ................................................................................................... 28

Elections ................................................................................................................................ 28

Appointments ...................................................................................................................... 30

Leadership Meetings .............................................................................................................. 30

Emergencies ............................................................................................................................ 31

Elections ................................................................................................................................ 32

Member Responsibility ............................................................................................................... 33

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Eligibility .................................................................................................................................... 33

Requirements ........................................................................................................................... 33

Dress Code .............................................................................................................................. 34

Individual Costs ....................................................................................................................... 34

Student Dues ........................................................................................................................ 35

Meetings ................................................................................................................................... 35

Communication ...................................................................................................................... 36

Fifth-Year Students .................................................................................................................. 36

Competitions ........................................................................................................................... 36

Drive Squad .......................................................................................................................... 36

Pit Squad .............................................................................................................................. 37

Stands Squad ....................................................................................................................... 38

Public Relations Squad ....................................................................................................... 38

Code of Conduct & Policies ..................................................................................................... 38

Gracious Professionalism ........................................................................................................ 39

Positive Communication ........................................................................................................ 39

Acceptable Use ...................................................................................................................... 40

Consequences ........................................................................................................................ 40

Leadership ............................................................................................................................ 41

Tripod Procedure .................................................................................................................... 41

Respect .................................................................................................................................... 41

Specific Situations ................................................................................................................... 42

Support ......................................................................................................................................... 43

Booster Club ............................................................................................................................ 43

Fundraising Committee ...................................................................................................... 43

Hospitality Committee ........................................................................................................ 44

Travel & Lodging Committee ............................................................................................ 44

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Team ......................................................................................................................................... 44

Competition ......................................................................................................................... 44

Mentoring ............................................................................................................................. 45

Sponsorship .......................................................................................................................... 46

Team Schedule ........................................................................................................................... 46

Build Season ............................................................................................................................. 47

Workspace ............................................................................................................................... 48

Resources ..................................................................................................................................... 48

Team Website .......................................................................................................................... 48

Team Calendar ....................................................................................................................... 48

Team Tools ............................................................................................................................... 48

Google Drive ........................................................................................................................ 48

Remind .................................................................................................................................. 49

Slack ...................................................................................................................................... 49

Trello ...................................................................................................................................... 49

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes ............................................................................................... 49

Contact .................................................................................................................................... 49

Booster Club ......................................................................................................................... 49

Adult Leadership ................................................................................................................. 50

Executive Leadership .......................................................................................................... 50

Other ......................................................................................................................................... 50

Team Social Media & Communication ........................................................................... 50

FIRST & FRC Information ...................................................................................................... 50

Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ 51

Updates ........................................................................................................................................ 53

Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 53

Using Slack ............................................................................................................................... 53

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Contingency Plan ................................................................................................................... 56

Robot Demonstration Checklist ............................................................................................ 58

Purchase Order Protocol ....................................................................................................... 58

Application .............................................................................................................................. 60

Meeting Rules .......................................................................................................................... 63

Student Leadership ............................................................................................................. 63

Leadership Proposal ........................................................................................................... 67

Nomination Acceptance Form ............................................................................................ 70

Sponsor Contact Protocol ..................................................................................................... 71

Business Advice ....................................................................................................................... 72

Team Sponsorship Packet ...................................................................................................... 74

Team Handbook

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Introduction

Welcome to Techno Wolves FRC Team 5518! This handbook is the foundation of our

team’s structure and organization. It contains the goals, policies, and expectations of

Techno Wolves and its members and is intended to be used as reference rather than a

novelization. Feel free to browse to any section you need or continue to follow along to

get an overview of the team.

Techno Wolves is run largely by its student members who are devoted to the team and

guiding others by practicing STEAM skills and the core values of FIRST (i.e. Gracious

Professionalism®, Coopertition®). We would like to thank all our supporters (e.g. students,

parents/guardians, mentors, partners, sponsors, and donors) who make this enriching

opportunity possible!

Mission Statement

“To enrich the minds of high school students by promoting an innovative learning

experience with our community – such as local businesses, schools, and mentors – via

the exploration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)

through the exposure of robotics and business management principles.”

FIRST Overview

FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a nonprofit

organization founded “to transform our culture by creating a world where science and

technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and

technology leaders.” Founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers in 1989, FIRST seeks

to promote a philosophy of teamwork and collaboration among engineers and

encourages competing teams to remain friendly, helping each other when needed,

expressed through its values of Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition®.

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by

engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering,

and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life skills

including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

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FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Starting from 1992, FIRST has allowed high school students to actively participate in

robotics. FRC is “the varsity sport of the mind” where teams are given six weeks to build

a robot based around to a seasonal game that typically starts in the first week of

January. After this “Build Season” has ended, teams compete with other local teams

and advance if their robot does well. North Carolina and many other regions follow the

district model in which each region is split into several districts. Teams are required to

attend at a minimum of two district events. If teams collect enough ranking points from

the first two district events they attend by winning matches and gaining awards, they

advance to the regional championships and then the FIRST World Championships.

Currently, there are more than 3,600 FRC teams worldwide.

Team History

Techno Wolves originated as a group of ambitious students from Wake STEM Early

College High School (STEM ECHS) who wanted to pursue a positive impact on their

community after some of their commitment to FRC Team 435, the Robodogs, formerly

affiliated with Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School (currently with the Longleaf

School of the Arts). Additional history of our team is shown in the following timeline:

2013-14 (Year of Establishment)

• It all began with an idea that eventually led to a series of meetings, recruitment

ideas, tons of paperwork, and a very large business plan

• October 22, 2013 — 9:24 PM: Techno Wolves was born

2014-15 Season (Rookie Year)

• North Carolina Regionals 2015: Polyphemus ends its official career as the 7th

seeded alliance in the quarterfinals

2015-16 Season

• THOR III: Techno Wolves attends its first offseason competition held in Reidsville,

North Carolina

• Wake County District 2016: Reagan finishes as the 7th seeded alliance in the

semifinals

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• Campbell University District 2016: Reagan is in the winning alliance and Techno

Wolves receives the Gracious Professionalism® Award

• FIRST North Carolina State Championships 2016: Reagan is in the finalist alliance

and Techno Wolves is the recipient of the Judges’ Award

• FIRST World Championships 2016: As a second-year team, Techno Wolves

attends its first world championships held in St. Louis, Missouri; Reagan

participates in the Carver Division and ends with Rank 32

2016-17 Season

• THOR IV: Techno Wolves attends its second offseason competition held in Cary,

North Carolina

• Greensboro District 2017: Hyperion reaches quarterfinals and Techno Wolves wins

the Entrepreneurship Award

• Raleigh District 2017: Hyperion reaches quarterfinals and Techno Wolves is the

recipient of the Imagery Award

2017-18 Season

• THOR V: Techno Wolves attends its third offseason competition held at UNC

Pembroke

Team Core Values

We strive to stay true to our objectives that are outlined as followed:

• Work to be a sustainable student-led team

• Build cross-team and inter-team relationships

• Create a positive learning environment for our members that embraces and

supports individual growth

• Promote a democratic team structure with the inclusion of all members in team

activities

• Prepare our members for the real world by developing life skills including but not

limited to: safety, teamwork, responsibility, time management, accountability,

and efficiency

• Provide a fun and immersive experience into actual business, engineering, and

leadership processes

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• Increase diversity among our student member body and enable empowerment

of minorities in related fields

• Spread an understanding and appreciation for science, technology,

engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) in the community

• Serve as a source of inspiration for all students throughout the community

Team Structure

The team is organized based off an existing model present today – the corporate world

offers an excellent source of ideas to build a stable team around. Because of this

structure, students are exposed to real-world business, engineering, and leadership

situations and skills.

Importantly, Techno Wolves is a student-led team with support from mentors and

parent/guardian volunteers. The key is that the mentors and parent/guardian

volunteers provide guidance and assistance to the students by answering their

questions or suggesting ways to resolve a situation only after the student has talked

about it with a student lead or mentor.

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Booster Club The Techno Wolves Robotics Booster Club (TWRBC) is the overarching branch that

houses and provides support for the Techno Wolves FRC Team 5518. It is a registered

501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and has four elected Board Members: President, Vice

President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Non-voting Members (i.e. Head Coach/Lead

Mentor, Team Lead, Vice-Team Lead, and Finance Manager) provide crucial input and

regarded as on the same level as the Board Members with the Committee Heads

appointed by the Board Members. The Booster Club provides the account and

financial management for tax fillings in addition to working with supporting

parents/guardians who volunteer to provide additional team support. Information on

how to further support the team can be found in Support.

Elections

The Booster Club Board Members shall be elected in June. All parents/guardians are

allowed a single vote and votes shall be recast in the event of a tie until a majority is

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President

Secretary Vice President Treasurer

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES

Head Coach/Lead Mentor

Finance Manager

Team & Vice-Team Lead

Fundraising

Travel & Lodging

Hospitality

PARENTS/GUARDIANS COMMITTEES

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Techno Wolves Robotics Booster Club

Team Handbook

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reached. The elected Board Members shall assume their term on July 1st following the

elections.

Adult Leadership The Adult Leadership provides the overarching guidance for the team by interacting

with the students, the Booster Club, mentors, and FIRST. It consists of the Head

Coach/Lead Mentor, Assistant/Alternate Coach, eligible adult mentors, and the School

Liaison.

Adult Mentors

Adult mentors are a core part of the team; they provide integral advice to the student

body and provide necessary oversight over tasks in the workshop.

School Liaison

The School Liaison, a staff member of Wake STEM Early College High School (STEM

ECHS), serves as an advisor and will help coordinate team activities and outreach with

the school.

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Student Body The Student Body includes all members who are currently high school students. They are

led – except for Student Mentors – by the Student Leadership which is comprised of

both the Executive and Appointed Leaderships. Each subdivision has a unique set of

responsibilities and duties assigned to it. Members choose one they would like to be a

part of and cannot change their choice during Build Season. Veteran members are

expected to train rookie members for the team to continually grow and not fall apart.

Business Division

Marketing Subdivision

The Marketing Subdivision utilizes business strategy to promote the team by maintaining

team branding standards to deliver a consistent team image. This subdivision will

additionally be responsible for researching marketing techniques and Grants/Awards

Vice-Team Lead Business Lead Engineering Lead

BUSINESS DIVISION

Marketing Lead CAD Lead

Fabrication Lead

Electrical Lead

ENGINEERING DIVISION

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Programming Lead

Techno Wolves FRC Team 5518

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Team Lead

Finance Manager

Media Lead

Public Relations Lead

Head Safety Captain

Strategy

Council

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submissions. Members of this subdivision must be creative and must be willing to

collaborate when designing promotional material and projects such as flyers, the Pit for

competition, and the website.

Media Subdivision

The Media Subdivision deals with designing digital media in accordance with the

team’s branding standards. This subdivision will be responsible for updating and

creating team graphics and managing the team’s social media with the Public

Relations subdivision. Members of this subdivision must be highly creative, professional,

and willing to collaborate when creating team imagery, videos, and animations.

Public Relations Subdivision

The Public Relations (PR) Subdivision utilizes business strategy to promote a positive team

identity throughout the community. This subdivision will be responsible for

posting/sending regular updates to parents, sponsors, donors, and partners through the

team newsletter and the website. Members of the subdivision also organize team

events, such as sponsorship presentations and outreach/community service, by

highlighting STEAM and business management skills.

Engineering Division

CAD Subdivision

The CAD (computer-aided design) Subdivision designs parts and assemblies in

SolidWorks. This is the first step before building the robot or producing competition

medals; precise measurements and guidelines from schematics are needed for

Fabrication to start. Even though CAD doesn’t have an extensive range of other uses

on the team, members of this subdivision must have patience and be willing to tackle a

steep learning cover when learning how to use computer-aided design software and

design principles.

Electrical Subdivision

The Electrical Subdivision takes care of all electrical-related tasks and projects within the

team. This subdivision is responsible for securing and wiring electrical components for

the robot as well as troubleshooting when problems (e.g. brownouts and blackouts)

occur. In addition, the Electrical subdivision gets to come up with useful tools by

experimenting with sensors and hardware, such as an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi, with

the Programming Subdivision. Members of this subdivision must exercise SAFETY at ALL

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times, especially when working with potentially dangerous voltages and equipment like

a soldering iron.

Fabrication Subdivision

The Fabrication Subdivision constructs parts and assemblies and does mechanical

maintenance of various projects, such as the robot and any game pieces. Whoever

wishes to be a part of this subdivision must be willing to get his/her hands “dirty” by

working with power tools and many materials. Members also must keep track of

accurate measurements, heed to structural stability, consider time in receiving orders,

and, most importantly, practice SAFETY throughout the entire workshop.

Programming Subdivision

The Programming Subdivision deals with all aspects of coding on the team. Whether this

is coding the robot in Java, updating the website in HTML and CSS, making an

iOS/Android app, or writing Python to implement vision tracking on a Raspberry Pi, it is

all handled in Programming. Members of this subdivision must keep in mind to create

flowcharts and diagrams along with strong collaboration when taking on projects and

constructing algorithms.

Strategy Council

The Strategy Council is a group of delegates from every subdivision, both Business and

Engineering, that come together on a regular basis (at least once a month) to:

• Discuss tactics for the team to be effectively engaged in the community

• Discuss strategy in designing a highly competitive robot during Build Season

• Discuss methods in approaching potential sponsors and/or partners

• Discuss research of other teams’ strategies and emerging technologies

• Form a committee to enforce safety among the team led by the Head Safety

Captain

The Strategy Council also has additional responsibilities during Build Season:

• Forming a subcommittee within Game Strategy to carry out team and pit

scouting (data collection)

• Forming a subcommittee within Game Strategy to manage and schedule match

data collection

• Analyzing collected data to produce a list of prioritized teams for alliance

selection in competitions

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Committees are defined as a group of at least 2-4 members that are assigned a

specific subset of tasks. Delegates can also be assigned multiple committees. Strategy

Council must have at least the following committees:

• Awards – Business and Engineering leads collaborate to make sure award

applications and write-ups are completed to their fullest quality by respective

leads well in advance of their deadlines.

• Education – This committee only operates during offseason, in which delegates

work together to identify education needs within all areas on the team and

communicate this with the Executive Leadership so they can assign someone to

meet the need by researching the topic, creating an education plan and

materials, and working with the committee to schedule any training as well as to

make arrangements to record the training. Once an education need is

completed, the committee would also be responsible for organizing and storing

all materials in the team’s Google Drive folder. The committee can work with

other teams and mentors to reuse existing training.

• Game Strategy – Delegates will be responsible for conducting scouting and data

collection as well as analysis of the data for alliance selection. In addition,

delegates will also be responsible for monitoring game rules, checking for

updates to the Game Manual, and keep track of match schedules.

o Subcommittees: Pit Data Collection & Match Data Collection

• Safety – Delegates (called Safety Captains) led by the Head Safety Captain will

collaborate to conceive and enforce safety protocols and campaigns

throughout the entire team. In addition, delegates will have authority, like the

Head Safety Captain, to stop any member from completing a task if unsafe

behavior is shown.

Although multiple delegates can go from a subdivision, they may not already hold a

leadership position (except in the case of the Awards committee) and must be

approved by both the chosen delegate’s respective division and subdivision leads.

Delegates must either hold their positions for the duration of their assigned task(s) or

season-long with backup delegates who are appointed in similar fashion in case the

delegate is absent. After a Strategy Council meeting, delegates report back to their

respective subdivisions to share gained insight. The meetings for the Strategy Council

must be led by a meeting facilitator, in this case, the Vice-Team Lead, who is

responsible for creating the meeting agenda at least three days prior to the scheduled

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meeting date and appropriating tasks to delegates fairly with the help of the secretary.

The secretary, or the Head Safety Captain, is also responsible for recording the meeting

minutes. In the event the Vice-Team Lead is unable to attend the meeting, the Head

Safety Captain presumes the role of the meeting facilitator and a delegate is

appointed as backup secretary with the consensus of the entire council. The Strategy

Council meetings are not limited to input only from delegates; if any other member

(e.g. leadership) is free of responsibilities, then he/she may also attend these meetings.

Executive Leadership

Executive Leadership is comprised of the Primary Leads (Team & Vice-Team Lead)

along with the Business and Engineering Division Leads. Members of this leadership are

elected into their positions in a process outlined in the Elections section below. All

Executive Leads must possess certain qualities; he/she must: frequently check email and

any communication tools, show strong commitment outside of team meetings,

multitask efficiently, be flexible with constraints (e.g. time), be open and accepting of

constructive criticism. In addition, all Executive Leadership positions have the following

responsibilities: be able to delegate tasks effectively to everyone; be able to lead,

coordinate, and encourage members; be able to teach how to complete tasks without

doing it themselves; have time management skills by following deadlines and

explaining any shortcomings; be able to lead by example and communicate with

mentors, leads, and other subdivisions; report and follow respective authority (Division

Leads to Primary Leads); effectively organize their respective division’s tasks and

documents; must create weekly agenda for meetings; and send any status updates via

email, text, Slack, and/or Trello.

Team Lead

Team Lead is responsible for overall team leadership, team functionality, and team

success. This position requires leading by example – providing leadership to all students,

overseeing team operations, and holding responsibility for all team activities. To be

eligible for this position, a member must have: met at least 75% of his/her meeting

attendance and all outreach requirements for the entire season and previously held a

leadership position on the team.

Required Skills:

• Prior leadership experience and strong leadership skills

• Sound judgement and capable of making quick decisions

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• Able to effectively lead and coordinate members

• Strong communication skills in both speaking and writing

• Able to manage multiple tasks simultaneously

• Strong organizational and project management skills

• Actively encourages team work and collaboration

• Exemplifies extreme professionalism

• Be self-motivated and always willing to learn

• Possesses a selfless desire to help members learn and succeed

• Provide ideation oversight and conflict resolution

• Proficient in:

o Google Apps (e.g. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Groups)

o Project management and task distribution

o Communication with team members via email, Slack, and Remind

Responsibilities:

• Oversees and manages team activities, needs, and projects to completion by

working with the Business and Engineering divisions, Vice-Team Lead, Adult

Leadership, and Booster Club

• Attends and leads team meetings and emergency meetings in addition with

arriving early and/or staying later which may occur less than a 24-hour notice

• Provides student team leadership representation to the team, partners, and

sponsors as well as being the official team spokesperson

• Communicates regularly with team leadership to receive updates regarding

projects, activities, and team functions

• Oversees team’s budget and reviews approval of all team purchases

• Actively enforces team rules and discipline throughout the workspace

• Creates updates to the team handbook as needed

• Keeps Vice-Team Lead aware of all team leadership activities

• Ensures updates to various tools and apps such as the project management

regarding leadership and Business and Engineering projects, activities, and

subdivision functions

• Enforces deadlines of team tasks and activities by following up on assigned

responsibilities

• Makes sure all students have left before leaving a meeting

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Vice-Team Lead

Vice-Team Lead shares responsibilities with Team Lead as determined by him/her. If

Team Lead is not available, Vice-Team Lead will assume his/her responsibilities by

standing as Acting Team Lead. This position will also be responsible for providing

oversight and reports on the team’s projects to manage deadlines with the division and

subdivision leads. To be eligible for this position, a member must: have met at least 75%

of his/her meeting attendance and all outreach requirements for the entire season and

cannot be a senior in high school during his/her term.

Required Skills:

• Strong communication skills both written and orally

• Capable of managing multiple tasks simultaneously

• Actively promotes healthy teamwork and communication

• Able to lead and coordinate members

• Serves as a role model and exemplifies extreme professionalism


• Possesses a selfless desire to help members learn and succeed

• Proficient in:


o Project management and task distribution

o Communication with team members via Slack and Remind

Responsibilities:

• Regularly communicates with Team Lead to keep aware of his/her involvement

and team activities

• Assumes the responsibilities of Team Lead in his/her absence

• Coordinates work efforts and aids Business and Engineering Leads as needed

• Manages team projects by monitoring and reporting to ensure tasks and projects

are up to date

• Oversees team’s budget and reviews approval of all team purchases with Team

Lead

• Actively enforces team rules and discipline throughout the workspace

• Enforces deadlines of team tasks and activities by following up on assigned

responsibilities

• Creates updates to the team handbook as needed

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• Leads and delegates tasks to Strategy Council with Head Safety Captain

• Ensures updates to various tools and apps such as the project management

regarding leadership and Business and Engineering projects, activities, and

subdivision functions

Business Lead

Business Lead provides leadership for the Business Division by providing management

and oversight of all Business-related activities and projects. To become Business Lead, a

member must: have met at least 75% of his/her meeting attendance and all outreach

requirements for the entire season and already be a veteran member on the team.

However, in certain cases, such as in the lack of nominees, a member can run only with

enough qualifications as deemed by the Adult Leadership.

Required Skills:

• Strong communication skills both orally and written

• Demonstrates exceptional professionalism under any circumstances


• Possesses a selfless desire to help members learn succeed

• Excels in entrepreneurship qualities

• Be morally sound and have an unbiased judgement

• Creative in negotiations and communication

• Capable of managing multiple tasks simultaneously

• Strong understanding of relevant business policies and legal terms

• Proficient in:


o Microsoft Office Suite (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

o HubSpot CRM/Sales

o Researching contacts, grants, business tools, and awards

Responsibilities:

• Regularly communicates efficiently with leads, subdivisions, and other divisions

regarding Business activities

• Provides necessary guidance to Business subdivision leads

• Handles the team’s entire public relations

• Organizes, develops, and orchestrates any necessary training

• Actively enforces and monitors team rules and deadlines

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• Manages ideation throughout the division especially with Marketing Subdivision

• Builds and maintains healthy relationships with organizations and the local

community

• Develops creative approaches in engaging potential sponsors

• Resolves any conflicts within the Business Division

• Communicates with Engineering Lead regarding securing mentors, monetary

and tool/material needs, and events in which any Engineering assistance is

needed

• Manages the division’s assistance in raising funds and finalizing the seasonal

budget

• Holds and leads regular meetings among the Business leadership

Engineering Lead

Engineering Lead provides leadership for the Engineering Division by providing

management and oversight of all Engineering-related activities and projects. To

become Engineering Lead, a member must: have met at least 75% of his/her meeting

attendance and all outreach requirements for the entire season and already be a

veteran member on the team. However, in certain cases, such as in the lack of

nominees, a member can run only with enough qualifications as deemed by the Adult

Leadership.

Required Skills:

• Strong communication skills especially orally


• Possesses a selfless desire to help members learn succeed

• Have outstanding organizational skills

• Able to lead and coordinate members

• Capable of enforcing deadlines and explaining shortcomings

• Able to manage multiple tasks simultaneously

• Proficient in:


o Researching and using engineering tools and terminology

Responsibilities:

• Regularly communicates efficiently with leads, subdivisions, and other divisions

regarding Engineering activities

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• Attend and lead team meetings and emergency meetings in addition with

arriving early and/or staying later which may occur less than a 24-hour notice

• Provides necessary guidance to Engineering subdivision leads

• Communicates with mentors to provide any other needed assistance

• Aids with technical issues and enforcing discipline

• Organizes, develops, and orchestrates any necessary training

• Actively enforces and monitors team rules and deadlines

• Conducts quality checks on a regular basis

• Provides oversight of robot design and technical aspects/projects through

completion

• Manages the division’s assistance in finalizing the seasonal budget

• Holds and leads regular meetings among the Engineering leadership

Appointed Leadership

Appointed Leadership is comprised of Business and Engineering subdivision leads along

with the Finance Manager and the Head Safety Captain. All members of this leadership

are appointed to their positions in a formal process outlined in the Appointments

section below. All appointed leads must possess certain qualities to be considered for a

position; he/she must: frequently check email and any communication tools, show

strong commitment outside of team meetings, can multitask efficiently, be flexible with

constraints (e.g. time), and be open and accepting of constructive criticism. In

addition, all Appointed Leadership positions have the following responsibilities: be able

to delegate tasks effectively to everyone; be able to lead, coordinate, and encourage

members; be able to teach how to complete tasks without doing it themselves; have

time management skills by following deadlines and explaining any shortcomings; be

able to lead by example and communicate with mentors, leads, and other subdivisions;

report and follow respective authority (i.e. division lead for subdivision leads and Vice-

Team Lead for Safety Captain); effectively organize their respective subdivision tasks

and documents; must create weekly agenda for their subdivisions/council; and send

any status updates to the members under them. Appointed Leadership can resign but

only before a two-week notice before Build Season.

Finance Manager

Finance Manager is an appointed position under the Team Lead. He/she will work with

the Booster Club Treasurer and the Division Leads to track team spending to approved

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budgeted amounts. Furthermore, the Finance Manager will serve as an advisor to the

Division Leads and will work with them when a purchase is dangerously near or over

their respective division’s budget.

Required Skills:

• Possesses an interest in accounting and financial management

• Possesses a strong desire to teach others and see them grow as young

entrepreneurs

• Able to research new techniques and tools when needed

• Works well with others and active in communicating all details

• Proficient in:


o Google Drive Apps (e.g. Slides, Sheets, Docs)

Responsibilities:

• Oversees team’s budget and monitors all team purchases

• Serve as an advisor role to ensure wise decisions regarding finances are made

and will only notify in when purchases are near or exceed budget

• Makes sure Purchase Order Protocol is strictly followed

• Collects all receipts from team and Booster Club purchases, and files them

accordingly

• Tracks purchase reimbursements

• Reports actual spending to budgeted spending to executive leadership and

adult leadership once a month during the off season and weekly during build

season.

• Works with the Booster Club Treasurer to track and report purchases accurately

• Creates the team budget at the start of the team’s new year based on previous

years’ actual spending and input from Adult Leadership and Division Leads

regarding unique purchases (E.g. work shop modifications, new large tools, etc.)

• Provides integral input during the Strategy Council meetings

Marketing Lead (Business)

Required Skills:


entrepreneurs

• Familiar with a variety of marketing techniques and media materials/tools

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• Proficient in:



Responsibilities:

• Attends and inputs on Strategy Council meetings as necessary

• Works with Business leadership to complete projects (e.g. Business Plan, Build

Season videos, events such as Robot Unveiling) and carry out any necessary

training

• Works closely with the Media Lead to maintain and update the branding

standards

• Makes sure website is properly maintained via Marketing delegates to the

website committee in the Strategy Council

• Works closely with the Public Relations Lead and the Booster Club to actively

communicate with parents, sponsors, donors, and partners by posting/sending

regular updates/newsletters through email and/or the website

• Participates in presentations deemed necessary by the Business Lead and/or the

Public Relations Lead

• Oversees design/creation of promotional materials and the Competition Pit in

accordance with branding standards

• Oversees efforts in Grant/Award research and submission

• Keeps inventory of all Marketing equipment/materials

• Maintains the Business-related page(s) of the Pit Binder

• Chooses and approves subdivision delegates to Strategy Council with the

Business Lead

Media Lead (Business)

Required Skills:


entrepreneurs

• Familiar with a variety of media materials/tools


• Has a keen eye for quality photography and cinematography

• Proficient in:

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o Photo Editing Tools (e.g. Photoshop, Paint.NET, GIMP)

o Video Production Software (e.g. Premier Pro, After Effects)

o YouTube

Responsibilities:

• Works with the Business leadership to complete projects (e.g. Business Plan, Build


training

• Works closely with the Marketing Lead to maintain and update branding

standards

• Oversees creation of team videos (e.g. Robot Unveiling, End-of-Season, safety

animation) in accordance with branding standards

• Oversees creation/updates to team graphics (e.g. logo, letterhead) in

accordance with branding standards

• Keeps inventory of all Media equipment/materials

• Chooses and approves subdivision delegates to the Strategy Council with the

Business Lead

Public Relations Lead (Business)

Required Skills:


entrepreneurs

• Able to communicate effectively with eloquent writing and speaking skills

• Proficient in:


o HubSpot CRM/Sales

o Social Media Apps (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Responsibilities:

• Works with the Business leadership to complete projects (e.g. Business Plan, Build


training

• Organizes outreach events/projects for the entire team and makes sure they are

photographed and written up afterwards

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• Works closely with the Marketing Lead and the Booster Club to actively

communicate with parents, sponsors, donors, and partners by posting/sending

regular updates through the team newsletter and the website

• Oversees timely efforts in crediting sponsors accurately through display and

appreciation packages from their respective Sponsorship Tier

• Works closely with the Marketing Lead to maintain the Sponsorship Tiers

• Facilitates fundraisers and other events for the team with the Booster Club and

the Business Lead

• Assists heavily with team recruiting efforts

• Keeps inventory of all Public Relations equipment/materials

• Maintains the Business-related page(s) of the Pit Binder

• Chooses and approves subdivision delegates to Strategy Council with the

Business Lead

CAD Lead (Engineering)

Required Skills:

• Possesses a strong desire to teach others and see them grow as young engineers

• Possesses creativity when brainstorming solutions to deal with difficult problems

and setbacks

• Proficient in:

o SolidWorks or another computer-aided design (CAD) software

o GrabCAD or another CAD management tool


Responsibilities:

• Effectively organizes and manages all CAD projects (e.g. robot design, tool

design)

• Works with the Engineering leadership to complete projects (e.g. robot) and

carry out any necessary training

• Keep GrabCAD and SolidWorks organized efficiently

• Keep up and enforce CAD Subdivision standards:

o Naming convention (outlined in CAD Subdivision folder)

o Folder structure (outlined in CAD Subdivision folder)

o Project structure

• Provides the Engineering leadership the parts and cost estimate of the robot

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• Makes sure every robot part is organized along with its schematic

• Keeps inventory of all CAD equipment/materials (e.g. product keys)

• Maintains the CAD page(s) of the Pit Binder


Engineering Lead

Electrical Lead (Engineering)

Required Skills:

• Familiar and demonstrates a clear understanding of electrical principles

• Able to cleanly organize wires and components

• Knows how to solder and maintain electrical components



and setbacks

• Proficient in:

o Any flowcharting tool (e.g. Dia Diagram Editor)

o Drawing basic schematics

o Identifying all robot components

Responsibilities:

• Effectively organizes and manages all Electrical projects (e.g. robot electrical,

sensors, tools)

• Closely coordinates efforts with Programming Lead to complete projects

between the two subdivisions



• Locates and submits tools and parts from various suppliers (AndyMark, Lowe's,

VEX, Agri Supply, Grainger, etc.) for approval for order

• Makes sure flowcharts and schematics are created for every Electrical project

• Keeps inventory of all Electrical equipment/materials

• Compiles a Bill of Materials (BOM) for the Electrical Subdivision at the end of Build

Season

• Be a part of Pit Squad with a rotating Electrical member during competitions

• Maintains the Electrical page(s) of the Pit Binder

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Engineering Lead

Fabrication Lead (Engineering)

Required Skills:

• Familiar with a wide range of tools and can teach others how to use them

• Possesses enough prior knowledge on mechanics and systems (e.g. pneumatics,

drivetrain)


• Can recognize if an idea is feasible or not

• Possesses creativity when brainstorming solutions to deal with difficult problems or

setbacks

• Proficient in:


o Measuring and calculating

Responsibilities:

• Effectively organizes and manages all Fabrication projects (e.g. robot

construction; tool construction such as battery box, robot cart, and tables)



• Locates and submits tools and parts from various suppliers (e.g. AndyMark,

Lowe's, VEX, Northern Tool, Grainger) for approval for order

• Compiles a Bill of Materials (BOM) for the Fabrication Subdivision by the end of

Build Season

• Coordinates supervision of a safe, healthy environment in the workshop with

Engineering Lead, mentors, and supervisors

• Keeps inventory of all fabrication equipment/materials

• Be a core part of Pit Squad with a rotating Fabrication member during

competitions

• Maintains the Fabrication Page(s) of the Pit Binder


Engineering Lead

Programming Lead (Engineering)

Required Skills:

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• Well-acquainted with WPI libraries

• Familiar with web design and development (HTML & CSS)

• Keen on actively following an algorithmic thinking



and setbacks

• Proficient in:

o GitHub

o Eclipse or any other supported IDE

o Java and any other supported language

o Any flowcharting tool (e.g. Dia Diagram Editor)


Responsibilities:

• Effectively organizes and manages all Programming projects (e.g. robot

programming, app development, website, tools)

• Closely coordinates efforts with Electrical Lead to complete projects between

the two subdivisions



• Works with Drive Team to use the ideal robot control scheme and feedback on

the driver station

• Makes sure flowcharts are created for every Programming project

• Keeps inventory of all programming equipment/materials (e.g. driver station

laptop with charger, product keys)

• Be a part of Pit Squad with a rotating Programming member during competitions

• Maintains Programming page(s) of the Pit Binder


Engineering Lead

Head Safety Captain (Strategy Council)

Required Skills:

• Able to research techniques useful to the overall safety of the team

• Possesses a good understanding of tools and parts

• Know how to properly use the battery spill kit

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• Demonstrates creativity in engaging a diversified audience

• Possesses a desire to learn new things about both engineering and business

Responsibilities:

• Leads and organizes a group of students, or a committee, to enforce safety and

safety campaigns throughout the team even at competitions

• Provides regular safety training to the entire student body including reviewing the

FRC Team Safety Manual

• Organizes members of the Safety committee, called Safety Captains, to

maintain safety by following the FRC Safety Manual and talking to Safety

Advisors during competitions

• Keeps inventory of all safety glasses and materials as well as transporting them if

necessary

• Make sure Competition Pit is orderly and regulates all traffic to and from the Pit

with kicking out people as necessary

• Actively discourages unsafe behavior with authority to stop anyone from

carrying out a task if safety procedures are violated and bring these behaviors to

attention

Student Mentors

Although Student Mentors tend to already have a lot of experience being part of the

team and the FIRST community, they are only expected to assist the members of the

team whenever they can. Student Mentors may not be part of the team’s leadership

and assume leadership responsibilities. In addition, they cannot be part of Drive Squad

except for Drive Coach.

Leadership Commitment

All members must realize that they will be required to devote more effort to the team

once they become part of any Techno Wolves leadership. This involves attending more

meetings, taking on a professional attitude, serving as a role model to other members,

and being expected to complete assigned tasks with high quality in a timely manner.

Failure to show commitment will result in action taken per the Leadership Consequences

section defined in the Code of Conduct & Policies.

Elections

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The election process for the next season’s Executive Leadership (i.e. Team Lead, Vice-

Team Lead, Business Lead, Engineering Lead) must be completed before and shall start

no later than four weeks before the end of the season on May 31, 2018. The entire

process is outlined as follows:

1. The position description, requirements, and responsibilities form will be sent out

to the entire student body with the nomination form. The nomination window

shall only remain open for 48 hours.

2. Adult Leadership shall review the eligibility of accepting nominees based on

shown skills and expertise, dedication and involvement on the team, previous

leadership experience and/or leadership qualities, and the required skills and

responsibilities of the position. Only a maximum of two students will be chosen to

run for each position.

3. Eligible nominees will be notified of their nominations two days after nominations

close and will need to send an email to the Adult Leadership with either a

statement of acceptance or declination, Nomination Acceptance Form (in

Appendix), and a written qualification document which exceeds no more than

500 words. This email must be sent no later than 11:59 PM two days after

receiving the notification to avoid an assumed declination.

4. Students and mentors shall create questions to ask candidates about their

positions. Adult Leadership shall then review the questions and choose

appropriate questions for each position. Nominees may also choose to give a

speech immediately prior to their Q&A session.

5. Each candidate shall then be asked the chosen questions for his/her position

independently in front of the entire student body within one week. Candidates

shall answer in accordance with their experience and platform.

6. At the end of the question and answer (Q&A) period, a voting form shall be

made online by the Adult Leadership in which members will select their

candidate choice for each position. Polls will stay open only for a 48-hour

period.

7. Candidates shall be elected on majority vote and voting results will be sent out

no earlier than 48 hours before the polls close.

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Once the term of the newly elected Executive Leadership starts on June 1st, the

previous Executive Leadership will hold a meeting for a formal transition and will

shadow and provide guidance to the new leads for a month from the meeting.

Appointments

Appointed Leadership appointments (i.e. subdivision leads, Finance Manager, Head

Safety Captain) shall take place during August and/or September of offseason.

Nominees shall be determined by the Executive and Adult Leaderships based upon

seen skills and expertise, dedication and involvement on the team, and any prior

experience or leadership qualities. The appointment process is outlined as follows:

1. A prioritized list (most qualified to least qualified) with a minimum of two students

for each appointed role shall be created by the Executive and Adult Leaderships

after an analysis of students’ skills, commitment, and seniority.

2. The first student on the lists will be notified of their nomination with the description

(required skills and requirements) of their respective role within a week of

creating the list. The nominee must either respond with a statement of

acceptance or declination and a signed copy of the Nomination Acceptance

Form (in Appendix) no later than 11:59 PM two days after receiving the email.

3. If he/she rejects the nomination, the next student on each of the lists will be

notified of their nomination with the description of their respective role until the

position is filled.

Leadership Meetings Leadership meetings shall be held on a regular weekly basis determined by the new

Executive and Appointed Leadership each year. All members of the Student

Leadership and at least one member of the Adult Leadership are required to attend

the meeting. The rules for Student Leadership meetings are included in the Appendix at

the end of this handbook. Members who wish to suggest a change to the team’s

structure or introduce a major idea in the team must do so via a member of the Student

Leadership or may sometimes be invited to attend the meeting. If he/she is already a

member of Student Leadership, then he/she must fill out the Leadership Proposal

Template (in Appendix) as completely as possible and share it with the rest of Student

and Adult Leaderships for approval.

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Emergencies There might be certain situations year-to-year which inhibits the functions of the team.

In case any of these situations occur, the following procedures will take place to

maintain the functionality of the team. Plans for additional scenarios are outlined in the

Contingency Plan in the Appendix.

I. The loss of Primary Leads

a. To fill the position of Team Lead:

i. The current Vice-Team Lead will assume the position of Acting

Team Lead until a member has been appointed to the position of

Vice-Team Lead via the following procedure.

b. To fill the position of Vice-Team Lead:

i. The current Head Safety Captain will assume the position of Acting

Vice-Team Lead and continue serving as the Head Safety Captain.

ii. An emergency election will be held to fill in the vacant spot if

deemed necessary by the rest of the Executive Leadership and the

Adult Leadership.

II. The loss of Division Leads

a. Acting Division Leads will be appointed by the approval of the rest of

Executive Leadership and Adult Leadership from the current respective

subdivision leads.

i. Important decisions will be made by a consensus of all the

subdivision leads for the respective division. Final say on all

decisions will still be determined by the Primary Leads.

b. Hold emergency elections to fill in the vacant spot left by the division lead

if deemed necessary by the Executive Leadership.

i. The term will remain until the end of the season (May 31st)

ii. Appointments to fill in any vacancies in the Appointed Leadership

shall not be made unless deemed necessary.

III. The loss of Appointed Leads

a. Appointments to fill in any vacancies in the Appointed Leadership shall

not be made unless deemed necessary. The responsibilities for the vacant

position must be fulfilled by the division lead.

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V1 – 10/2017 32

IV. The loss of coaches

a. To fill in the position of Head Coach/Lead Mentor:

i. The current Assistant/Alternate Coach shall assume the position of

Acting Head Coach/Lead Mentor until a mentor fills in the now

vacant position of Assistant/Alternate Coach via the following

procedure.

b. To fill in the position of Assistant/Alternate Coach:

i. The mentor with the most attendance shall assume the position of

Acting Assistant/Alternate Coach until a permanent solution has

been found.

ii. If the mentor declines, then the mentor with the next highest

attendance shall be asked until one has been appointed.

V. The loss of the workspace

a. Identify a members’ home to fabricate from

b. Work from NCSU’s campus by utilizing its facilities (e.g. libraries, The

Garage)

c. Ask other teams or organizations (e.g. FIRST NC, The Forge Initiative) for

room to work or for a potential workspace

d. Hold virtual calls with small groups of students, especially for the Business

Division and the Programming Subdivision

Elections

The emergency elections will take only in certain circumstances outlined above. A

student may be temporarily appointed as an acting lead to a position until he/she is

confirmed with this process. The process for emergency elections will be carried out as

followed:

1. The nominations window will open for 48 hours to all students to nominate

someone to the respective position.

2. The nominations will then be reviewed by the Adult Leadership within two days

after the nomination window closes. They will choose a maximum of two people

for each position and will notify the nominees by 11:59 PM on the second day.

This step should be the same as in the normal elections.

3. Voting will be open to all students with the polling window open for 48 hours.

4. Results will be released no earlier than 24 hours of end of the polling window.

Team Handbook

V1 – 10/2017 33

The elected student shall still serve his/her term until the end of the season (May 31st).

Member Responsibility

Eligibility To be eligible to join the team, a student must:

• Be of high school age (14-18 years)

• Have a good behavioral standing with his/her school

• Vow to be devoted to the team and its mission

• Vow to meet the minimum attendance requirements outlined in the Meetings

section

• Vow to pay for the first and second student dues as defined in the Student Dues

section

• Be ready to learn new things without hesitation

Remember that being eligible does not automatically mandate a member to be

accepted on the team.

Requirements To remain a standing member of the team, a student must:

• Meet the eligibility requirements

• Complete all necessary registration with the team and FIRST including paying the

student dues as defined in the Student Dues section

• Wear the appropriate dress code to team meetings and events as outlined in

the Dress Code section below

• Attend all compulsory/necessary meetings and events during offseason and

Build Season

• Send a notice if will be absent or tardy to any of the meetings – three

consecutive unexcused absences will result in a parent/guardian-student

meeting per the Consequences section

• Show respect and demonstrate appropriate behavior (e.g. productivity, safety)

at all team meetings, events, and social media

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• Regularly check and respond to his/her team messages in email, Remind, or

Slack as needed

• Participate in at least four outreach or fundraising events sanctioned by the

team leadership

Failure to meet these requirements will result in action outlined in Consequences section

defined in the Code of Conduct & Policies by the team leadership and/or Booster Club.

Dress Code At team meetings, everyone must wear close-toed shoes and safety glasses if they wish

to be in the workshop area at ALL. At competitions, the team members must wear the

current team competition t-shirt in addition to close-toed shoes and safety glasses in the

Pit area. At the Robot Unveiling Ceremony, all students and mentors are expected to

wear semi-professional or professional clothing with a preference of dark pants, a white

dress shirt, and a red or dark tie. However, at any other team events, wearing the team

shirt and close-toed shoes should be fine unless determined by the team leadership.

Individual Costs Although sponsorships and fundraising efforts are essential in reducing the team’s

expenses, members will still have to devote some financial responsibility if he/she wishes

to join the team. The team annual budget averages about $27,000 and can range as

high as $50,000 depending on the number of students on the team and how far the

team progresses in competitions. A team must cover competition fees ($5,000 for district

events and another $5,000 for state championship), robot fees (maximum of $4,000 for

a competing robot), tools, transportation for the robot and members, and other team

events such as the Robot Unveiling Ceremony and End-of-Season Celebration. Costs

will fluctuate in accordance with gasoline prices, inflation, and competition locations.

The team will be devoted to raising as much funds as possible to reduce costs passed

on to individual members. Student dues cover personal protective equipment (PPE),

such as a single pair of safety glasses and gloves, two competition t-shirts, and any

other gear necessary like the wolf hat. With student dues, members can expect to

individually cover:

• Student dues – dues are broken up in two payments:

o $200 due the last Thursday of October in the offseason

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o $200 (may be waived if the student obtains sponsor funding or reduced

depending on other funding raised) due the last Thursday of January in

the Build Season

• Personal safety glasses if one assigned is lost (~$5)

• Parent carpooling – volunteer drivers pay for gas and possible tolls

• Potluck dish and/or supplies for beginning of season team social

• Potluck dish and/or supplies for Robot Unveiling Ceremony after Build Season

• Gifts for mentors and advisors (~$10), supplies, and/or potluck dish for End-of-

Season Celebration

• FIRST Events (rough estimates before applying raised money):

o (2) District Competitions – transportation and lunch (~$10-$20 per day)

o State Championship – transportation, hotel, and food (~$275)

o World Championship – transportation, hotel, and food (~$450)

o Offseason events/competition (i.e. THOR, workshops) – lunch (~$10-$20)

Student Dues

The first student dues are a mandatory payment of $200 due on the last Thursday of

October. The second student dues are also a mandatory payment of $200 unless the

student finds a sponsor willing to pay for it by mid-December. Depending on how much

the sponsor contributes, it may be qualified per the respective sponsorship tier in the

Team Sponsorship Packet (in Appendix). If the student does not find a sponsor, he/she is

responsible for paying the second student dues by the last Thursday of January.

Meetings Members will be required to attend a minimum number of meetings and at least four

outreach/fundraising events to qualify for Pit Squad, Drive Squad, and team leadership.

Attendance requirements, as outlined below, differs among roles on the team:

Offseason – Summer (July - August):

• 2 meetings per week for Student Leadership

• 1 meeting per week for the rest of the student body

Offseason – Pre-Build Season (September - December):


• 1 meeting per week for the rest of the student body

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Build Season (January - February):

• 3 meetings per week for rookie members

• 4 meetings per week for veteran members and Student Leadership

Competitions & End-of-Season (March - June):


• 2 meetings per week for the rest of the student body

Communication Members will be responsible to continuously check various services for any

communication regarding Techno Wolves. The team often communicates via email,

Google Hangouts, Remind, Slack, and occasionally via text message or call if

necessary.

Fifth-Year Students Students wishing to participate on the team as a fifth-year student, such as in the case

of Wake STEM Early College High School, may do so only as a Student Mentor. They may

not be able to assume a leadership role or be part of Drive Squad except for Drive

Coach.

Competitions Drive Squad

This squad is responsible for participating in the gameplay during matches by driving

the robot as well as forming strategy with other teams on our alliance or that potentially

will be on our alliance. The roles for Drive Squad are determined by the Game Manual

every season and typically include the Drive Coach, Base Drive, Special Functions

Driver, and the Human Player. Any of the Executive Leads are not allowed to be on

Drive Squad. The Drive Coach may be a Student Mentor and will be responsible for

relaying communication between Drive Squad and the team by actively participating

via the team’s tools (i.e. Remind, Slack, Zello) as well as making sure a Drive Squad

member is in the Pit twenty minutes prior to a match. In addition, Drive Coach will

primarily be responsible for coordinating gameplay for matches with other alliance

coaches. Members on Drive Squad will be determined by the following process:

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1. At the end of the fourth week of Build Season, either the Team Lead or Vice-

Team Lead will determine eligibility based on whether members have met their

attendance requirements. Although the minimum hours required for attendance

will vary from year to year, the requirement will generally be 36 hours for rookie

members and 48 hours for veteran members at the end of the fourth week.

2. Eligible members will then be given a quiz sometime during the fifth week of Build

Season, which they must pass in order to advance to tryouts. The quiz must be

made by a Lead or Mentor who has completely read the manual and will not be

participating on Drive Squad.

3. Members who have passed the quiz will be allowed to practice driving the robot

before tryouts. Non-participating Leads and Mentors will judge on a fair set of

criteria (e.g. speed, strategy, skill) and eliminate each position to a single

member with a backup for emergency cases. In the case of Drive Coach, the

backup must either be a current or former member on Drive Squad except in the

case where a capable Student Mentor can be chosen to replace him/her.

4. After Build Season, the Drive Squad, as decided based on the quiz and tryouts,

will be continued to be tested on their skill for quick thinking and forming strategy

quickly.

5. In competitions, Drive Squad will be required to attend the load-in day and play

all the matches. If an emergency arises, the Drive Squad member must notify

either the Drive Coach or a lead, so they can get a backup to play for them.

Pit Squad

This squad is responsible for carrying out necessary maintenance on the robot between

the matches, organizing the Pit, and answering any questions by judges and other

teams. Pit Squad must be limited to the following roles at ALL times: one Electrical

members, two Fabrication members, one Programming member, one Safety Captain,

and one Business representative. In addition, at least one mentor and one Executive

Lead will also be present. The Executive Lead will be providing oversight and be

responsible for actively relaying communication between Pit Squad and the team via

the team’s tools. The Safety Captain present also has the authority to remove anyone

exceeding the limit or not demonstrating safe behavior (e.g. not wearing safety

glasses). Pit Squad will be determined by the following process:

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1. Committed members will be given a quiz near the end of Build Season, which

they past pass to be in the Pit. The quiz must be made by a lead or mentor who

has completely read the manual.

2. After rotations for Drive Squad is determined, rotations for Pit Squad will then be

determined for each competition in advance.

3. At competitions, first rotations of Pit Squad will be required to attend the load-in

day. Members will also be expected know their time for rotations via a readily-

accessible schedule.

Stands Squad

This squad is responsible for cheering our robot and Drive Squad during matches in

addition to cheering for others (e.g. rookie teams, teams on or potentially will be on our

alliance), collecting match data, and helping other teams in their Pits. A member,

preferable an Executive Lead, will be required to provide oversight of the stands and

match data as well actively relaying communication via participation of the team’s

tools. Another member will be delegated as the photographer and will be required to

wear the Media badge. A rotating group of six will be assigned to collect match data

for at least five matches. Members of the Stands Squad will rotate based on a schedule

and help other teams in their Pit as needed.

Public Relations (PR) Squad

This squad is responsible for reaching out to other teams in a manner of Gracious

Professionalism and Coopertition, conducting Pit scouting, carrying out Alliance

Selection, and devising strategy to get our team noticed by other teams and judges. PR

Squad will consist of Primary Leads and Business members. This will include a minimum

two members for Pit scouting and one member as the team’s ambassador. All of PR

Squad will be responsible for actively communicating via the team’s tools.

Code of Conduct & Policies

All members on the team are expected to serve as role models to other members as

well as to the community. Members must demonstrate a positive attitude at ALL times,

reliability by coming to team meetings and events on time, and responsibility by helping

in cleaning up the workspace while also going beyond to assist others when needed.

Additionally, members must show responsiveness and leadership skills in doing tasks to

Team Handbook

V1 – 10/2017 39

their fullest quality possible when asked by the appropriate lead or mentor. All members

are expected to finish their homework before coming to the meeting in order to be

focused on team tasks.

The following guiding principles are instrumental in creating a positive and supportive

environment for the students and the community. Techno Wolves should be a fun,

positive, and safe place for all members of the team.

Gracious Professionalism Every member of the team is expected to display Gracious Professionalism always as

well as promoting the ideals of FIRST such as demonstrating:

• A positive attitude

• A clean vocabulary

• A friendly and polite attitude towards all people at ALL times

• Respect for the feelings, opinions, and choices of other members

• Respect for facilities, supplies, tools, and equipment

• Good sportsmanship

Positive Communication Conflicts are very likely to come up especially with students working on tasks on a

deadline. If you do have a conflict with someone, please:

• Always take a deep breath first!

• Remember Gracious Professionalism!

• Recognize your own mistakes and apologize appropriately.

• Assume the best of the person and situation. It’s likely they were doing what

made the most sense from their perspective.

• Be open to the reality that it was most likely a misunderstanding and can be

easily resolved.

• Speak directly to the person with which you have a problem – or another adult,

coach or mentor if that feels more comfortable.

• Speak to the person as soon as you feel you can address it calmly – do not brew

over the issue.

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• Do not use email. Tone and intent can be misconstrued easily and create more

problems.

• Do your best to be dispassionate – express what you thought you heard/saw and

ask for the other person’s perspective. There are always two sides to every issue.

• Remember that the community is our priority and many things can look big when

focusing on a specific issue; but, when you look at the big picture, that issue may

not be as important.

• Make all efforts you can to resolve the issue between the two of you before

going to another person. If you do need to involve someone else, try talking to

another adult, mentor or coach rather than escalating the problem by involving

all your friends.

• Do not further aggravate the issue. Once the problem is resolved, move on and

leave any grudges behind.

Acceptable Use Members may wish to bring in their own devices to help them accomplish tasks. Internet

access shall only be given if the member does not access inappropriate materials

and/or access it excessively for personal use (watching videos, playing games, etc.).

Techno Wolves also maintains the right to own any intellectual property created under

its name. Members must turn in a signed Acceptable Use Form with their application to

access any device, the Internet, and any TW-managed services (e.g. Techno Wolves

Google accounts, Remind, Slack, Trello, Cisco Spark Meeting Notes, GitHub, HubSpot

Sales/CRM).

Consequences Members who fail to demonstrate respect towards their peers, neglect to show up to

meetings without prior notice, refuse to fulfill their responsibilities and carry out their

assigned tasks, not meeting the requirements, and/or carries out an action detrimental

to the environment of the team WILL be issued a warning. Any warnings will be dealt

with the following procedure:

1. The first warning will be issued via a written notice to both the member and

his/her parents/guardians.

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2. The second warning will result in a parent/guardian-student conference with the

coaches to resolve any issue. Depending on the severity, a lead may be

considered for dismissal from his/her position.

3. Failure afterwards or failure to respond will result in the member’s dismissal from

the team with a formal notice.

Leadership

In the case of any of the leads failing to meet their responsibilities as outlined in their

respective role description and responsibilities, a formal warning in writing outlining the

issue(s) and the actions to resolve the issue(s) will be issued by the Adult Leadership.

Afterwards, if matters are not deemed to be resolved or improved, the lead will be

replaced by an appropriate member: Vice-Team Lead for Team Lead, an approved

replacement for a division lead, and a new appointment for an appointed lead.

Tripod Procedure This principle is in place for the protection of both adults and students at competitions

and at any team’s events. For any activities involving students, a combination of no

fewer than 3 student members, coaches, mentors and parents/guardians must be

present (i.e. 3 students, 2 students and 1 mentor/parent, 2 mentors/parents and 1

student). This structure allows different perspectives to monitor and address any

situations in a fair manner with:

• Proper conflict resolution

• Avoidance of he-said/she-said situations

• Addressing questionable behavior

Respect Respect is a key value in a healthy community; being respectful of others and behaving

in a way that protects the health and safety of each person in the community. The

following lists some examples members must practice respect by:

• Refrain from using offensive language

• The team’s workspace is a non-smoking work area

o Smoking is also not allowed at any team events

• Use only the tools each person has been trained to use and not use power or

bladed tools without the supervision of at least one mentor!

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• Use protective gear on eyes, ears, face and hands as necessary

• Wear closed-toe shoes, especially in the workshop and the Pit area at

competitions

• Don’t participate in horseplay in a work area

• Treat tools, materials and the facilities as if they were your own or better! (if you

plug the toilet, unplug it; if other groups have materials out, don’t damage them

or handle them)

• Please let someone know if things are broken, missing, or out of stock so the next

person isn’t surprised and/or inconvenienced

• Avoid coming to team programs when you are sick and could infect others

• Do not engage in any illegal behavior

• Inform the Booster Club, coach, or a mentor of any changes in your contact

information

• Things left in the workspace are not open for others to take and need to be

placed in the designated lost & found area

Specific Situations Unsafe Behavior

If any dangerous or unsafe behavior is discovered during Techno Wolves’ events,

activities or gatherings, depending on the severity, the person may be asked to leave

immediately. When minors are involved, the process outlined in the Consequences

section will be followed. If you see such behavior bring it to the attention of a mentor,

Booster Club board, or parent as soon as possible. All members of the team, even

mentors and parents, will be expected to follow the FIRST Youth Protection Program.

Inappropriate Behavior

Members who engage in behavior deemed inappropriate or disruptive to other team

members as determined by the Adult Leadership will be issued warnings per the

process outlined in the Consequences section above. Gracious Professionalism must be

practiced at ALL times within the team and to other teams. All members of the team,

even mentors and parents, will be expected to follow the FIRST Youth Protection

Program.

Social Media

http://www.firstinspires.org/youth-protection



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Techno Wolves also supports the use of social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, YouTube) and pictures or videos of any member can be posted. Team

members must understand that once information is published (posted or submitted) on

such sites, it is virtually impossible to retract or control the spread of information.

Anything published by a member which is inappropriate and will either do harm to

another member’s reputation or use discriminatory, threatening, or harassing language

will result in his/her removal from the team.

Student Drivers

It is not the Booster Club board’s, mentors’, or coaches’ responsibility to monitor student

drivers. However, while students are participating in team-related activities, they may

not drive with other non-family student drivers unless both sets of parents/guardians

have granted permission and advised the Booster Club, mentor, or coach in advance.

Student Relationships

Like supervisors/managers in the workplace, it is not the mentors’ or coaches’

responsibility to monitor personal relationships between students. If relationships

become a distraction to other participants, the students may be separated during

meeting times. Mentors or coaches may discuss the issue with students at that time. If

the relationship continues to be a distraction, parents/guardians will be notified.

Please refrain from both public displays of affection and aggression at any team

activities or events. Please understand that they are a distraction and are not reflective

of Gracious Professionalism or the goals of Techno Wolves. All members of the team,

even mentors and parents/guardians, will be expected to follow the FIRST Youth

Protection Program.

Support

Booster Club Fundraising Committee

The Fundraising Committee will plan efforts to raise funds for the Techno Wolves

Robotics Booster Club beyond efforts already done within the team (i.e. sponsorships,

grants). The Booster Club may choose to involve the student body if they deem it

beneficial.



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Hospitality Committee

The Hospitality Committee will coordinate arrangements with food requirements for

team activities in addition to organizing and improving the workspace for the students.

This coordination is required for team events including but not limited to: offseason

parent/guardian and student informational sessions, team kickoff meeting, Robot

Unveiling Ceremony, and End-of-Season Celebration. Furthermore, the Hospitality

Committee will be responsible for replenishing the team’s supply of toilet paper, hand

soap, paper towels, and trash bags.

Adult Supervision

Parent/Guardian volunteers are always welcome at the workspace during team

meetings. Adult supervision is instrumental due to the size of the team, especially during

the six-week Build Season. Volunteers may wish to help in providing supervision in the

workspace, food or snacks, or general assistance.

Travel & Lodging Committee

The Travel & Lodging Committee will coordinate travel arrangements on behalf of the

team. This will be needed for transportation for out-of-town events and competitions

which may come up between February and April after the Build Season. Responsibilities

include but not limited to:

• Travel arrangements (carpool, bus, airline, hotel, restaurant) for team events

• Organize hotel rooming assignments and airline seating if applicable

• Create cell phone contact lists and groups with all students and chaperones

• Identify and coordinate trip chaperones

Team Competition

A prime method of support is assistance during competitions. A competition day

typically starts between 7:30-8:00 AM and ends anywhere from 5:30-6:00 PM.

Parent/Guardian volunteers and mentors can help by:

• Coordinating the provision of lunch among parent/guardian volunteers greatly

simplifies this time and avoids students from either needing to leave the

competition location or being restricted to eating food provided by the location.

• Chaperoning for out-of-town competitions is needed to manage the entire team

reliably in addressing the needs of the students.

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• Oversight over students in various tasks such as collection of game statistics,

visiting booths, etc.

• Volunteering with FIRST North Carolina – The District Competitions and State

Championship are usually always in need of volunteers to keep operations

running smoothly. Training and assistance are provided for those who consider

volunteering for such events.

Mentoring

The team requires all kinds of skills ranging from business to engineering. Mentoring is an

excellent way to assist the students in understanding and addressing real world

situations they will face with this team. Mentors direct the students in learning how to

address their needs without giving them direct answers through offering resources to

investigate to obtain their answer or alternative solutions to consider as examples. The

objective is for the students to become self-sufficient instead of reliant on the mentors.

We strive to get mentors with the skills used in the various roles with in the team but this is

not always possible. The mentors tend to wear multiple hats depending on where the

needs are and the number of mentors on the team.

Some of the mentors on the team provide partial support by training the team’s regular

mentors. This way the team still benefits from those mentors who can only commit a

small amount of volunteer time. It is extremely important for the veteran mentors to

teach the rookie mentors to maintain skills from year to year.

Registration

FIRST requires the Head Coach/Lead Mentor and the Assistant/Alternate Coach to file a

background screening with FIRST via the FIRST Youth Protection Program. All members of

the team, even mentors and parents, will be expected to follow this program. Techno

Wolves is also requiring adult mentors file a background screening, too. Below is the

process to register adult mentors and initiate the screening process by FIRST:

1. The Head Coach/Lead Mentor invites mentors to the team from TIMS

2. After a mentor accepts the invite, the Head Coach/Lead Mentor or

Assistant/Alternate Coach requires screening for the mentor.

3. FIRST will generate an email to the mentor inviting them to go to the FIRST

account with the contracted screening agency.


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4. FIRST will send the Head Coach/Lead Mentor confirmation of team volunteers

who have passed screening.

Sponsorship

The team largely relies on support from external entities (individuals or organizations) to

provide monetary or in-kind donations. Grants and donors may also fall under this

category but don’t get publicly recognized unlike sponsors. Please look in the Appendix

section for more resources concerning sponsorships.

Team Schedule

The Techno Wolves annual season starts on June 1st and ends on May 31st. The season is

divided into several periods outlined below:

Offseason – summer (July-August)

• Student Leadership transition

• Booster Club elections and transition

• Team fundraising (e.g. getting sponsors, fundraisers)

• Student and mentor recruitment

• Outreach events (e.g. robot demos, volunteering)

Offseason – Pre-Build Season (September-December)

• Member recruitment with interested parent/guardian and student informational

sessions

• Team fundraising (e.g. acquiring sponsors, applying for grants, helping with

fundraising events)

• Outreach events (e.g. robot demos, community service/volunteering)

• Team Kickoff Meeting for new season

• New members start attending meetings and team social(s)

• FIRST offseason events (i.e. THOR, team workshops)

• FIRST award application submissions open

Build Season (January-February)

• FRC World Kickoff (1st Saturday of January)

• Plan and build robot in a six-week period

• FIRST award application deadline(s)

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• Robot Unveiling Ceremony

Competition Season (March-April)

• Test and make minor improvements to robot in the allotted time (if needed)

• At least two District Competition events (3-4 days for each event)

• FIRST North Carolina State Championship (3-4 days)

• Pack and ship robot to FIRST World Championship (if needed)

• FIRST World Championship in Houston, TX (5-7 days depending on travel

arrangements)

End-of-Season (April-May)

• Season reflections and lessons learned

• Executive Leadership elections

• End-of-Season Celebration

Build Season Kickoff

Build Season lasts for six weeks immediately following the FRC World Kickoff which

typically occurs on the first Saturday of January. The season’s challenge or game is

revealed during the kickoff with teams participating at a local site in their region. Teams

will also get a chance to meet with other teams to make friends, begin initial strategy,

find mentoring teams, pick up the game’s Kit of Parts (KOP), participate in a human

player match of the game, and get geared up for the coming excitement.

Build Season Schedule

Build Season will have a flexible schedule to accommodate for school and personal

commitments while still actively participating on the team. The workspace will be open

six days a week from 5-9 PM on Monday to Friday and 1-5 PM on Saturdays. Students

are encouraged to attend as much as possible, however, maintaining grades should

be a foremost priority. Below is a breakdown of the schedule and an overview of

activities during Build Season:

Monday - Friday

• 6:00-8:30 PM: Planning and building the robot

• 8:30-9:00 PM: Cleaning up workspace and briefing

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Saturday

• 1:00-4:30 PM: Planning and building the robot

• 4:30-5:00 PM: Cleaning up workspace and briefing

Workspace In December 2015, a nonprofit, called Ingenuitas, graciously shared their workspace for

us to use; we must display respect to the workspace and show our appreciation to our

partner at all the times. The Techno Wolves workspace is currently located at:

2516 Reliance Avenue #002, Apex, NC 27539.

Only the Booster Club board, the Adult Leadership, and the Primary Leads of the

Executive Leadership (Team & Vice-Team Lead) will have keys to the workspace.

Students are not allowed in the workshop alone by themselves without the presence of

at least one mentor.

Resources

Team Website The team website is located at the following URL: http://www.technowolves.org. The

website was designed and programmed completely by hand by the members on the

team.

Team Calendar The team calendar shows all the team’s events planned for the year. Events will be

continuously updated by both the team leadership and Booster Club and is available

on the Techno Wolves website.

Team Tools Google Drive

The team uses Google Drive to share files and content. It follows a straightforward

organization with folders for the full team, each of the divisions, the Booster Club, and

the team leadership which is shared with the respective groups.

http://www.technowolves.org/

http://technowolves.org/resources#calendar

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Remind

Remind will be used to communicate important announcements, especially more

immediate or urgent ones, to the students alongside Slack and email.

Slack

Slack is web-based team collaboration tool with searchable content (e.g. files,

conversations, people) and integration with other team tools (i.e. Google Drive, Trello,

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes). For more information on using Slack, see the Using Slack

section in the Appendix.

Trello

Trello is a web-based project management tool which consists of various boards used

by the Student Leadership, mentors, and Booster Club. Projects and grouped tasks are

represented by cards, which are then sorted into a time-based or status-based list.

Cards can contain checklists representing tasks and must include members that are

assigned to it.

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes is a collaborative web-based meeting agenda tool that

works with Google Calendar and ensures meetings can follow an orderly and defined

schedule. Cisco Spark Meeting Notes also helps meetings to be productive and can

make sure meeting notes are communicated with everyone involved, leaving them

with the same understanding of what was decided and next steps.

Contact The team leadership can be contacted at its primary email address

[email protected]. Below is the respective contact information of the Booster

Club, the Adult Leadership, and the Primary and Division Leads of the Student Body.

Booster Club

President: Jackie McVey

Vice President: Michele Johnson

Secretary: Angela Peterson

Treasurer: Jamie Kropp

mailto:[email protected]

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Email communication with the Booster Club is available at the following email address:

[email protected].

Adult Leadership

Head Coach/Lead Mentor: Mike Olech ([email protected])

Assistant/Alternate Coach: Michael Johnson

School Liaison (STEM ECHS): Richard Lockamy

Executive Leadership

Primary Leads

Team Lead: Jimmy Kropp ([email protected])

Vice-Team Lead: Taha Bokhari ([email protected])

Division Leads

Business Lead: McKinna Estridge ([email protected])

Engineering Lead: Alex Boyer ([email protected])

Other Team Social Media & Communication

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TechnoWolves

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/technowolves

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/technowolves

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4W2zSaQHVeYPwlp_2xLhg

Remind: https://www.remind.com

FRC Team 5518 Slack: https://tw5518.slack.com

FIRST & FRC Information

FIRST: http://www.firstinspires.org

FIRST North Carolina: http://www.firstnorthcarolina.org

Chief Delphi: http://www.chiefdelphi.com

The Blue Alliance: http://www.thebluealliance.com

NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentors): http://www.firstnemo.org







https://www.facebook.com/TechnoWolves/

https://www.twitter.com/technowolves

https://www.instagram.com/technowolves/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4W2zSaQHVeYPwlp_2xLhg

https://www.remind.com/

https://tw5518.slack.com/

http://www.firstinspires.org/

http://www.firstnorthcarolina.org/

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/

http://www.thebluealliance.com/

http://www.firstnemo.org/

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Glossary

• Adult Leadership: A body of that will provide overarching guidance of the team.

It includes the Head Coach/Lead Mentor, Assistant/Alternate Coach, eligible

adult mentors, and the School Liaison.

• Appointed Leadership: A body of Student Leadership that are appointed by the

Executive Leadership in consensus with the Adult Leadership. It includes the

subdivision leads, the Finance Manager, and the Head Safety Captain.

• Booster Club: The official 501(c)(3) organization under which Techno Wolves is

sheltered.

• Coopertition: It is one of the core values of FIRST and FRC and involves

cooperating while competing.

• Committee: A group of 2-4 members (in the Strategy Council and the Booster

Club) that are assigned a subset of tasks.

• Division: A primary branch within our team structure. There are two divisions,

Business and Engineering, led by their respective Division Leads.

• Drive Squad: The group that oversees driving of the robot and forming strategy

with other teams during matches in competitions. It consists of the Drive Coach,

Base Driver, Special Functions Driver, and the Human Player.

• Executive Leadership: This includes the Primary Leads (Team & Vice-Team) and

the Division Leads (Business & Engineering).

• Gracious Professionalism: It is one of the core values of FIRST and FRC and

involves treating each other with respect and kindness.

• Meeting Facilitator: The individual who is responsible for sending the meeting

invite, leading the meeting, and creating the meeting agenda for Leadership

meetings (Team Lead) and Strategy Council meetings (Vice-Team Lead).

• Mentor: An adult who only teaches and assists the students in a variety of skills.

This can include a Student Mentor with certain requirements and exceptions.

• Pit Squad: The group that oversees the maintenance of the robot and organizing

the Pit area at competitions. Safety Captains are an integral part of this group.

• Primary Leads: This includes the Team Lead and Vice-Team Lead whom are part

of the Student Body’s Executive Leadership.

• Rookie Member: A member of the student body who is currently participating in

their first season on the team.

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• School Liaison: A member of the Adult Leadership who will be responsible for

coordinating team activities with a partnered school.

• Season: A period which Techno Wolves considers between June 1st and May 31st

of every year. Leadership is changed every season.

• Secretary: The individual responsible for recording and publishing the meeting

minutes taken during the Leadership meetings (Vice-Team Lead) and Strategy

Council meetings (Head Safety Captain).

• Senior Veteran Member: A student who has participated on the team for at least

two complete seasons.

• Sponsor: Any individual or organization who supports the team either by

monetary or in-kind donations (e.g. tools, services).

• Strategy Council: A group consisting of delegates from every subdivision along

with Vice-Team Lead and Safety Captain to discuss strategy and carry out

certain tasks.

• Student Body: This body includes all the students on the team (even the Student

Mentors).

• Student Leadership: The leadership of the Student Body. This includes both the

Executive and Appointed Leaderships.

• Student Mentor: Members of the team that serve to teach and help the students

and cannot be part of Drive Squad (except for Drive Coach) and any

leadership.

• Subdivisions: Specific branches under both the Business and Engineering

Divisions, led by their respective subdivision leads.

• TriPod Procedure: A safety measure in place for the students of the team.

• Volunteer: A parent/guardian of a student member who actively supports team

efforts.

• Team Leadership: The team’s leadership includes the entire Student Leadership

and Adult Leadership.

• Veteran Member: A student who has participated on the team for at least one

complete season.

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Updates

Only Leadership Proposals approved by majority vote of both the Student and Adult

Leaderships can make key proposals to this handbook. Updates to this handbook will

be sent out to everyone after every significant number of changes. The most recent

version of the handbook will always be available in the team Google Drive folder in PDF

format.

Appendix

Using Slack Logging In

To log in to Slack, either head over to https://slack.com/ or the Slack app on your

phone and click Sign In. Make sure you have been invited to join the team on Slack

and have logged in at least once already. Enter “tw5518” in the Slack Domain field and

“.slack.com” should automatically be added. You may now continue logging in with

your username and password. Alternatively, you can log in directly with your username

and password by visiting https://tw5518.slack.com.

Bots

@slackbot

This bot is a built-in feature of Slack. It can be used to provide help and answer generic

questions. Slackbot also supports custom responses, but this feature has yet to be

implemented.

@trello

Trellobot is included as an integration between Trello and Slack. It allows a user to add

cards to lists in boards linked to the channel. A user can also assign another user and set

deadlines to the card as well as attaching Slack conversations to it. To use Trellobot,

you must link your Trello account with your Slack profile.

@worklife

This bot is part of an integration with Cisco Spark Meeting Notes, a meeting

management tool. It has features to view and show details for upcoming meetings with

the ability to create a new meeting.

https://slack.com/

https://tw5518.slack.com/

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Channels

Slack has a feature called Channels in which discussions can be separated into groups.

Public channels are visible to everyone and anyone in the team can contribute to it.

Private channels are restricted to only certain individuals on the team who are invited.

You can mention an individual specifically by typing “@” followed by their username

and channels preceded by the “#” symbol. Direct Messages can be used to send

messages to someone directly and can only be seen by the two members.

Competition-specific channels will be created during competitions.

#brainstorm (Public)

This channel should be used to discuss ideas for research, building (robots, tools, etc.),

strategy, and any technology that can potentially be used on the team. Examples of

this can include talking about a new opportunity which can greatly benefit the team or

an innovative method for scouting during competitions.

#business (Public)

The business channel is used to discuss anything related to the Business Division. This

includes everything from tasks to responsibilities associated with the division and its

subdivisions (Marketing, Media, and Public Relations).

#engineering (Public)

The engineering channel should be used to discuss anything related to the Engineering

Division. This includes everything from tasks to responsibilities associated with the division

and its subdivisions (CAD, Electrical, Fabrication, and Programming).

#general (Public)

This channel is for team-wide communication and announcements. Examples of this

can include general questions, concerns, improvements that can be discussed with

anyone else on the team.

#media (Public)

This channel is open to discuss specifically media-related tasks and projects such as

video production or graphics. Feel free to get very technical in this channel and share

any files as needed.

#programming (Public)

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The programming channel is open to discuss specifically programming-related tasks

and projects such as setting up the IDE and troubleshooting the roboRIO or syncing on

GitHub. Feel free to get very technical in this channel and share any files as needed.

#random (Public)

This channel should be used to talk about things that doesn’t have much to do

specifically with team tasks.

#strategy (Public)

The strategy channel should be used to specifically talk about Strategy Council-related

tasks and committees such as website, awards, and game strategy.

#executive (Private)

The executive channel is for the Executive Leadership to discuss, plan activities, and

address concerns for the team.

#leadership (Private)

This channel should only be used to talk about leadership-related tasks or concerns. It

should be open to the entire Student Leadership body, including the primary mentors in

the Adult Leadership as well as members of both the Executive and Appointed

Leaderships.

#mentors (Private)

This channel should be used for mentors to discuss mentor-related tasks,

education/training for the students on the team, and improvements for the team.

Commands

Polling

To create a poll, type in the command “/poll” followed by the question in quotations

and separated by a space. Answer choices for the poll can be added in a similar

manner: in quotations and separated by a space.

Trello

To use Trello within Slack, type in the command “/trello” followed the Trello command

you would like to use. For example, you can assign Team Lead to a card by typing “/trello

add @tlead5518 [card name].” Additionally, if you don’t know a card name, you can

search it by typing “/trello search” followed by the search terms. You may have to first

authorize your Trello account with your Slack account before being able to use a

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command. For a full list of Trello commands, either type “/trello help” or go to this link

http://help.trello.com/article/1049-slack-app.

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes

To use Cisco Spark Meeting Notes within Slack, use the “/spark_meetings” command

followed by commands for Cisco Spark Meeting Notes. For example, to view upcoming

meetings, type in “/spark_meetings meetings.” You may have to first authorize your

Cisco Spark Meeting Notes account with your Slack account. For a full list of Cisco Spark

Meeting Notes commands, type in “/spark_meetings help.”

Contingency Plan The contingency plan will serve as a guide for current and future leaderships to use in

certain scenarios when the team’s functionality is limited. The following options are

available for leadership to choose in case any of these scenarios occur.

In the case of a lack of students in the team:

I. Subdivisions will be collapsed into each other

a. The Electrical Subdivision will be collapsed into the Fabrication Subdivision

b. The Marketing Subdivision will be collapsed into the Media and Public

Relations Subdivisions

II. Students will be actively recruited mid-season

a. Students will be recruited from the team’s partner schools (e.g. Wake STEM

ECHS)

b. Students will be recruited from other schools that currently have Techno

Wolves team members

c. Students will be recruited from local high schools

III. A failure to attend three consecutive meetings and/or a failure to meet the

outreach event requirements will result in disciplinary action. This action is

outlined below in the procedure for Consequences.

In the case of a lack of mentors on the team:

I. The call for parents/guardians to actively volunteer their time will increase.

II. Local FRC teams will be contacted to offer their immediate support.

III. All sponsors and partners will be contacted to offer their immediate support.

http://help.trello.com/article/1049-slack-app

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In the case of a severely damaged robot:

I. Only a partial functionality of the robot will be used, such as using only the robot

base, and instead devote a stronger effort to supporting teams

II. If the robot is extremely damaged, participation in the matches will be halted

and time will instead be devoted to achieve at least a partial functionality of the

robot.

In the case of broken machines or equipment:

I. Use money allocated in budget for repair purposes to fix machinery or

equipment

II. Ask nearby teams to either borrow or use equipment necessary to complete a

task

III. Ask sponsors to either borrow equipment or use services to complete a task

In the case of the lack of money:

I. As a cautionary measure, allocate money for emergency purposes that must not

be used unless deemed absolutely necessary

II. Revisit stagnant relationship with companies

a. Designate someone to reinitiate stalled communication

b. Try to initiate contact for a potential sponsor via a presentation or demo

c. Remain in communication with previous sponsors even if not able to

sponsor again

III. Actively seek out new sponsors

a. Try to initiate contact for a potential sponsor via a presentation or demo

b. Approach current sponsors and partners for new connections

c. Utilize creative methods, such as:

i. Approaching 2nd or 3rd connections in LinkedIn

ii. Attending career fairs and business events

iii. Giving “elevator pitches” to everyday professionals

d. Ask FIRST North Carolina for help

IV. Heavily promote fundraising efforts

a. Coordinate with the Booster Club board to set up multiple fundraisers

b. Set up an online fundraising page (e.g. Edco, GoFundMe)

c. Sell team merchandise in a physical or online store

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Robot Demonstration Checklist This procedure is to be referred to when the Public Relations Subdivision requires

guidance in preparing in advance for an upcoming robot demonstration (demo).

1. Identify the demo opportunity

a. Check the team and school calendars to see if date/time is available for

students and parents/guardians

b. If needed, tailor the presentation to best suit the appeal of the audience

i. Presentation and practice must be done two weeks’ prior

2. Assign person to handle communication with the Point of Contact

a. Determine how and when the demo will be conducted as well as the

robot transportation (logistics)

3. Robot must be checked for repairs two weeks prior and all repairs should be

finished a week prior.

4. Determine the student members attending two weeks prior (there needs to be at

least one veteran business, one rookie business, one photographer, one veteran

engineering, and one rookie engineering)

5. Pack all demo items on the meeting before the demo using the Demo Items

Checklist

6. Notify the Engineering Lead and the Engineering subdivision leads ASAP after

confirming a demo

Purchase Order Protocol For a student to request a part or material:

1. He/she must tell the respective subdivision or division lead. Then, the subdivision

lead must submit their name, all specifications of the item (i.e. name, quantity,

dimensions, notes, priority), and all supplier information (i.e. supplier name, link,

part number) in the current season’s Purchase Order Form.

2. The system will send an approval request to the Division Leads requesting them

to approve the request. The Division Leads will review request for their divisions to

make sure all information is provided and shall approve it if a need for item exists.

The approver also needs to provide with their approval the budget category to

be used to pay for the item.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w3Dgpo0lVsY63xYHK2Ynbad_uLUhWygf21M38ZiQiS4/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w3Dgpo0lVsY63xYHK2Ynbad_uLUhWygf21M38ZiQiS4/edit?usp=sharing

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3. The system will send out an approved for purchase email to the teams

purchasing members and the Finance Manager.

4. The Finance Manager will review the request to make sure its purchase would be

within budget of the division and its subdivisions. The Finance Manager will send

out a notification to the approver and the purchases if the request exceeds the

budget.

5. Final approval will be done by both the Executive and Adult Leadership.

6. Once the request is approved, the purchaser will buy the item(s) and send the

receipts or order invoices of any purchases, whether physical or electronic, to

the Finance Manager who will record it under the appropriate budget and will

issue a purchase order number.

7. Finally, once the order is received, the lead who submitted the request will

confirm that the item has been received properly with the Executive Leadership

and Finance Lead. If the item is damaged or non-functional, the same

subdivision lead will resubmit the form with the same details but including

problems with the part in the Notes section.

During offseason, the Executive Leadership and the Finance Manager will review the

submitted items biweekly (twice a week) with a Primary Lead showing the reviewed list

to a member of Adult Leadership at the end of the week. During Build Season, the

submitted items will be reviewed every day with a Primary Lead showing the list to an

Adult Lead biweekly (twice a week).

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Application Authorization

“This health history form, including prior pages, is correct and accuracy reflects the

health status of my student to whom it pertains. I hereby grant permission to provide

routine health care, administer prescribed medications, and seek emergency medical

attention for my son or daughter. I agree to the release of any records necessary for

insurance purposes. I give permission to the Techno Wolves Robotics Booster Club

(TWRBC) to arrange necessary related transportation for my child. If the contact(s) listed

above or I cannot be reached in an emergency, I hereby give permission to the adult

mentor selected by the team to secure and administer treatment, including but not

limited to hospitalization for the person named above.”

Release

“There are inherent risks in participating in team events, including risks in the

construction of robots, in working with electrical connections, traveling to and from

events, and participating in public competitions. These risks also include the risk of

bodily harm (including, without limitation, death or similar traumatic injury) and property

damage or loss. Being fully cognizant of the risks of participating in an event, I hereby

accept those risks. Except to the extent due to the gross negligence or willful

misconduct of Techno Wolves Robotics Booster Club (TWRBC) and to the fullest extent

permitted by applicable laws, I HEREBY WAIVE AND RELEASE ANY CLAIMS OR CAUSES

OF ACTION which I may now or hereafter have against the TWRBC arising in connection

with my participation in any team event, presentations by the Techno Wolves at any

time during the year and/or arising from unofficial FIRST programs and events offered by

others. I hold harmless the TWRBC, against all claims resulting from such participation,

including, without limitation, bodily injury, claims for compensation, defamation,

invasion of privacy, or other infringements or violations of any personal or property rights

whatsoever. I understand that this form involves a release of legal rights.”

Permissions

The application includes certain permissions from the parent/guardian… These

permissions include sharing of personal information (i.e. student’s cell phone number

and email address), photo release, use of social media, transportation, autonomy at

team events (i.e. adult supervision in hotel room), and use of equipment. The mentors

also cannot be held liable for any action taken by your child against the permission or

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advertisements of them. If your child fails to ask permission for activities, violates team

rules, or ignores the guidance of the team leadership or mentors, the parent/guardian

will be notified and the child may be returned home at the parent’s/guardian’s

expense. However, everyone must still adhere to the FIRST Youth Protection Program

guidelines.

Recommendations

To become a member of Techno Wolves, you must submit two recommendations with

the application by a given date. One must be from a teacher and the other one can

be from anyone in the community who is not a family member. The recommendations

must highlight some of your qualities and explain why you would be an ideal candidate

to be committed to the team. Recommendations can be submitted either as a

separate attachment to this application or via email to [email protected]. If

you have issues meeting the deadline, you can too contact us at this email. Returning

members do not have to submit recommendations.

Write-up

To become a member of Techno Wolves, you also must submit a write-up of why you

would like to join the team. This write-up must not exceed 500 words and should be

attached as a page to this application. It is highly advised to be completed with quality

(i.e. reviewed and typed, free of grammatical errors, demonstrates creativity). Make

sure to include any prior leadership experience in the school, community, etc. Returning

members do not have to submit a write-up.

Term

Although the Techno Wolves 2017-18 season formally starts on June 1, 2017 and ends

May 31, 2018, this application – including the consent, release, and permissions –

become effective on the date of signing this document and is valid for one year unless

either a revised consent form is received, a request to withdraw from the team is

received, or the student is removed from the team.


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Acceptable Use Form

Techno Wolves provides its members with the ability to access its services/tools either

via their own devices or through Techno Wolves property. These services are sometimes

needed to allow members to accomplish tasks as a requirement to be part of the

team.

These services include but not limited to:

• Internet

• Communication (e.g. Email, Google Hangouts, Remind, Slack)

• Productivity Tools (e.g. Google Drive, Trello, Cisco Spark Meeting Notes)

• Social Media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube)

• Software (e.g. SolidWorks, GitHub, HubSpot Sales/CRM, WordPress)

Members may not be permitted to use these services for inappropriate uses. Such uses

include:

• Attempting to change configurations without consent

• Using language that promotes bullying or hurting others’ feelings

• Placing a virus or intentionally disrupting others’ network performance

• Accessing inappropriate materials (e.g. gambling, pornography)

• Posing as a detriment to Techno Wolves and others’ reputation

In addition, members may also not use Techno Wolves services for too much personal

or leisure time, such as playing games. This is done to ensure members stay focused on

the team’s tasks and the team does not surpass its monthly internet usage allowance.

My parent and I have read the policies outlined above and have included our

signatures below to promise I will use Techno Wolves services appropriately.

Student Signature: _______________________________________ Date: __________________

Parent/Guardian Signature: ______________________________ Date: __________________

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Meeting Rules Student Leadership

Initial Meeting Discussion At the beginning of each meeting the following will take place:

Role Designation and Definition

Firstly, the purpose and function of each of the roles listed below (i.e. Meeting

Facilitator, Secretary, Backup Secretary) will be read to the meeting members. Any

amendments, too, must be discussed at the beginning of the meeting.

Meeting facilitator will be voted on at the beginning of the first meeting of every month

through a Tally Vote. Members who wish to be the meeting facilitator may either

volunteer or be nominated (nominated members must accept the nomination to move

forward to the voting process).

At the end of the month, a vote will be taken on who will be the next meeting

facilitator, and the new meeting facilitator will assume duties on the first meeting of the

month. The former meeting facilitator will continue their duties through the end of the

month (including the meeting when voting takes place). A Meeting facilitator can hold

his/her position consecutively and indefinitely if no one else is willing to assume the

position.

Secretary and Backup Secretary will be chosen at the beginning of every meeting of

every team season through a Tally Vote. In the event a Meeting Facilitator or both the

Secretary and Backup Secretary are not able to attend a meeting, backups must be

identified by the Meeting Facilitator or Secretary and announced via email and a Slack

message to all invited members.

Only an invited student can be assigned these roles mentioned above; any student

may be allowed to fill the position multiple times. The voted individuals will be recorded

by the Secretary at the top of in the meeting’s minutes with their roles followed by their

names.

Discussion Rules

Determine a Cloture definition and maximum speaking times, if deemed necessary by

the attending members. All of this will be recorded in the “Notes” section of the

meeting minutes by the Secretary or Backup Secretary.

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Additional Rules

Any other rules that the attending members feel necessary for that meeting can be laid

out and recorded by the Secretary in the meeting minutes under the “Notes” section.

Attendance

Both members of the Student Leadership and Adult Leadership must attend the

leadership meetings. Other members and guests may only be allowed to attend if

Student and Adult Leadership approves their attendance by majority vote.

Members can attend either in person, by phone, or by a video conferencing tool. If a

member wishes to attend via the latter two methods, then he/she must prearrange it

with the meeting facilitator.

Inability to Attend

If you are not able to attend a meeting and you are either directly involved with a

discussion, a part of either the Student or Adult Leadership, or an invited guest, you must

notify to the Meeting Facilitator no less than one day before the meeting is to take

place stating that you will not be able to attend the meeting.

If a Meeting Facilitator is unable to make it to a meeting, the meeting facilitator must

select an individual to the position for that meeting and send an email of notification

out to the entire invited body of individuals.

If the secretary is unable to make it to a meeting, the secretary must notify the backup

secretary in advance. If the backup secretary is also unable to attend, they must notify

the meeting facilitator, who will then select a temporary secretary.

Meeting Requirements

Leadership Representation

The minimum requirement for representation needed from the Student Body is:

• A Primary Lead (Team or Vice-Team Lead)

• A division lead (Business or Engineering Lead)

• Three subdivision leads

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If the meeting is to be held after 5:00 PM, then at least one mentor must be present

during the meeting.

Meeting Announcement

A Google Calendar entry must be created by the Meeting Facilitator on the Techno

Wolves team calendar no less than three days prior to the meeting. If a meeting is to be

canceled, it must be announced two days in advance.

Any meeting that needs to be cancelled must be announced three days prior to the

day the respective meeting is scheduled to take place.

Meeting Agenda

The meeting agenda should be developed in Cisco Spark Meeting Notes and posted

to the Leadership Slack channel by the Meeting Facilitator a minimum of three days

before the meeting taking place. The meeting agenda can still be modified up to the

time that the meeting is held.

Everyone invited to the meeting must be included in the Cisco Spark Meeting Notes

meeting entry.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes will be available in the Cisco Spark Meeting Notes.

Voting and Decision Making

Voting

Only the members of the Student and Adult Leadership can vote when in attendance.

Each member of Student Leadership is permitted one vote, whereas each member of

Adult Leadership is permitted one vote but to a maximum of three total. If more than

three members of Adult Leadership are in attendance, the maximum number of votes

will be distributed among the members present. Abstention from voting is also permitted

if Adult Leadership feels that their vote is not vital to the decision and well-being of the

team.

Voice and tally vote are the only two methods permissible during voting. Voting shall be

carried out with the Meeting Facilitator asking the members allowed to vote to state

their opinion. In voice vote, these members shall simply respond with either a “Yes” or a

“No” and whatever response gains the most responses will move the motion to pass or

https://notes.ciscospark.com/

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fail. In tally vote, the Meeting Facilitator will ask and record each eligible member’s

vote individually. The Meeting Facilitator will then tally the votes and the motion will be

decided based on the majority result.

Results will be included in the meeting itinerary under the description of each action

item.

Meeting Flow The following outlines how a typical Leadership Meeting should flow.

I) Initial Meeting Documentation

a) Document Meeting:

i) Location

ii) Start time

iii) Attendees

iv) Meeting Facilitator and Secretary

II) Initial Meeting Discussion

III) Overview of Agenda

IV) Review of Action Items from previous week

V) Discussion of new Discussion/Action Items

VI) Overview of upcoming events

VII) Other meeting specific items

Accountability Mid-Week Check In

Every Wednesday the Vice-Team Lead will be responsible for meeting, discussing the

progress of tasks with the designated members, and updating the team’s project

management system and meeting minutes.

If needed, the Vice-Team Lead or the specific individual will then post a mid-week

update of their given tasks on the TW Overall Leadership Google Group.

Proposals

Proposal Submission

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If a member of Leadership feels as though a rule needs to be amended they must

complete the following:

• Write out the proposal using the Leadership Proposal template

• Have over half of the invited members sign the proposal

• Post to the Leadership Slack channel and send an email to the Meeting

Facilitator containing the above materials.

If a member who is not in Leadership feels as though a rule needs to be amended they

must go to a member of Leadership and ask them to sponsor a proposal.

Ratification

Once a proposal has been submitted, the Meeting Facilitator must call a Tally Vote to

decide the issue during the Leadership Meeting.

Once Passed

Once the proposal has passed, the file for leadership meeting rules must be updated

with the version number and a new link must be added to the TW Leadership Google

Group.

Leadership Proposal

The purpose of a proposal is to introduce a change or addition to the existing structure

of the team.

Leadership shall view the proposal document and collectively decide whether the

proposal is in accordance with achieving betterment for the team. Once a consensus

has been reached, the proposal shall go into effect on the supplied date and terms.

Proposals shall be submitted by attaching a PDF version of the proposal to a Trello card

on the Student Leadership board. After a majority vote for the proposal has been

reached, the proposal shall be printed and signed by the voting members and placed

in the Proposals binder. If deemed necessary, the proposal shall also appear in the next

version of the Team Handbook.

The proposal document consists of seven sections: proposal name, version number,

author, description, provisions, signature, and effective.

• Proposal Name – the name of the suggested proposal

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• Version Number – the version of the proposal document which must be

incremented after each revision of the document

• Author - a list of all the cowriters of the document

• Description - the purpose for the proposal and a brief synopsis of the proposal

provisions

• Provisions – a list of the conditions and terms associated with the proposal

• Signature(s) - the spaces for the authors and additional leadership members to

approve the proposal by signing his/her names with the date of signature

• Effective - the date and terms of when the proposal is going into effect.

A template demonstrating features of the proposal document is given on the next

page.

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Proposal Name: __________________________________________ Version #: ______________

Author(s): __________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Description: ________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Provisions: _________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Signature(s): _____________________________________________ Date: ___________________

_____________________________________________ Date: ___________________

_____________________________________________ Date: ___________________

Effective: __________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

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Nomination Acceptance Form As the nominated student, I have read and accept the leadership role described

above and understand this role will require additional effort and time on my part if I am

elected into this leadership role. I understand I may be removed from this role if I do not

or I am unable to satisfy the requirements imposed by this role.

Student Signature: ______________________________ Date: ____/____/________

As the parent of the nominated student, I have read and understand the additional

effort and time required of my child. I will assist them to satisfy their requirements in this

leadership role which includes allowing my child to attend addition meetings, arriving

early for meetings and staying late for meetings and ensuring transportation for the as

needed. I understand my child may be removed from this role if they do not or are

unable to satisfy the requirements imposed by this role.

Parent Signature: ______________________________ Date: ____/____/________

This form must be turned in no later than 11:59 PM two days after receiving the

nomination email. You may choose to submit it by either turning in a hard copy to the

School Liaison or coaches or replying a scanned copy to the email. However, a signed

hard copy must eventually be turned in. If you are not able to get it turned in for any

reason, please let the respective adult know.

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Sponsor Contact Protocol This document is to be referred to when guidance is required in creating and

maintaining contact with potential sponsors; sponsors are defined as an individual or

organization that provides monetary or in-kind contribution in return for advertising.

1. Identify the Potential Sponsor

a. Tailor presentation/view of the team to best suit the appeal of the

potential sponsor

2. Determine relationship to Point of Contact

3. Assign person to handle contact with the potential sponsor

a. All contact to a sponsor must be approved by the Business Lead

i. Business Lead may allow a student to be added as user in the

HubSpot CRM tool (use chrome extension for Gmail)

ii. Business Lead may give student the authority to continue

contact with/without cross-checking

b. Keep a detailed record of all sponsor contact using the HubSpot

Sales/CRM Tool

c. Sponsor can be invited before asking for sponsorship

4. Determine how meetings will be conducted with potential sponsors (in-person

meeting, email, etc.)

a. For in-person presentations, a Business Lead or Public Relations Lead,

member who is not a lead, and Team or Vice-Team Lead must be

present

i. Required Materials for an In-Person Presentation:

1. Team Sponsorship Packet

2. Presentation Print-out

3. Team Business Card

4. FIRST pamphlet(s)

5. Follow up after each in-person meeting or presentation with a professionally-

written thank-you email

6. If a contribution with a monetary value is offered:

a. Develop an invoice to send to the Sponsor

b. On the reception of the funds, send a thank-you email and determine

their Sponsorship Tier

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c. Prepare the gifts for the Tier that they donated by the end of the

season

d. Give the Sponsor updates on what their money is being used for

i. Maintain contact with the sponsor throughout the season

ii. Invite all sponsors to Major Team Events including robot

unveiling

7. If the Sponsor offers Mentorship and/or Training:

a. Mentorship:

i. Introduce the Sponsor(s) to the workspace

ii. Get the mentors registered and trained

b. Training:

i. Determine how the training is going to be delivered

ii. Determine timing, amount of sessions, etc.

8. Send monthly updates to sponsors

Business Advice • When approaching potential sponsors, try to casually have a conversation, more

than a business meeting. You can gradually build the conversation up robotics

and Techno Wolves without forcing it into the conversation.

• Ex: “I heard your company is very big on volunteering and community outreach.

Can you tell me a little more about this? I’m apart of…[FIRST/TW] …would

supporting a group like this be interesting for you?”

• Try to maintain usage of Mr./Mrs., sponsor, etc. when speaking professionally with

sponsors

• If you can, have someone read over your emails for grammar, spelling, and

making sure you got the point across

• Don’t limit your search for sponsors to technology and manufacturing type

companies. Any company can provide support or volunteers with useful

knowledge. Even a food company who can cater for the team occasionally

could be a huge help.

• Speak your mind. Often, you may find other people have been thinking the

same thing.

• Don’t fear confrontation. Big problems can be scary to bring up, but that’s

because they’re big problems and need to be addressed.

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• When bringing up grievances towards another person, try to talk about their

actions and not attack who they are as a person.

• Remember to be respectful and courteous to everyone, especially sponsors and

people who support the team. Even if you do not personally like someone,

remember this is a team, and you will find yourself needing their help.

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Team Sponsorship Packet

About the Team

Our Mission

“To enrich the minds of high school students by promoting an innovative learning

experience with our community – such as local businesses, schools, and mentors – via

the exploration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)

through the exposure of robotics and business management principles.”

Who Are We?

Techno Wolves FRC Team 5518 is a high school student-led robotics team based in

Apex, North Carolina. We are a fourth-year community-based team partnered with

Wake STEM Early College High School at NC State University. Techno Wolves serves as a

valuable learning experience to all our members; the team structure is based off of an

existing model in the corporate world, giving members an early, competitive edge

when applying for jobs and college. Additionally, our robotics program encourages

students to actively promote the team by attending outreach events, participating in

community service, raising funds, and reaching out to local businesses/organizations to

support us.

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What Can Students Do?

Student members can:

• Animate

• Budget

• Build

• Code

• Communicate

• Compete

• Craft

• Design

• Draw

• Film

• Fundraise

• Install

• Lead

• Learn

• Organize

• Present

• Recruit

• Soldier

• Strategize

• Volunteer

• Wire

• Write

Student Opportunities

• Build and compete with a robot designed by themselves

• Develop business management, engineering design, leadership, problem-

solving, teamwork, technical, and strategy skills

• Gain insightful, hands-on experience

• Work alongside professional business and engineering mentors

• Qualify for over $50 million in college scholarships through FIRST

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Build Season Overview

Team Sponsorship

As a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, we depend on mentoring support

and monetary and in-kind donations, which are considered 100% tax deductible. Our

appreciation packages, listed on the following page, depend on the level of support

we receive from the company.

Important Notes

• Monetary donations can be in the form of cash, checks, gift cards, or vouchers.

In-kind donations can be in form of goods, supplies, services, food, or tools.

• In order for us to give proper credit per the sponsorship tiers, we require a high-

fidelity company logo as well as a brief corporate description from all sponsors.

Furthermore, if a sponsor is donating any goods or services, they MUST provide us

with its fair market or cash value.

• We will hand out the appreciation packages at our Robot Unveiling Ceremony

which usually takes place on the last Saturday of February. Just in case a

company representative is unable to attend the event, he/she must provide us

with their corporate contact information and address beforehand. We

guarantee to hand deliver the gifts by the end of the season (May 31st) unless an

emergency arises of which we will inform the recipient ASAP.

Week 1

• Brainstorming & prototyping

• Ordering parts

Week 2

• CAD (computer-aided design)

• Game Strategy

Week 3

• Approve design & start building

• Programming

Week 4

• Finish building & installing electrical components

Week 5

• Test Robot & make tweaks

• Drive Tryouts

Week 6

• Finalize tweaks

• Prepare for competitions

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Sponsorship Tiers

Bronze Wolf: $250+ in money, goods, or services

• Name/logo on Newsletter and on Website with brief description

• Receive a Letter of Appreciation and a Team Button

Silver Wolf: $500+ in money, goods, or services

• Name/logo on Sponsor Banner displayed at competitions

• Receive a Thank You Photo Card

• All Previous Package Elements

Gold Wolf: $1,000+ in money, goods, or services

• Name/logo on Team Competition t-shirt

• Receive a Team Competition t-shirt


Diamond Wolf: $2,000+ in money, goods, or services

• Name/logo on Robot

• Receive a custom-made team plaque

• Recognition in official team name announced at competitions


Techno Wolves Robotics Booster Club is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit

organization. We appreciate both monetary and in-kind donations. Our W-9 form can

be accessed at this link. Or tax ID is 47-1096460. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

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