So far this off-season, CORE has done at least one outreach event per week. We hope to continue this throughout the summer to ensure that we are truly making a difference in the community. Today, six CORE members went to the Saratoga STEM Academy to talk to middle school students and discuss some of their areas of expertise. In the hour long session, STEM students were encouraged to talk with everyone from CORE to get detailed explanations of what we do.

Whereas many of our demonstrations focus upon giving students basic exposure to robotics and inspiring them to consider STEM fields, this demonstration was unique in that we had time to answer more detailed questions. CORE members had a great time talking about complex engineering processes with these motivated, and highly intelligent students. We look forward to hopefully seeing some of them on our team in the future!

It has been another busy off-season week for CORE. This Tuesday we attended the annual Hillcrest Ice Cream Social and demonstrated two different FRC robots, as well as several VEX bots. The kids from Hillcrest all had a great time completing challenges and learning the controls for both types of robots. In addition, CORE members had fun explaining what robotics is and interacting with the younger students. It is always amazing to see the awe on a child’s face and be reminded of just how extraordinary what we do really is.

That reminder was especially important to our team this week as we spoke at a Bright Lights presentation for the school board, telling them about CORE and robotics. The three CORE presenters gave a 10 minute speech which described not only what our team has done this season, but also the organization through which we compete (FIRST), our community impact, and our mission. In addition, these presenters were supported by several other members and mentors who all came to watch and help answer questions. Overall, the presentation went incredibly well. The board members all reacted positively and gave a variety of insightful comments. In addition, the meeting was broadcast throughout Waukesha, making it an incredible opportunity to spread awareness about our team.

This week a few students were invited to go to Rockwell Automation for engineering week. To introduce employees to FRC we presented last year’s robot and discussed the challenge and competition. As we drove around Hermes, our robot, visitors asked questions about our team. A few even drove and played catch with Hermes!

At the presentation, students learned about the importance of professionalism skills. They also had a chance to relate their knowledge to professional engineers. Employees were impressed by the amount of knowledge we had on our robot’s complicated machinery as well as our ability to build a robot in under six weeks. During the visit we also met the CEO of Rockwell who had heard about the event and wanted to meet our team.

As of February 17th, buildseason is officially over. Our team is incredibly proud of everything that we have accomplished in these short six weeks. Two robots have been built, three awards have been submitted for, and each student on this team has discovered new capabilities as we took on this epic challenge.

Looking forward, we have less than four weeks until our first competition. Mechanically, we are working to create an auxiliary manipulator for our robot which we will add at the Wisconsin Regional. This will involve a significant amount more work, but in our effort to create an outstanding robot we feel it will be highly beneficial.

Chairmans is currently busy preparing various competition documents, communicating with sponsors, and writing the speech and video which are included in the chairmans award. Additionally, this week we shipped FLL robot parts to Costa Rica to begin the first robotics program in the country. We are thrilled to spread our impact internationally in this way and offer such an incredible experience to these students.

The end of buildseason is a bittersweet experience. On one hand, it is great to have a few extra hours to catch up with family and non-robotics friends after the intense pressure of the past six weeks. On the other hand, however, buildseason is a time of intense excitement, accomplishment, and community and we are sad to see its end.

We look forward to the excitement of competition, though we know there is far more to accomplish before our first regional.

C.O.R.E. 2062 would like to thank all who have supported our team so far this year. Specifically, we would like to highlight an anonymous C.O.R.E. alumnus who recently donated $5,000. This is quite a significant contribution, comprising about 25 percent of all of the donations that we have received this year. We thank this individual for their incredible generosity and commend them for their continued involvement in FIRST and our team.

However, we must also stress that donations of any size and at any time are greatly appreciated. This year in particular we have not been as financially secure as we have been in the past. We need our community’s support to be involved in FIRST; to prepare our students for their futures and spread STEM principles to those around us.

We hope that you will consider supporting C.O.R.E. 2062 for our current 2014 season. For more information contact our lead mentor Mark Spoerk at mspoerk@waukesha.k12.wi.us.

C.O.R.E. had a great time fundraising at Marquette High School.  A select group of students helped managed the concessions for two FLL tournaments hosted by the Hilltoppers, team 1732. This was of great benefit for the team and helped the Hilltoppers by freeing up their volunteers for the rest of the tournament.  All in all, this was a great two days for C.O.R.E.!

On November 12, C.O.R.E.  held a FIRST LEGO League tournament at Waukesha West! Over 35 teams showed up to compete. There were many amazing projects and creations for the judges to revel in and comment on. The highest score of these creations got over 400 points!  Even the non-robotics related parts were great! We ran a very successful concessions stand, and had a DJ rocking the tournament all the time! Overall, much fun was had by all, and we would love to do this again!

On Saturday November 3rd, 2012, C.O.R.E. volunteered and competed in the high school VEX tournament.  There was a lot of excitement in the elimination rounds, as team number 1200B made a huge comeback in the very end to overcome a point deficit.   Rookie members of  C.O.R.E. competed at the tournament also.  Although the C.O.R.E. VEX team was not on a winning alliance, all participants gave a great effort with many making it into the quarterfinals and semifinals.  One of our teams (2062E) made it as far as the final rounds. In the end, all competitors had a great time. Congratulations to Appleton 1200B for qualifying for World Competition! Keeping up with C.O.R.E. values, we made sure that everyone in the pit area were wearing safety glasses, both enforcing safety and creating good safety habits for the future.  Staffing went so smoothly that we are thinking of hosting another VEX tournament next year!

On August 30th 2012, C.O.R.E. 2062 participated in the Rockwell Automation Employee Appreciation Day.  In this event, we went to the Rockwell Automation Headquarters to demonstrate our robot and to show one of our sponsors what we’ve been up to. Six members went along who drove  the robot, talked to Rockwell employees, and learned more about different engineering careers. This was a fun, enlightening experience for C.O.R.E. members.  We would be happy to do it again!

We presented at the 2012 Wisconsin State Fair August 6-8. On the first 2 days of the 1^st Annual State Fair Robotics Rally, we provided volunteers to help at the tournament. In fact, some of our team members were chosen to be on the challenge design team for the LEGO Robotics Competition part of the competition. We showed off our robot and answered questions about FIRST Robotics on the 3^rd, and last day, of the Robotics Rally. We also gave a presentation about FIRST Robotics that uncovered curiosity about the program from all parts of the state.