Last weekend, FIRST Robotics had their kickoff event. This year's competition is called "breakaway" and is a challenging mix of soccer, obstacle courses, and robot wars. Teams across the nation are now building their robots, and here in the Pacific Northwest we have many new teams this year. Our biggest challenge is just providing the mentoring help these teams need.
Mentoring is a great opportunity to share your love of technology, your engineering training, and your years of experience. It can be a rewarding experience, and you can donate as much (or as little) time as you want. One area that we need help with is LabVIEW mentors. The programming is pretty simple, so it doesn't require advanced LabVIEW skills. Mostly, the students need help approaching the program in a disciplined, organized way. I know we've got people out there who can help with this area.
So here's a call for LabVIEW mentors. While teams across Washington and Oregon need mentors, I've got a list of high schools who need a mentors immediately. Please contact me at steve.summers@ni.com and I'll put you in touch with the team closest to you.
