Black Frog Robotics & the Detroit Police Athletic League
The Detroit Police Athletic League (Detroit PAL) is a branch of Police Athletic League (PAL), a national non-profit organization. This organization provides various athletic, academic, and leadership youth enrichment programs for children in under served communities.
DPAL WORKSHOP #3 at DPAL center, Detroit
Date: 11/09/2019
This was our third workshop for the DPAL teams. There were 5 FLL teams and 12 FTC teams. Since this was the last official workshop before the competition, the teams were trying to get everything done. We divided ourselves among different FTC teams . Some of the teams needed help with some last minute building and most of them needed programming help. We helped 3 of the teams with Teleop programming and a couple of them with their autonomous.. We also helped the teams by answering questions on Engineering notebook and judging. We wish all the teams All the Best for their competition in 2 weeks. |
DPAL WORKSHOP #2 at DPAL center, Detroit
Date: 10/19/2019
This was our second workshop for the DPAL teams. There were 2 FLL teams and 9 FTC teams. 2 of our team members helped out the FLL teams with the mission build. The rest of us divided ourselves among different FTC teams . Some of the teams needed help with building and a couple of them still needed help with the phone setup. Two of the teams were ready for Teleop programming . We helped them with that and then tested this program on the field. These 2 teams practiced for sometime . Then we helped these teams with basic Autonomous programming , like parking on the line under the alliance bridge. Overall in the end all the teams were in a very good position . |
DPAL WORKSHOP #1 at DPAL center, Detroit
Date: 09/28/2019
We have been working with Detroit PAL teams since last two years. Every year at the end of their season they return their kits back. The new teams begin their season in September, in order to have their kits ready for them, over the summer, 5 of our team members went to DPAL. At DPAL we unassembled robots from last season. After we unassembling the robots we sorted out the parts and made kits for FTC. We learned that it is really time consuming to take robots apart and you have to be patient. At the end of the day, we had sorted and assembled 16 FTC kits which could be handed over to the new teams. Some of the kits had parts missing, we made a note of that so that these kits could be replenished with those parts. It was fun team activity for us and we hope the DPAL teams have a great season. |
DPAL FLL Kit Sorting at DPAL center, Detroit
Date: 08/17/2019
We went back to Detroit PAL again this year to get the FLL kits ready for the 20 FLL DPAL teams. We worked in partnership with our high school team Frog Force. Each of us formed groups of 2 members each and took up a kit. We began with the list of the parts associated with each of the kits. Then we began sorting them, we did not count all the small parts, just the bigger ones and made sure that all the motors, sensors and the EV3 related cables were accounted for. Some of the kits had parts missing, we made a note of that so that these kits could be replenished with those parts. At the end of the day, we had sorted and assembled 18 FLL kits which could be handed over to the new teams. It was fun team activity for us and we hope the DPAL teams have a great season. |
DPAL FLL Kit Sorting at DPAL center, Detroit
Date: 08/11/2019
We have been working with Detroit PAL teams since last two years. Every year at the end of their season they return their kits back. The new teams begin their season in September, in order to have their kits ready for them, over the summer, 5 of our team members went to DPAL. At DPAL we unassembled robots from last season. After we unassembling the robots we sorted out the parts and made kits for FTC. We learned that it is really time consuming to take robots apart and you have to be patient. At the end of the day, we had sorted and assembled 16 FTC kits which could be handed over to the new teams. Some of the kits had parts missing, we made a note of that so that these kits could be replenished with those parts. It was fun team activity for us and we hope the DPAL teams have a great season. |
What is our involvement with Detroit PAL?
Detroit PAL is one of our most valued outreach programs and is unique to our team.
Every year Dean Kamen during the World Championship gives a homework to all the First participants. 2 Years back his Homework was to work with your community Police organization and start new teams. Our High School team in partnership with Detroit PAL started 10 pre-rookie teams last year. This happened in January when the FRC season starts and the team gets very busy with their 6 weeks build period. They asked Black Frogs to help with this initiative.With Frog Force’s partnership we helped start the FTC program for Detroit PAL in early 2018 by training Detroit school teachers with little to no FIRST experience the basics of FTC.
In winter 2018, we began actively partnering with Detroit PAL to help start and mentor 20 brand new FTC teams. Ten of these teams competed in spring 2018 as pre-rookie teams, and an additional ten teams were formed in fall 2018.
This season, we did three presentations for Detroit PAL at the Detroit FTC Kickoff. During one of these presentations, we trained the rookie FTC coaches about what a normal competition day looks like, where to find important resources, and much more. During the other two presentations we collaborated with our sponsor, Autodesk, to teach the attending coaches and kids some important basics about CAD using Autodesk Fusion 360. Apart from this, we hosted two additional coach training sessions. During these training sessions, we gave coaches insights and advice on programming using Google Blocks, covered the basics of building a robot, and much more. We also hosted three team training sessions where we worked with each team individually to help build and program their robot. We are also very happy that two of the Detroit PAL teams we mentored, UPSM Techno logics and Bow Robotics made it to the Michigan State Championship. After these teams qualified, we hosted a fourth student workshop to help the teams become more competitive for the state championship. We also welcomed one of the teams to visit our team meeting space in Novi for programming help and to use our practice field.
What have we learned from this experience?
We have learned so much more about our community and the ways we can help others. We enjoy helping to spread the knowledge of FIRST and helping other teams. Because of this, we love to mentor the 20 Detroit PAL FTC teams. We recognize that this program allows us to help underserved communities participate in FTC while allowing us to share our love of the amazing FIRST programs. As a team and as individuals, we are very thankful to be able to help these teams, as it has taught us so much about gracious professionalism.
What have they gained from this experience?
The FTC teams that we mentor get to learn a lot about robotics. And, given that FIRST is about more than just robots, the students also learn a lot more than just useful STEM skills. Many of the students we mentor learn about time management, given that robotics is a passion of theirs that takes up a lot of time. These teams have also learned critical problem solving skills that they can apply to their everyday lives. In addition, participating students learned how to better communicate with others. Between speaking with the judges about their seasons and solving problems with their teammates, many of the students gain valuable communications experience.