I Just Joined The Team, Now What

Welcome to Team 1389 - The Body Electric!

There is a lot of important information about the team to be found in our New Member Information Presentation.

Team Communications

All online team communications happen via Discord. Once you have signed up for the team you will receive an email inviting you to our Discord server. It's important that you join immediately so that you are aware of the team schedule and happenings (and it is required that you use your real name). Not only do we share news to Discord, but that is where all communications occur about the game plus robot research, design and building. Please make sure to check Discord regularly.

Parents do not join Discord and instead receive email communications from the team separately.

How To Get Involved

1) Come to lab hours as often as possible. Simply put, you will get out of FRC what you put into it. Everyone on the team was brand new once and most new team members have little or no experience with robotics and/or FIRST. We encourage you to jump in and ask lots of questions. Take advantage of the fall lab hours to "get your bearings" because once build season arrives on January 4th, a tremendous amount of work has to happen in a very short amount time, and the learning becomes much more on the fly.

During the fall, specific topics will be taught by adult Mentors during lab hours. These will be posted, in advance, to the Team calendar and Discord.. This is a critical time for sharing knowledge, and it is strongly encouraged that you attend as many sessions as possible.

The team will also be working on small robot projects, in preparation for Build Season.

Lab hours are posted on our calendar. They are updated through December.

One topic - Tool Safety Training - is MANDATORY for all new team members. Dates and sign ups are posted in Discord.

2) Ask to learn what you don't know. For example, if electrical is putting together batteries and you don't know anything about it, sit and ask to be part of the process. The adult Mentors and Team Leads are happy to share their knowledge and experience with you.

3) Learn CAD. Being able to participate in this piece is crucial - team members have to be able to do and read CAD to build a robot. CAD is taught in Introduction to Engineering (IED) in MCPS, plus there are numerous online resources we can point you towards. Team 1389 uses Onshape to design our robots.

4) Actively participate in the Team Discord.

Our Team Culture

Team 1389 is focused on treating each other, and other teams, with Respect and Gracious Professionalism.
Robotics is an accepting learning environment.
With members coming in with different skill sets and talents, there are no bad ideas.
Remember, everyone has something to contribute. We are all learning new skill sets and learning to work in a collaborative environment.

An important note about subteams!

When first getting started, you do not have to decide which subteam you want to join, though you may choose to do so if you are already certain. Take the opportunity to explore and learn about the different subteams. Many team members will not settle into one subteam until much later in the season.