What happens when you put together bright students, technology, and mechanical parts?  A robot of course!  I recently had the honor to volunteer with my team at FIRST Robotics Competition and experience evolving technology first hand.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect walking into the convention center where the competition was going to take place.  We entered through the back entrance and I was immediately excited when I saw a mobile machine shop with a big NASA logo on it.  As we entered, there were various “shops” of sorts in which the students participating in the event would alter their robot. They were more than eager to show off their hard work and talk to you about the time and effort it took to build their masterpieces.

After we checked in and had a quick lunch, we were briefed as to what was going to take place. The object of the competition was not limited to just the robot and its ability to complete a goal (place as many tubs on a pole as possible within two minutes) but they also judged on creativity, entrepreneurial skills, leadership, and sportsmanship, just to name a few.

My team and I were tasked with maintaining the pit and placing the competitors in the proper location.  Anytime a round would finish, we had to rush to the pit, open the gate, clear the area of all tubes, organize them by color, and ensure that the competitor’s robots were properly placed.

Watching the competition itself was quite entertaining. There were about six large robots at a time scrambling around the playing field trying to grab various color tubes and place them onto a pole.  It was amazing to see the cooperation of the students as they communicated with one another to accomplish one task.

I am so happy that I work for a company that allows me the opportunity to give back to the community.  I can’t wait to volunteer at other events and see what fun memories will be created next.

Leanne started with Rackspace in February of 2009 as a Support Specialist in Email & Apps.  Since then, she joined the Rackspace Cloud as a Support Tech and eventually transitioned to the Account Management team.  She loves being an Account Manager because she gets to interact with customers on a daily basis and develop a variety of deep working relationships.  Read More >>

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