This was the beginning of TECRABOT 21573’s journey. We were a completely new team, a school-based one, made up of twelve members. None of us had any experience in FTC before so everything felt big and confusing at first. POWERPLAY was our introduction to robotics and honestly it was a rough one.
Our first robot did not perform the way we hoped. There were a lot of mechanical and design flaws and we were not able to complete most of the tasks properly during the matches. In our qualifier event we ended up around seventh place which was not too bad for a first-timer but we knew we could have done better.
One of the biggest problems we faced was not even the robot itself but the teamwork. With twelve people on one team and no previous experience working together things got messy fast. There were communication issues all the time. Some members did not really take their jobs seriously or just did not know how to contribute. We had trouble organizing ourselves which made it hard to move forward as a team. There were moments of frustration arguments and confusion especially when deadlines were close and the robot was still not ready.
At that time I was working as both a mechanic and media. I helped build and assemble parts of the robot and I was involved in discussions about how to make certain mechanisms. But as time went on I realized that maybe being a mechanic was not where I could give the most value. I found myself being more drawn to the media side. I enjoyed documenting what we did taking photos and videos editing content and thinking about how to present our team to the world. I started noticing that I was more productive and motivated when I was doing media-related work compared to when I was working on the robot itself.
Despite all the chaos we learned a lot from this season. We were exposed to how important planning is how different mechanisms can be built to achieve the same task and how crucial it is to have a strong team dynamic. Even though we did not make it far in the competition the experience was valuable because it showed us what needed to change. We understood what kind of team we wanted to be how important it is to assign roles clearly and that communication has to be the core of everything.
Looking back POWERPLAY taught me a lot about myself too. It helped me discover where my strengths lie and what I enjoy doing. It also gave me a good foundation for working with others and understanding the importance of every small task in a big team project. It was messy stressful and sometimes frustrating but it was also eye-opening. And it laid the groundwork for everything we did in the seasons after.