DEWBOT XV The Road to China
- The Road to (and from) China
- 2019 Suzhou International Youth Robotics Maker Camp - 28-30 July-2018
- Suzhou Sights
- 2019 RCC Qianjiang International Robotics Open - 31-July - 4-August-2019
- Wuyuan County (婺源县) Sightseeing - 5-7 August-2019
Okay. Technically, there's no "Road to China" insofar as there is no dry land route from Exton PA to the Peoples Republic of China. I get it. I know this. But this page is the child of DEWBOT VI IRI Trip Reports and takes its name from an album of traveling music graciously compiled for this trip by then-Sab-BOT-teur Jennifer Stanton. This 2010 trip to the Indiana Robotics Invitational (IRI) was a game changer for 1640, a team which had just built it's first Swerve Drive robot and had not yet ever won an in-season FRC event. By throwing ourselves in to a competition with the very best FRC teams in the world, we forced ourselves to become a better team. 2010 (first year at IRI) and 2011 (First year at FRC Championships) were transitional years for Sab-BOT-age. So were 2018 and 2019 with 1640's Chairman's Award successes. I see our participation in the RCC Qianjiang International Robotics Open in a similar light.
I invite all students, mentors and parents who participated in this trip either directly or through their efforts to tell their stories below.
Clem
I have to confess that I am a seasoned China (and World) traveler. This was my 47th trip to China; I've spent about 450 days there. In and around 2003, I managed an engineering project in Qinhuangdao (秦皇岛) in cooperation with a Chinese company. I have a Chinese name, Mài Kāng Wēi (迈康威), courtesy of this Chinese business partner. In 2004, I received the Yanzhao (燕赵) Friendship Award from the Hebei Provincial Government in association with this project. I've travelled extensively within China, including to Suzhou and Hangzhou (albeit visiting both only once in 1995).
This was my 1st non-business trip to China. Also my first with an entourage.
This story really begins on 3-June when I received a facebook message from Howard Cohen: "Hey Clem. How interested would your team be in going to China in July (July 28)?". This was an exciting opportunity, but also a short time horizon. When I brought this to the team's mentors and parents I expected: "Yes, this is a great opportunity, but we can't possibly do this this year". Instead, the response was: "Yes. We will do this!". Wow!
I cannot thank enough the parents who stepped up to organize this complex trip on such short notice. Booking flights, organizing visas, busses to and from airports, etc. This trip was a huge team effort which started long before anyone boarded an airplane. We could not have made this trip without this team effort.
I also thank Min Zheng of FRC Shanghai Committee, Howard Cohen and Garrett Dicken.
We started the 2019 Suzhou International Youth Robotics Maker Camp inauspiciously: Thor broke the hammer during team selection (in retrospect, of course she did; the hammer involved was certainly no Mjölnir). We ended up with team 9047 from Shenzhen (深圳). 9047 has a very sophisticated robot which was about 90% mechanically complete but without electronics or pneumatics systems. They were a great team to work with and by the time our three days together had passed, we had a (barely) complete but untested robot. Fortunately, we were both going to the same competition and would have a chance to work with 9047 in working the bugs out.
All of our hotels in China were awesome (Thanks, Min!), but the hotel in Suzhou had the extra benefit of being in Park (Egret Park) on Dushu Lake (独墅湖). On the mornings of 28 & 29 July, I took advantage of my early rising bad habits to walk through the park just after sunrise.
