View source for Team 1640 Mission and Program

==Our Program==
===[[Media:FIRST_Robotics_Team_1640_program.pdf|Our Mission]]===
''To inspire and educate pre-college students within the greater Downingtown Area school district in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through hands-on experiences with robotic technology. Build knowledge, an understanding of planning and project management and life skills (especially gracious professionalism, team work, effective communications, coopetition and leadership). Promote expansion of this program both within and beyond the Downingtown District. Use the core concepts in FIRST robotics as our foundation.'' 
===Continuing Improvement===
We're now going into our ninth year of service to students in the Downingtown Area. We started with just 3 mentors and 8 students, but now include nearly 30 students and over a dozen active mentors. Our robots, once unassuming "kit" bots, are now highly engineered machines.  Students have grown from mechanical and controls novices to programming [[4-Wheel Pivot Drive|advanced drivetrains]], customizing [[DEWBOT_V_Drive_Train#Drive-train Development|transmissions with tight tolerances]], and [[DEWBOT_IX_Welding|welding the robot frame]] in-house. Mentors who once reviewed the basics now teach [[engineering|advanced engineering]].  The 2005 team would not recognize us today.
===Expanding Inspiration===
We truly believe in FIRST's ambitions For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.  We've expanded our program to deliver [[FIRST LEGO League]] and [[VEX Robot Challenge]] opportunities to elementary and middle school students and even helped on the core management committee creating DASD's new [http://dasd-stem.org STEM Academy]. We also actively volunteer for all these competitions and can be found within the community at outreach events like the [[Upper Uwchlan Block Party]], [[Downingtown Good Neighbor Day]], and [[Uwchlan Day]].
===Cultivating Partnerships===
Our goal is to develop a top-notch [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_organization learning organization]. First and foremost, our partnership is between students and our mentors. Mentors respect students as colleagues, working beside each other to learn and grow. Together, students learn confidence, leadership and life skills to leverage for the rest of our lives. Our partnership with team parents augments this mentorship relationship, strengthening students and the team as a whole. Our partnership with other local teams has made each of us stronger, as we share, adapt and expand each others ideas, on and off the field.

==Our Accomplishments==
===Our Robots' Trophy Case===
From our humble beginnings as a [[Media:DB1_robot_051105_csm.jpg|simple rookie robot]], we've become very successful on-field team -- winning 4 of our 9 competitions in [[DEWBOT VIII|2012]]. Though we're clear that awards are simply a side effect of truly inspired students, we still couldn't be prouder of the team's efforts in wining 13 performance and engineering awards over our 8 years!
<small><gallery widths=175 heights=125 perrow=4>
Image:DB8 DD 121013 csm-30.jpg|[[DEWBOT VIII Duel on the Delaware|2012 Duel Champions]] (271, 341)
Image:DB8 BRBR 120526 csm-33.jpg|[[DEWBOT VIII Bridgewater-Raritan Battle Royale|2012 BR<sup>2</sup> Champions]] (25, 869)
Image:DB8 Philadelphia 120414 csm-16.jpg|[[DEWBOT VIII Mid-Atlantic Region Championship|2012 MAR Champions]] (341, 25)
Image:DB8 HH 120303 csm-34.jpg|[[DEWBOT VIII Hatsboro-Horsham|2012 Hatboro Champions]] (341, 1218)
Image:DB7 RR 111112 csm-38.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Ramp Riot|2011 Riot Finalists]] (303, 2199)
Image:DB7 DD 111022 csm-35.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Duel on the Delaware|2011 Duel Champions]] (365, 87)
Image:DB7 Phila alliance 110409 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Philadelphia Regional|2011 Phily Champions]] (365, 303, 2607)
Image:DB7 Phila Rockwell award 110408 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Philadelphia Regional|2011 Philly]] [[DEWBOT VII - Philadelphia - Rockwell Automation's Innovation in Control Award|Innovation Winners]]
Image:DB7 defense setup Phila 110409 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Philadelphia Regional|2011 341's Coolest Robot]]
Image:DB7 2228 award 110305 csm.jpg|2011 2228's [[DEWBOT VII Finger Lakes Regional|Most Creative Robot]]
Image:DB6 BR Engineering Excellence 100529 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VI Bridgewater Battle|2010 BR<sup>2</sup> Engineering Excellence Winners]]
Image:DB6 Drexel team Xerox award 100326 csm 2.jpg|[[DEWBOT VI Philadelphia Regional|2010 Philly]] [[DEWBOT VI Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox (Philadelphia Regional)|Creativity Winners]]
Image:PARC winning alliance 090509.jpg|[[DEWBOT V PARC XII|2009 PARC Champions]] (222, 2753)
Image:RockwellAutomationAward(Chesapeake2009).jpg|[[DEWBOT V Chesapeake Regional|2009 Chesapeake]] [[DEWBOT V's Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award (Chesapeake Regional)|Innovation Winners]]
Image:DB4 Duel Delaware knocking Trackball down 081011 csm 2.jpg|[[DEWBOT IV Duel on the Delaware|2008 Duel Finalists]] (375, 272)
</gallery></small>
<br><br>

===Our Team's Achievements===
Beyond [[Team_1640_Mission_and_Program#Our Robots' Trophy Case|our engineering-related accomplishments]], we're much more proud of our community outreach and [http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/gracious-professionalism Gracious Professionalism] and STEM inspiration-spreading efforts. Our team regularly participates and hosts outreach events and volunteering efforts within and beyond our community. Here's just a bit of what we do:
<small><gallery widths=175 heights=125 perrow=4>
Image:DB8 DARPENNFLL 121208 csm-32.jpg|[[Downingtown_Area_Robotics-Penn_FLL_Qualifying_Event|Running our 2012 Penn-FLL Qualifier]]
Image:DB8 FLLTU 121103 csm-5.jpg|[[Downingtown FIRST LEGO League Tune Up 2012|Running our 2012 FLL Tune-Up]]
Image:DB8 Pancake 121021 csm-9.jpg|[[2012 Pancake Breakfast|Explaining at our 2012 Pancake Breakfast]]
Image:BoBVolunteers-happy.jpg|[[News#Team_1640_Volunteers_at_Battle_O.27_Baltimore_-_15-September-2012|Volunteering for Battle o' Baltimore 2012]]
Image:DB8 BSA181 120626 weissman-8.jpg|[[Boy Scout Troop 181 Demo|Working with the Boy Scouts]]
Image:DB8 DASD Board 120613 csm.jpg|R[[DEWBOT VIII|ecognized by the DASD School Board]]
Image:DB8 Sugartown 120510 csm-21.jpg|[[Sugartown Elementary Robot Fair|Inspiring at Sugartown's 2012 Robot Fair]]
Image:DB7 Uwchlan Day FRC 110709 skm.JPG|[[Uwchlan Day|Reaching out at 2011 Uwchlan Day]]
Image:DB7 Phila Featherman 2895 110407 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VII Philadelphia Regional|Helping out (won 365's & 203's GP Awards)]]
Image:DB6 UU Block Party Kenneth Maley 100619 csm.jpg|[[Upper Uwchlan Block Party|Inspiring at U. Uwchlan's 2011 Block Party]]
Image:DB6 Franklin pointing out 101009 csm.jpg|[[Franklin Institute Robot Conflict|Teaching at Franklin's Robot Conflict]]
Image:DB6 Sugartown q&a 100416 csm.jpg|[[Sugartown Elementary Robot Fair|Teaching at Sugartown's 2010 Robot Fair]]
Image:STEM DB6 crowd 100519 csm 1.jpg|[[STEM Defined|Exemplifying STEM at STEM Defined]]
Image:DB6 Fiatech 101005 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VI|Representing FRC at FIATECH 2010]]
Image:DB6 PARC Gracious Professionalism Award 100508 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT VI PARC XIII|Helping out to win PARC's 2010 GP Award]]
Image:Dtwn Science Fair DB6 & crowd 100503 csm 1.jpg|[[Downingtown Science Fair|Exciting at DASD's 2010 Science Fair]]
Image:VEX DEC Event and both score 100313 csm.jpg|[[2010 Eastern Pennsylvania Regional|Running VEX's 2010 Eastern PA Regional]]
Image:DB5 Uwchlan Dewbot games 090711 csm.jpg|[[Uwchlan Day|Raising excitement at 2009 Uwchlan Day]]
Image:DB5 Sugartown shooting 090417 csm 3.jpg|[[Sugartown Elementary Robot Fair|Exciting at Sugartown's 2009 Robot Fair]]
Image:DB5 GETT Siri Heather 090328 csm.jpg|[[Girls Exploring Tomorrow's Technology (GETT)|Presenting at GETT 2009]]
Image:DB5 Good Neighbor Bigbot 090704 csm.jpg|[[Downingtown Good Neighbor Day|Helping D-Town's 2009 Neighbor Day]]
Image:DASD_recognition_090513_csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT V|Recognized by the DASD School Board]]
Image:Abington Vex Driven Nuts & 80 091205 csm.jpg|[[Penn State Abington VEX Clean Sweep Scrimmage|Volunteering at VEX Abington 2009]]
Image:DB4 M² queued 080531 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT IV Monty Madness|Surviving for M<sup>2</sup>'s 2008 Team Spirit Award]]
Image:DB4 Siri @ Sugartown Elementary 081024 csm.jpg|[[DEWBOT IV|Helping start Sugartown's robot program]]
</gallery></small>
----

[[Category:Organization]]