The students at Marshall High School, FIRST robotics team 4435, the Red Hot Chili Bots are doing their best to adapt to the new regulations of both the school and the FIRST program. This year things are working a little bit differently than normal for the team, normally they would be introduced to a challenge/game, have 8 weeks to build the robot, then compete in at least two competitions with approximately 40 schools at each. Because of COVID that can’t happen this year. Team 4453 is following regulations by wearing masks during meetings, having meetings less often, and communicating online through programs like Discord.

           The worldwide program that hosts these competitions, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) has taken what would have been last year’s competition, that only a couple of teams got to participate in before they had to stop and rebranded it so that teams can do the challenges at home and record them for submission. There are also judged awards not based on the robot, for those teams will schedule a video call with judges where they will present their team’s accomplishments and the robot. As opposed to previous years where judges would stop in a team’s pit during the competition to talk with them.     

          When making this video I wish I could have used videos from previous years to show what the competition would have been like versus how it is now. The hardest part for me was finding a good place for interviews in their environment I didn’t have access to light I could change, so I know the interview setting could have been better. Also, I shot a lot of video which is a good thing in general, but it made editing a long process. Overall, for one of the first videos I’ve ever made it’s not too bad.