With great challenges come great costs. Before tackling any challenge posed by FIRST, an organization that runs the FRC robotics challenge annually, MSET must first fundraise thousands of dollars to pay for the numerous costs of sustaining the program, typically through sponsorships.
According to junior David Sparkman, the head of marketing this year, the team usually gives a presentation to companies such as FESTO and Valin, explaining what the team has done with their money in previous seasons and how they will be using it in future seasons. In addition, the team gives demos, showing the capabilities of their robot.
As one example of the costs associated with robotics the team pays an entree fee of $5,000 for the first competition and $4,000 for any additional ones. In addition, many of the parts that fuel the robot’s success cost hundreds of dollars. The overall financial requirement is in the high thousands. In order to cover these costs, the fundraising group seeks out sponsorships and grants.
The fundraising group includes team members and parents who have contacts and connections to possible sponsors.
“There is a lot of support from many of the other [active] members, as well as parents who help us write the grants we apply for,” Sparkman said.
M-SET has been funded by notable companies such as FESTO, Valin and IDT. FESTO, in particular, has assisted the team by providing expertise in using pneumatic pistons. These devices allow the robot to be powered via air.
In return for their sponsorship, M-SET advertises the respective sponsors on their robot and T-shirts. Usually, the team displays sponsor logos on a prominent area of the robot.
“Last year [our fundraising campaign] was successful enough to [allow the team to] compete in two different competitions and to build a second practice robot,” Sparkman said. “This really gave our team the opportunity to practice driving, try different types of code, and make slight adjustment to hardware components, some of which were eventually implemented in the competition.”