Written By: Audrey T
What is Bots for Tots?
Bots for Tots is a yearly holiday outreach event! At this event, we demo our robot, have craft activities, tell people about our programs, and, most importantly, collect toys to donate to an organization in need! It is a beloved team event full of holiday cheer and giving back. This year, we were collecting toys for a local children’s hospital!
Cronus’s Return
We wanted people to be able to interact with our robot at this event, which meant Cronus was back! While Cronus is an older bot, from the game CRESCENDO, it is still a great demo bot! Cronus shoots “notes,” which are large, foam rings perfect for catching. We did have a bit of fixing up to do before the event, but thanks to the hard work of our build team, we were able to showcase our bot to its full ability.
Catching notes proved to be a great draw to our space, and we reached an estimated 750 people over the course of the event! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and caught a note or two.
What’s This For?
Bots for Tots is unique from many of our other community outreach events. At this event we not only aimed to reach out to as many people as possible, we also collected toy donations for The Children’s Hospital! Throughout the day we collected around 100 donations that were all able to be given to the hospital. It’s incredible to see how we can use robotics to do so much more than just score well in competition, helping our community has been such a rewarding experience for our team!
Special Guests: Taped Together!
We recently had one of our FTC teams, Taped Together, make it to the State tournament! As a reward, they were invited to this event. They got to bring their own robot and get a taste of what they’ll be doing when they reach high school. We hope they had a great time and were super happy to have them with us!
Side Quest: CONTENT
It wouldn’t be a true Talon event without a few side quests! This event was a great chance to make some social media content. We had teammates reenacting SNL, taking a train ride, and even having our head mentor find her inner Pokémon trainer! If that sounds like your cup of tea, or you just want the best way to keep on top of team events, be sure to follow @frc_2502 on Instagram!
Stay Connected With Us During The Entire Season!
If you want to stay connected with the team during the entire season. Feel free to check out our social media pages: