I'm currently in my third year of university, and looking back, being part of a FIRST Robotics team has been a life-changing experience. Walking past classes of 2nd or 3rd-year students who've never made something as complex and as involved as an FRC Robot makes me wish that the program extended beyond high school students. Whilst a university club runs other programs such as DRC (Droid Racing Competition), it doesn't hold anything to the scale of FRC and the variety of skills high school students learn whilst competing. Several of the students on our team are more familiar with CAD and CAM software, which amazes me, given the complexity of some of these programs.
FIRST Robotics set me on the path of becoming a software engineer, with my first real programming experience being in Java, controlling a real-world robot. Seeing how my code interacted with motor controllers, motors, sensors, LEDs and sometimes even pneumatics inspired my love of programming and, in turn, my love of robotics.
So, when I finally graduated from my team after finishing high school, I decided I wanted to pass on what I had learnt to the next generation of future engineers. From then on, I have volunteered most of my Friday nights, assisting the software mentors with way more experience than I teach new students the mysterious ways of robot programming.
The best way to learn is to teach someone else.
This is a phrase that I've heard many times, and through my experience as a mentor, I can't emphasise it more. By teaching students the ins and outs of robot programming, I've indirectly taught myself how to be a better teacher and let students solve their problems independently rather than being led by the hand.
These experiences have been the cornerstone of my university experience and have helped me tremendously in developing my skills as someone who can teach others. In addition, exploring robotics in this setting has taught me a lot about control systems and real-time programming with Java.
If you're interested in teaching and passing on your knowledge to the next generation, look at which teams are near you and see if they're looking for any mentoring help. If you're a student, that's happened on this post. Don't hesitate to see what your local teams are up to using Instagram or other social media platforms.
Many teams are run by local schools or sometimes even universities. University-based teams accept students from far and wide if your school has no team.