# Interview Content

### Q1. What is your team's name and number? Is there a story behind this name?

8584 Infinity Robotics.

We know that many things are restricted in the process of forming an FRC team, such as time, members, and money. Despite these limitations, we hope our team can still show unlimited creativity and practical abilities in all aspects of the FRC competition.

Our team's motto is: "To infinity and beyond", and we hope that our team will continue to persevere no matter what obstacle we encounter. We also hope that every member of the team can break through various limitations, showcase their abilities, and challenge this world-class competition!

### Q2. Can you share the story of how your team was formed and the challenges you faced along the way?

Before we edtablished the FRC team, we were just a simple mechatronics lab, mainly participating in small LEGO robotics competitions like WRO, where we once represented Taiwan and won third place in the world.

In addition to robotics competitions, we also conducted a lot of research on drones and IoT.

Before we formed the team, many of our seniors participated in FRC programming training courses in collaboration with universities. Some of them joined FRC #8121, bringing a lot of knowledge back to the lab.

The biggest challenge we faced in the early days was the lack of experience, including managing the team, dividing tasks, programming, and structural knowledge. We believe that a team needs a lot of background knowledge in its development process. Every year, during our training of new members, we realize that the of knowledge we need to teach keeps increasing, which means our team's skills are becoming more comprehensive.

Aside from experience, another problem we encountered was insufficient funding. In addition to registration fees, we needed to purchase a lot of equipment, such as laser engravers, 3D printers, drilling machines, many tools, consumables, etc., all of which were very costly.

As for knowledge transfer, since the amount of knowledge increases as the team learns more, passing it on to younger members is also a very important task. When our lead teacher left in 2022, the team's knowledge transfer faced more obstacles, so we held a simulated competition for new members during the summer of that year. This helped the team realize that self-learning and hands-on practice often result in the highest learning efficiency and helped us establish a comprehensive new member training system.

### Q3. How do you assign roles and tasks within the team?

We divide the team into three groups: engineering, programming, and administration, with each group led by a team leader who guides the members in completing the tasks that need to be done.

Our team has two mentors. One is responsible for leading the team's direction and planning its external development. The other is a graduate senior who mainly handles structural and programming issues and helps resolve internal team management matters.

### Q4. What was the most inspiring moment for you during this season?

In the playoff alliance matches, although we were not initially part of the eight alliances, we got to play as the first substitute in the finals. We quickly repaired our robot with the help of other teams and managed to enter the competition in the best possible condition. On the field, we defended against three opponents with our one robot, minimizing the opposing alliance's score and securing a win for the third alliance. We finally finished as runners-up, losing 2-1.

### Q5. Did you encounter any unexpected situations during the competition? How did you handle them?

During the playoff qualification matches, our robot had issues that prevented it from shooting notes smoothly. After assessing that scoring was impossible, we decided to focus on defense, doing our best to lower the opposing alliance's score to secure victory for our team.

### Q6. Can you share the funniest or most interesting moment that happened between your team and another?

During the simulated competition, our robot was hit by an automated robot, and we were all shocked. The collision also shocked the entire team that hit us. In this game, our switchboard is suspended in the air, floating freely. Fortunately, nothing serious happened and after some repairs, the robot was able to function normally again.

### Q7. How do you ensure that new members integrate smoothly into the team?

We introduce new members to the structure and basic programming syntax. We guide them actively in preparing for the playoffs and official competitions to integrate them into the team. We also hold team meetings during the competition evenings, which significantly enhances the bonds between members.

We hope to captivate new members with the charm of the FRC competition and teamwork, making them feel the joy and encouraging them to participate actively in the team's various activities in the future.

### Q8. If you could give one piece of advice to a rookie team, what would it be?

Try to establish friendly relations with other teams and engage in exchanges with them, including technical aspects or administrative issues. Also, refer to online resources such as Chiefdelphi and FUN Robotics's YouTube channel, where you can find a wealth of experiences from other teams that can provide a lot of inspiration for new teams.

### Q9. Does your team have any plans to engage in other robotics or STEM projects outside of FRC?

We promote the FRC competition and the FIRST spirit in elementary schools, using simple mechanical projects to inspire students' interest in robotics.

We also participate in showcase events organized by other Taiwanese teams, allowing more people to see what the FRC competition is about.

### Q10. What are your views on the future of FRC and robotics technology? How do you see your place in that future?

We believe that the structures seen in FRC machines could provide some inspiration for robots in daily life.

If there are technological innovations in robotics in the future, we will also try to combine new technologies with our machines.

Through each FRC competition, we hope to let the world see FRC more clearly. The rapid development of FRC drives the advancement of mechanical structures, and we aim to continuously improve ourselves to face new technologies.

### Q11. What kind of impact do you hope your team will leave on the FRC community?

#### Mentor 1

We hope that in the future, when people think of Taiwanese FRC teams, 8584 will be the first team that comes to most people's minds.

#### Mentor 2

We have observed that many FRC teams often face numerous setbacks in their early stages and disband. We hope that 8584 can use its own experience to help more FRC teams continue and overcome difficulties.

#### Captain

We have found that FRC is not very well known in Taiwan, and we hope to promote FRC in Taiwan so that more people can learn about it.

#### Vice Captain

We hope to find more like-minded people in Taiwan's FRC to jointly improve technology. Not limited to large cities or other areas.