SF Mission Bay Team Building with Uber
An SF Mission Bay Team Building at the Uber Mission Bay Corporate Campus was a huge hit – literally, as robots were built and then battled each other! Uber followed up on a previously successful Robot Battles 2 event with their entire department with a more intimate 12 person team event. Daniel, Ryan and Heath were return participants and brought some of their expertise from the previous event to bare on a Robot Battles 1 event. Although the robots are very different, some of the build techniques and electronics have cross-over.
Experience paid off with a stunning build time of 32:37 (thirty two minutes and thirty seven seconds) placing them 44th All-Time wedged between Cisco and Meta. Every great robot build time includes great teamwork and Uber was no exception!
Robot Battles is a perfect “scientific vacuum” to practice and test teamwork skills as it mirrors the same process software engineers, and many others, use in their actual work teams. Each person is responsible for doing their part, and then the team puts the parts together into something that must work! Unlike many theoretical events, if everyone doesn’t do their part correctly, and the robot is not assembled correctly, it won’t work. This real end-goal helps people focus on doing their best, and thus creating an accurate measurement of teamwork in a vacuum.
The battles were robust with 4 battle robots – 2 per team – doing team-battle in a multiple round affair. The teams were fairly even in battles with the team pictured here having a slight edge at the end of all rounds. We finished with a last-bot-standing tournament where each person had a chance to be the ultimate champion. The final two bot drivers were Jessie and Steven, with Steven getting a dramatic flip on Jessie’s third replacement robot for a championship victory!
The scoring was high throughout the event and the damage to the robots was also high, a testament to great driving by everyone. The number of robot flips is a reminder that carpet is king when it comes to robot battles. The wheels grip instead of slide and therefore make flipping a much easier task, and more prolific.
A huge thank you to Uber for inviting us to their brand new, spectacular, modern, campus in the heart of Mission Bay next door to the Chase Center!
