Another Season, Another Playing-Field

This was the week to roll out the red carpet - for our playing field! As exciting as it is to design, manufacture, and build a robot, teams also need a space to test their prototypes. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, CSP 4188 was able to spend week 2 of our build season doing just that on our full-size field.

It has been a long journey for us to reach this destination. CSP 4188 began as a rookie team in 2009. We had no dedicated space to meet, rotating from various classrooms across our school district. We started over in 2012 as a community team, still without a permanent home. In 2019, the Muscogee County School District (MCSD) graciously provided us with the Butler Steam Center, a space large enough to accommodate our machines, 3-D printers, tools, and manufacturing equipment. This space also houses one of four full-size fields in the state, which is part of Georgia FIRST’s “DE” initiative. 

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DE fields include complete sets of field elements as well as space to compete and practice. As a DE field, CSP 4188 invites FRC and FTC teams across the Peachtree District to join us for practice scrimmages, utilize our equipment, and receive technical training from our coaches, mentors, and members. The goal of the DE initiative is to help more teams gain the skills and practice needed to be invited to the FIRST competition (and, hopefully, compete on the championship field).

Maintaining our field would not be possible without our sponsors. We are incredibly thankful for the MCSD and Superintendent Dr. David Lewis for allowing us this space to work, play, practice, and compete. We are also thankful for the support of Columbus’ Char Broil company. Since 2018, volunteers from this company have built our entire practice field and helped us assemble it. Stay tuned to our blog to see more photos of our field being #ChargedUp!