One of the best things about FIRST is their amazing alumni. Which is why were were excited to get the chance to speak with Eric Chan, FIRST Alumni and President of the Purple Fire Robotics Club at Florida Polytechnic University.
Eric and his teammates were in attendance at 2017 ROBOTICON Tampa Bay for a couple of really great reasons. First, to show off and scrimmage the robot that the club built in the FIRST Tech Challenge Alumni Robot In One Weekend Challenge. They also came to volunteer at the event and for FIRST Outreach.
Although Florida Poly is a new university, only four years old, they've had an incredible turnout for Purple Fire Robotics with 70 new students to the club this year alone. The club members include many FIRST and VEX Alumni, as well as students who were not previously a part of a formal robotics team. The club builds robots and participates in various competitions and they also build custom items for other clubs at their school. They are currently working on the animatronics for a haunted house that is being built on campus this year.