Bennington Area Robotics

Printable copies: one-page principles summary · shop-safety poster

Code of Conduct

Bennington Area Robotics is a place where students design, build, and compete. Our founder Chris Callahan envisioned it as a third place — not home, not school, but a place of its own.

Students come to robotics for many reasons: the robot itself, programming, CAD, building things, competition, and the chance to work with other students of shared interest. That work depends on perseverance, collaboration, learning from failure, keeping commitments, and caring for shared tools and spaces. This document describes the standards that make the program safe, productive, and welcoming.

We follow FIRST’s standard of Gracious Professionalism.

Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. They avoid treating anyone like losers. No chest thumping tough talk, but no sticky-sweet platitudes either. Knowledge, competition, and empathy are comfortably blended.

We hold each other to that. In short:

1. Attend meetings consistently.
2. Show your best side.
3. Make yourself useful.
4. Mean what you say.
5. Find the root cause before casting blame.
6. Own your mistakes.
7. Ambition needs discipline.
8. Respect runs both ways.
9. Leave room for others.
10. Keep robotics first.

The rest of this page spells out what that means.

Attend meetings consistently.

The regular meeting schedule is posted on the home page. The season runs in pulses, and during those pulses we meet three or four times a week. This is when attendance matters most:

• September build sprint — about 30 hours over a couple weeks, immediately after the competition is revealed.
• Competition prep — the weeks leading up to each tournament, when reliability work compounds and every missed hour shows up at the field.

Attendance at regular meetings alone is not enough; participation during these pulses is a core team expectation. The build is when teammates learn to rely on one another, and absences affect both the work and the perspectives available to the team. If work, family, or transportation makes a pulse difficult, tell a coach early so the team can plan and look for options. An honest conflict can be accommodated more readily than an unexpected no-show.

Show your best side.

At meetings, events, and team travel, the following expectations apply:

• Language. No swearing, no vulgar jokes. The standard is what you would be comfortable with a younger student or a parent overhearing.
• Courtesy. Be friendly and courteous. A hello when you arrive, a thank-you, holding the door, learning a new student’s name — the small courtesies are most of what respect looks like day to day.
• Frustration. When a print fails or the code breaks late at night, it is fair to be frustrated. It is not fair to take it out on equipment or on teammates. No slamming tools, no tossing parts across the table, no snapping at the person nearest to you. Step away, walk it off, come back. If you don’t catch it yourself, expect a coach or senior student to step in and ask you to take a break — that is not a punishment, and you come back when you’re ready.
• Humility. Engineering requires acknowledging uncertainty and revising conclusions when the evidence changes. Say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong about that” when either is true, then use what you learned to improve the work.
• Leave school at the door. What you build here should follow you to school — not the other way around.
• Leave politics at the door. Save your arguments for what the field and bench can referee.

Make yourself useful.

The shop runs on people who see what needs doing and do it. Tools go back where they belong. Parts get sorted. Scrap gets cleared. The printer gets reloaded. None of this is glamorous. None of it requires permission.

When a mentor or senior student gives you direction, follow it first and discuss alternatives afterward. The exception is safety: if something looks unsafe, say so before it is done. You do not have to proceed until a coach has reviewed the concern.

When no one is directing you, don’t stand around. Find the next thing yourself. Look at what the team is trying to do today, pick a piece you can move forward, and move it forward. It helps to keep more than one task in your pocket, so when you get blocked on one you switch to the next instead of stopping. If you genuinely can’t find anything, ask. “What can I do?” is always a welcome question.

When you arrive, find a coach or senior student and check in. Look around for what’s underway, find a task or ask for one, and get to work. Save the socializing for while you are working, not before.

Before you leave, clean your station. Return tools to where they belong. Tell a coach or senior student that you are heading out, and confirm when you will be back. If you have something running — a 3D print, a battery on the charger — make sure someone knows.

Mean what you say.

As a team we depend on each other, so let your yes be yes and your no be no. The robot is hard enough without teammates you cannot count on.

This matters most for attendance and planning. If you can come, say yes. If you can’t, say no. If you are unsure, say maybe — an honest maybe beats a soft yes. It is tempting to say yes because yes feels easier in the moment. Then the night before, the yes turns into a no. Do not do this. It is unfair to teammates who planned around you, and it costs the team time and morale.

When circumstances genuinely change, say so as early as you can. If you simply change your mind about what you’d rather be doing, finish what you committed to and revisit at the next round of work.

Promise what is in your hands. You can promise to show up, to do the work, to test before the deadline. You cannot promise the robot will win — no one can. We hold each other to conduct and effort, not to outcomes.

Find the root cause before casting blame.

When something goes wrong — the robot won’t run, a part doesn’t fit, the code does the wrong thing — do not cast blame. First, find the cause, then work toward the fix. The energy spent deciding whose fault it was is energy not spent on the solution.

Blame is fast and feels like an answer. It does not fix the problem, it does not prevent the next one, and it makes the team worse at working together.

Ask the slower questions instead: what happened, what conditions made it possible, and what can we change so it doesn’t happen again. Sometimes the cause is a person’s mistake — and if so, we name it without theatrics, fix it, and move on.

The subtlest blame is “my part works” — it assigns the fault to everyone else by exclusion. But the robot does not run on the sum of perfect parts; it runs on parts that work together, and the joints between them are where most failures live. If your care ends at the edge of your own subsystem, the place where the robot actually breaks belongs to no one.

Treat “my part works” as a hypothesis to test, not a defense: put the part back on the bench and test it under the conditions where the robot failed. The useful question is not “whose part?” but “where did our assumptions disagree?”

Own your mistakes.

Everyone forgets things. Everyone misses a meeting time, miscounts a part, or forgets to start a 3D print the night before. None of that is disqualifying on its own. It is part of doing hard things alongside school and life.

What matters is what you do next. We learn from mistakes by naming them: I forgot. I miscounted. I didn’t write it down. From there we can fix the problem, build a habit that prevents it, or make a system that catches it. None of that can happen until you acknowledge the mistake.

This includes accidents with equipment. If you drop a driver station, control hub, laptop, battery, or any other team equipment, report what happened and let a coach or senior student inspect it. Accidental damage still needs to be reported: shared equipment may be difficult to replace, and damage may not be immediately visible. If it was in your hands, take responsibility for reporting it, checking it, and handling it more carefully next time.

Minimizing, deflecting, or concealing a mistake prevents the team from learning from it and increases the chance that it will happen again.

Ambition needs discipline.

Bring your ideas. We want students who want to do hard things. Robotics should be fun and interesting, and competition should help focus the mind, not make the work small.

But the build is shared. If your idea fails, it doesn’t only fail for you — it fails for every teammate who was counting on the robot to work. Failure is the risk of ambition, but one student’s ambition should not put the whole build at risk. We have learned this the hard way.

Before the 2026 FIRST Championship in Houston, we redesigned the intake, launcher, and turret at the same time. The robot was completed too late for meaningful practice or reliability testing, and the team finished 0–10. The students worked hard, but the project lacked sufficient scope controls and coaching guardrails. Hard work and good intent were not enough on their own.

Three redesigns are not three risks; every joint between them is a risk too. So: pitch your ideas. If we take them on, they get a scope, a deadline, and a fallback. If the deadline slips, we cut scope and ship what works. “Trust me, I’ll get it done” is not a plan. A plan has dates, guardrails, and a definition of done that includes testing under realistic conditions.

And if you see a risk to the build — your own or someone else’s — say so. Protecting the build is everyone’s job, not just the mentors’.

Respect runs both ways.

This team brings together students through the shared work of designing, building, and competing. It does not matter where you go to school, what you look like, who your family is, or what you believe outside this room. Participate in the work and treat the people around you with respect. Learn people’s names, and notice who needs help or is being left out.

Respect applies to adults and volunteers as well as students. Technical mentors, parents driving carpools, event volunteers, and parent-coaches contribute their time to make the program possible. During team activities, parent-coaches serve in the same role as other coaches and should be treated accordingly.

Respect also runs between students in both directions. New students are expected to learn from those with more experience by observing their work, asking questions, and contributing where they can. Experienced students may be asked to guide others because they know the shop and the team’s practices. That responsibility does not confer rank: teach rather than boss, and explain the reasoning when time allows.

Leave room for others.

We share a shop, and away from the shop we share hotels, vans, and convention halls. Everyone gets through those spaces more easily when people notice the effect they are having on the room.

A conversation at full volume forces everyone else to listen; match your volume to the space and the moment. If you are talking, someone else is not — notice when you are taking more than your share, and pull back. Allow silence between comments.

Keep robotics first.

Our time together is short, and the work is harder than it looks from the outside. While we work, aim for 80% robotics, 20% socializing. Socializing helps build the team, but it is not the main event.

Sharing videos, social media posts, or other content that doesn’t pertain to robotics is not allowed during meetings. Phones are for build references and build photos, not for entertainment.

Captains and leads

Some roles carry extra responsibility, including team captain, drive team, and sub-team leads. Coaches appoint captains and leads based on reliability, ownership, treatment of others, and contribution to the team—not technical ability alone. Coaches may use a student vote as one source of input, but retain responsibility for the final decision.

Leadership means responsibility, not rank. Captains and leads are expected to teach, keep work moving, take on difficult tasks, and support the people around them.

What this looks like

We expect to see:

• Showing up to the September build and to competition prep, on time, ready to work.
• Stepping away to cool off when frustrated, rather than taking it out on tools or teammates.
• Saying “I don’t know,” “I forgot,” and “I was wrong” directly, when it’s true.
• Seeing what needs doing and doing it, without being asked.
• Taking direction the first time, without making the asker work for it.
• Checking in when you arrive, and saying goodbye before you leave.
• Cleaning your station and putting tools back at the end of the night.
• Saying yes, no, or an honest maybe — and following through on your yes.
• Asking “why did this happen?” before asking “whose fault was it?”
• Treating “my part works” as a hypothesis to test, not a defense.
• Saying what happened when equipment is dropped or mishandled.
• Pitching ambitious ideas with a scope, a deadline, and a fallback.
• Treating parent-coaches and non-technical volunteers with the same respect as any other adult.
• Noticing when your voice is the loudest in the room, and adjusting.
• Helping other teams at competition — the ones you’re about to play against, and especially the rookie or struggling teams who need a hand. This is what FIRST calls Coopertition.

We don’t want to see:

• Skipping a pulsed event without prior notice or a real reason.
• Shadow-punching the printer, kicking a robot, slamming tools.
• Swearing or vulgar jokes in the shop.
• Carrying grudges from school into the team.
• Pretending to know something you don’t, or getting defensive when corrected.
• Standing around waiting to be told what to do.
• Slipping out without telling anyone, or leaving your station a mess.
• “Maybe” used as a soft no.
• Reflexive blaming when something breaks.
• Minimizing or deflecting when you’ve made a mistake.
• Shrugging off dropped equipment, or blaming someone else for gear that was in your hands.
• Pushing an ambitious redesign without a plan to cut scope if time runs short.
• Conversations at full volume in a shared space when others are trying to work.
• Phones out for entertainment, or videos and social posts shared during meetings.
• Treating other teams as opponents to be beaten rather than competitors to be respected.

Hard rules

The principles above are how we try to work. The rules below are not optional. They protect students, protect the program, and meet the obligations we have taken on.

Shop safety. The shop has real tools, and real tools bite.

Print the shop-safety poster.

• Eye protection goes on whenever a machine is running — the bandsaw, the miter saw, the drill press, the CNC — and whenever you are within reach of someone else running one. Safety glasses live by the door. There is no “I’m just doing one cut.”
• No one operates a power tool until a coach has trained them on that specific tool and signed off. The bandsaw, the miter saw, the drill press, the metal brake, and the CNC each get their own sign-off, logged on the sign-off sheet on the shop wall — tools down the rows, students across the columns, a mentor’s initials in the cell. Knowing the drill does not mean you know the bandsaw.
• Closed-toe shoes in the shop, always. Tie back long hair, push up or remove loose sleeves, and take off dangling drawstrings, lanyards, and jewelry before you step up to anything that spins or cuts.
• Only one student is allowed to operate a machine at a time, and only their hands should be near it. Everyone else watches from a safe distance — close enough to see, not to reach.
• The 3D printers run hot and often run unattended. Don’t reach into a printing A1, don’t cancel or move someone else’s print, and if you start a print that will outlast the meeting, tell a coach so someone knows it’s running — the same rule as a battery left on the charger.
• If a tool is broken, tagged out, or mid-repair, it stays off. Don’t be the one who decides it’s fine. Report it if you’re the first to notice.
• When in doubt, stop and ask. No one has ever been in trouble here for asking whether something is safe.

Travel and competitions. When we travel to events, especially overnight:

• Room assignments are made by the coaches. No co-ed rooms. No student rooms with a non-guardian adult.
• The buddy system applies away from the team’s base. You do not leave the hotel, the venue, or the team’s location without a partner, and without checking out with a coach.
• Curfew applies. Lights out is set by the coaches and announced before each trip.
• In public spaces — hotel halls, restaurants, host venues — act as guests representing the team and FIRST.

Two adults, always. At every meeting and every team activity, at least two adults are present. Students should never find themselves alone with a single adult on team time. If a second adult is delayed or unavailable, the meeting ends and we reconvene when one arrives. This is also a requirement of FIRST’s Youth Protection Program.

Substances and weapons. Alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and vape are banned at all team activities, including travel, as is the misuse or sharing of any medication. Firearms and other weapons are not permitted at the shop, at events, or in team transportation. Over-the-counter medication a student needs is fine with a parent’s knowledge. Prescription medication a student carries should be disclosed to a coach at the start of the season and again before any trip.

Harassment. Harassment of any kind — verbal, physical, social, sexual, or online — is grounds for removal from the program. This applies to students, to parents, and to coaches and mentors. If you experience or witness it, tell any coach — or the Bennington Area Makers board directly if the concern is about a coach. Reports are handled with discretion, and no one will face retaliation for raising one in good faith. Anything that suggests a student’s safety is at risk goes beyond team discipline — to the student’s family, to the appropriate authorities, and through FIRST’s Youth Protection Program.

When a rule is broken. This ladder covers the whole code, not just the hard rules — the same scale applies to missing pulses, bossing instead of teaching, or blaming instead of fixing. Most problems never reach it. Before these formal steps, expect the everyday responses: a coach or senior student names the problem on the spot, asks you to step away and come back when you’re ready, or has you sit out the task or the rest of the session. When that isn’t enough, the response scales with what happened:

1. A private conversation with the student, usually resolving it on the spot.
2. A written notice to the student and family, with a specific change requested and a timeline.
3. Suspension from a meeting, event, or competition trip.
4. Removal from the team.

Severity, repetition, and willingness to own the mistake all factor in. Coaches make the call, and parents are involved at step 2 and beyond. For serious infractions — substances, weapons, harassment, anything that endangers another person — the process can begin at step 3 or 4.

Concerns about a coach or mentor can be brought to any other coach, or directly to the Bennington Area Makers board, our parent nonprofit.

Signing and reading. New members and their parents read this document and sign it before joining. New students also read the ten principles at the top of this page aloud, in front of a coach and a senior student — and the coach or senior student reads What we hold ourselves to back, so it is both sides signing on, not a test the new student has to pass. If reading aloud in front of others is hard, a student can do it privately or affirm it another way; the commitment matters, not the performance. Returning students re-affirm the ten principles at the start of each season.

What we hold ourselves to

The standards above apply to mentors first. We do not get to ask students for habits we are not practicing ourselves.

To students. We will show up prepared, on time, and ready to teach. We will tell you what we know and admit what we don’t. We share hands-on work on the robot with you, and we keep trying to push more of it into your hands. We will keep our promises about practices, travel, and the things we said the program would provide.

To families. We will communicate clearly about schedules, expectations, costs, and safety. We will treat conversations about students with discretion and avoid unnecessary risk in team activities.

To each other. We will back each other up in front of students, and disagree with each other in private — except on safety, which is always raised on the spot. We will tell each other when we see a mistake coming, and hear it when someone tells us. No mentor is above being corrected.

Fatigue and stress affect adult judgment as well as student judgment. When a coach or mentor recognizes that they are not at their best, they are expected to say so and ask another adult to review consequential decisions. Students and adults may raise concerns about a mentor’s decision, especially when safety is involved, without being treated as disrespectful.

Cost of participation

Regular-season membership for 2026–27 is $250 per student. The fee covers regular-season registration, uniforms, and pizza on Wednesday nights. Out-of-town events are an additional cost of participation and are not covered by the membership fee. Depending on the event and available fundraising, additional costs may include registration, transportation, lodging, and meals.

A sliding scale is available.

For families

Robotics combines technical instruction with shared commitments to attendance, safety, accountability, and respectful teamwork. Families can support participation by helping students communicate schedule conflicts early and understand the commitments they make to the team. Coaches will communicate schedules, costs, travel requirements, and significant concerns as clearly and promptly as possible.

If a concern arises about a student, a coach, or the program, please raise it early so it can be addressed before it becomes more difficult to resolve.