Richard Oakes

I am in the Information Technology business. My company, SpiderLogic writes custom software applications. I have been involved with FIRST Robotics since 2006 when my son Tim asked me to be a mentor for the B’East team. I was a science major and have always enjoyed teaching and working with my hands, so I have a lot of fun working with the students and seeing how fast they learn.

Richard Oakes with Dean Kamen in 2009

My 29+ year career so far has been in Service Design for state of the art Cardiology (EKG) and Oncology (PET) Medical devices. I mainly help mentor the team on mechanical assemblies of their robot and really enjoy seeing them learn skills they’ll definitely need and use in their future.

Tim Obermann

I am a Power Electronics R&D engineer for ABB (Major Team Sponsor). I volunteer because I am interested in getting High school kids pursuing careers in STEM.

Stephen Fox

Stephen Fox

I’m a software engineer at GE Healthcare IT working on Electronic Medical Records. My background is in Computer Engineering and I’ve always loved low level computing and robotics, so FRC is a fun place to get to play around and get your hands dirty.

Rob Nevermann

Rob Neverman

Mark Burbey

Mark Burbey

I am “The Electrical Guy.” I have been a mentor since our first year. About 6 years ago my good friend Richard (Mr. Oakes) asked if I would be interested in helping with a new robotics club that he was helping assemble. Since then I have been hooked! I have an apprenticeship in Electrical Industrial Maintenance as well as a degree in Industrial Electronics Technology. I enjoy working with the kids and sharing anything that they are willing to learn.

Deborah Oakes

My younger brother started the club at this school with a friend and my dad, Mr. Oakes, has been involved since. Now, my youngest brother is a member of the team and they asked me to help redesign the website for the club this year. I work as a Professional Services Consultant and have some background in website design.

Barry Dieser

I am a software development manager/software engineer. I am a general purpose mentor for the team, and first came to the team with my son John, and have remained with it, as I see the immense value if has for high school students.

Barry Dieser

I am currently a full time student at UW Waukesha studying mechanical engineering. My working experience started at Midwest Composite Technologies, as a SLS/SLA/3-D printing technician, uploading and fixing customers CAD files. During the build season, I make sure the students stay on task and assist them when they ask or look like they need assistance on a rebound rumble challenge task. I also make sure that the students are using proper safety techniques when working with tools and machinery in the shop. I am mentoring because I like passing down knowledge that I have obtained and enjoy watching an engineering master piece come together.

Richard Li

I borrow the money for the City of Milwaukee. My daughter joined the Robotics Club, and is interested in software. My undergraduate degree is in math and computer science, so I am trying to help out the software team.

Mark Drews

I am a Hydrogeologist for the Department of Natural Resources. My son asked me to help out the robotics team to make sure there were enough mentors. I am helping with the robots mechanical construction, due to my 5 years of auto repair while putting myself through college.

A letter to the team and supporters from the 2011 Mentors:

WoW! What a Tournament! I’m still catching my breath on the team’s amazing performance. Just Outstanding! By far our best ever! I had so many people, teams, judges and parents coming up to me stating how impressed they were with our team and robot. We were in the elite class and had other team’s coming to us instead of the other way around. We also helped other teams in need by providing our vise, glue, misc. hardware, 6″ pneumatic cylinder, drill, advice, etc., so they could compete too…great examples of “Gracious Professionalism”.

All of the time and effort our students and mentors put into this season really paid off, as well as, the pre-season that helped us hit the ground running. Special Thanks to the mentors for their relentless energy in making this team the best it could be by teaching the principles of FIRST to the students. It’s very rewarding to look back at the first day of this year’s challenge and seeing how ideas turned into reality. Throughout the season, we preached about keeping the design simple, simple, simple! So as a result, (many of you missed this after the Tournament Saturday Afternoon, Richard and I almost did!!! ), we were selected by the event Judges to receive the prestigious “Industrial Design Award”, which is sponsored by General Motors. This award “celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively achieves the game challenge”. This is a huge accomplishment and proves that following the “keep it simple” mantra is the correct path to take!! This is our first award and now need to find a place for it at the school – what a great problem to have!

Special thanks to our Senior student leaders that have been contributing to the team for the last four years. Your guidence and “lead by example” attitude is what this team and program are all about. We look forward to seeing you move forward in your careers and leading others in the future.

To the school Staff, Nick, Paula and Corey: Thanks for the continued support on this great program!

Mr. Secora and Mr. Oakes