Obtaining sponsorship for a heavyweight?

[BrentwoodSchoolRoboteers]

Firstly I should introduce myself - I am a teacher who is posting on behalf of a group of my pupils at school. They have been involved in robotics since the summer and recently designed and built their first heavyweight fighting robot. The team consists of pupils studying Design Technology, Physics and Mathematics who are interested in a career in Design and Engineering.

They absolutely loved designing and building the robot and entered it into their first competition late 2016. It didn't go quite as planned due to their inexperience and the cost saving design. As budding engineers they have now fully redesigned the robot and have added some unique features to the design which they want to start building when we return to school with the hope of entering it into more competitions this year.

We do therefore hit the issues of how best to fund the robot. I have been sending out letters to potential sponsors and thought that you may have some ideas on who else I can contact with the hope of raising some funds.

If anyone has any leads or help they could give it would be greatly appreciated and I will be able to send you a more detailed letter explaining our intentions.

Feel free to contact me at taw@brentwood.essex.sch.uk if that is easier than sending a forum message.

[Albear]

maybe you should start a Kickstarter (or something similar) campaign?

[BrentwoodSchoolRoboteers]

maybe you should start a Kickstarter (or something similar) campaign?

Kickstarter not a bad idea - never done anything like it before and not sure what to offer as rewards but i'll look into it for them. Have sent out some more letters in the vague hope of finding people interested. Hoping that the education aspect of it will appeal to come companies.

Currently suggesting that they design it using cheap components with the option to upgrade if we can find more funding. Problem is that is easier said than done as mountings etc need to be designed for the final parts.

[typhoon_driver]

Running a kickstarter isn't easy. Trust me. If you really want pointers on running i'd be happy to give them but it's really not as easy as it may appear.

[Garfie489]

Just to add to the kickstarter idea, tbh now that one robotere has done it the returns for future attempts are likely to get smaller and smaller.

Though that said if you set to raise £1000, and you come up short - I believe you can just donate the rest of it yourself as you get it back anyway though best to talk to people who have used it like Gary about your options on that - he done a lot of promotion's around his as well which looked like a fair bit of work

[BrentwoodSchoolRoboteers]

Thanks for the tips. For now we will continue to pursue companies to gain freebees and the odd amount of money but may be back to look at the kickstarter idea but I do see it creates another layer of complication.

Thanks again.