The World Wide Battle to Build a Better Robot
Competing in science, engineering and technology can be fun, and also serves as a confidence and self-esteem booster that helps students with other aspects of their lives. This is the idea behind the FIRST Robotics competition where more than 1,600 high school teams, over 42,000 students, and teams from 48 states as well as places such as Brazil, Germany, the U.K., Israel, and the Philippines among others gathered in Atlanta, Ga. in April to duel in the battle to build the best robot.
Teams first had to defeat all competition in their state or country before being invited to the finals, in front of 20,000 fans and supporters in the Georgia Dome. There they were given the opportunity to present their robots built in six weeks from a common set of parts provided by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
After the smoke cleared, standing on the top of the heap of the Robotics competition were the alliance formed from groups of teams from The Winning Alliance of the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship: Team 67 “The HOT Team” of Huron Valley Schools from Milford, Mich.; Team 111 “Wilds tang” of Rolling Meadows High School and Wheeling High School from Schaumburg, Ill.; Team 971 “Spartan Robotics” of Mountain View High School in Mountain View, Calif..
The teams were judged on their ability to create a robot out of hundreds of parts and the ability of the robot to pick up small balls and then dump those into the back of their opponent’s robots.
“Our mission is about more than building robots, we are working to inspire and change a culture,” said Dean Kamen, FIRST founder. “We had the opportunity to witness this culture shift in action. We watched as the innovators of tomorrow showed us they could step up to the challenge and solve complex technological problems. And that’s good news for us, because we need more innovative thinkers to help solve a number of increasingly complex problems in the world. I am confident there is a bright future ahead – I caught a glimpse of it at the FIRST Championship.”
Team 236 “Techno Ticks” of Lyme-Old Lyme High School from Old Lyme, Conn. won the Chairman’s Award, the highest honor given at the FRC Championship that recognizes the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.
While the Robotics competition served as a major highlight, the attendees were also treated to the First Tech Challenge where nearly 1,000 high-school students used a modular robotics kit to compete in the “Face Off!” challenge, mirroring many real-world challenges that robotics engineers face today, such as navigating uneven surfaces, manipulating odd-shaped objects, using sensors to determine the environment, and withstanding physical stress.
Equally as exciting was the First Lego League where 84 teams from 27 countries participated in the FIRST LEGO League World Festival. This year’s “Climate Connections” real-life challenge tasked students, ages 9 to 14, to design, build, and program robots and embark on an exploration of the earth’s climate.
All these events are organized by FIRST which is the brain child of Dean Kamen, who 10 years ago sought to create an organization that would inspire young people to become leaders in science and technology and to create mentoring programs that developed young people’s self confidence and leadership.
To find out more about the programs and competitions available through FIRST and how you or your school can compete, visit http://www.usfirst.org/.