FIRST Robotics

I spent the last two days subbing in first grade.  They were interesting days, but I'm glad they are over. 

Today, I'm chaperoning our High School Robotics team at the Chesapeake Regional Qualifier, held in Baltimore.

If you aren't familiar with FIRST robotics, I'm going to get sidetracked here for a while and tell you everything you need to know in a few quick sentences.

1) The program was begun 20 years ago by Dean Kamen. (If you've seen a Segway, you've seen his work.  He's an inventor.)  His goal was to stimulate critical and creative thinking in the Sciences and Engineering with students by giving them the opportunity to have hands on, creative, real-life problem solving skills that relate to a real-life challenge.

2) FIRST robotics has programs avaialable for children in upper elementary (grades 4-6), middle school, and high school.  Schools do not offer FIRST robotics as part of their curriculum.  It is an after school activity.  Several community organizations offer robotics programs, including the Girl Scouts, 4-H, and several Boys and Girls Clubs.

3) FIRST robotics is an international program.  Regional qualifiers are held all over the world, and the winning teams then compete at the Global Finals held in  May.

4) All of the robotics programs come with a central challenge.  I am most familiar with the high school  FRC program, so I'll outline it here:

• In January, kick off is held.  The new game is announced.  This year, your robot must be able to move around the field and shoot baskets into basketball hoops.
• Every team is given the same box of parts and the same rule book to follow.
• The kids have six weeks to build and program a working robot that meets the mandatory weight guidelines.
• After six weeks, the robots are tagged and bagged and sent off to FIRST for weighing in preparation for the tournaments.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it?  And yet, if you are familiar with the engineering field at all, you know that this challenge is not as simple as it sounds.  The kids are still in school, and they must keep their grades up at the same time that they are working on this robot.  Homework must still be turned in, and tests must still be passed.  The challenges get to the kids after a while.  Tempers fray during the last week of build season.

But then comes the magic of competition.  The kids get to put their finished product out on the field and see if it works.  They form alliances with other teams, so that there are three robots on a team, and two teams compete against each other at the same time.  Gracious professionalism rules the day.  I've seen robots catch fire during competition.  Suddenly, you'll see kids from 4 or 5 other teams out on the field, helping that poor robot, fixing the wiring, and getting it working again.  I've seen robots stop working, and other teams will give up their time-outs to make certain that the afflicted team has time to repair their robot and get it up and running again.

I tell you, you go to any robotics event anywhere in this country, and you will be struck by how wonderful, smart, kind, giving, and absolutely amazing our young people are. 

I wish these kids would get more press.  They are the quiet, unsung heroes of the next generation.

And I am so proud of ALL of them.  Not just my team- all of the teams.  These kids are simply unbelievable.

Good luck to all of the participants in all of the qualifiers around the country this weekend!

*I will be posting pictures from the Convention Center over the next few days.*