When we think of robots we imagine some science fiction character from Star Wars, a
Team 2084 is working on their Robot for the FIRST Competition
mechanized device crawling around a war zone, or perhaps a whirling armed machine in a manufacturing facility. A growing number of Pinpoint Laser Systems customers use robotics and rely on our products to calibrate and guide them in their every day routines. Whoever thought that robots could be used to teach young students?
Well this is happening right now in fact, through an educational program called FIRST. The FIRST program is targeted at high schools, around the world, and provides a game challenge in which high school-aged students must design and build a robot device to meet a particular challenge in friendly competition.
Teams have exactly 6 weeks, to the hour, to design, fabricate test, and debug a fully working robot that is then shipped to a regional competition center. In early April, teams assemble, form alliances, make new friends, compare engineering notes, and send their robots into competition. The 2011 competition involved robots working telemetrically to pick up and manipulate 2-foot diameter inflated shapes and hang them on pegs located as high as 10 feet above the playing arena floor in a timed setting. At the end of each competition round the robot would back up to a 10 foot tall pole and release a small climbing robot, called a “mini-bot” that would climb the pole in a matter of seconds and trip a switch to gather more team points. The 2012 Team Challenge is called “Rebound Rumble” and high school teams are working busily right now to develop robots that can essentially play basketball and balance on pivoting ramps – a real engineering challenge!
Team 2084 at work!
These teams are learning how to solve engineering challenges and working with mechanical design, mechanical assembly, electronics, pneumatics, vision systems, software and building impressive robots in the process. The FIRST program is drawing high school students into a fun and challenging program and at the same time exposing them to a wonderful engineering experience. The big take-away from this successful activity is putting young, future engineers together and letting them solve problems as a team, work through their differences, and build their confidence so that they can, together solve large complex problems. This program gives young students a powerful set of skills that are valuable in today’s workforce. Our country needs more of this, it is our future.
Pinpoint Laser Systems is the proud supporter of Team 2084 – “Robots By The C” which operates out of the Manchester Essex Regional High School in Manchester, MA.; http://www.robotsbythec.com. We donate engineering time through the mentor program, financial resources, machine shop, and design time. This international program makes a significant difference in students lives and we hope that you will be inspired by the FIRST program http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc and see how you and your company can participate.
Go FIRST and Go, Go Team 2084!
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