True story: here at SOLIDWORKS, we’re crazy about FIRST Robotics. What kind of engineering nerds wouldn’t be? Created by Dean Kamen, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics aims to inspire students to become leaders in science and engineering, to teach them important, life affirming skills, such as team work and team building, and become masters of gracious professionalism. It’s a fantastic program, one we at SOLIDWORKS are proud to support, and we are also proud to be the modeling solutions partner for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition.
FIRST Robotics holds many levels of competition for students of all ages: FIRST Lego League Junior (grades K – 4), FIRST Lego League (FLL) (grades 4 – 8), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) (grades 7 – 12), and the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) (grades 9 – 12). Every year since 1992, FIRST Robotics has held its annual FIRST Robotics Competition, where students from around the globe come together and compete in exciting and creative competitions that change yearly. This year, the FRC is called FIRST Power Up, based on old-school 8-bit video games.
At the end of FIRST’s six week build period, which started the first week of January (get it? January? First? FIRST?), Team YETI went down to the line building their bot. They always do. But when build season ended, they had not one but two robots. They spent most of the season building the first one, and then decided to improve upon it, to make it the best robot they could possibly produce. Their hard work gave birth to Avalanche, their entry into FIRST Power Up. Seeing their bots inspired the other teams who work in the QCRA. Another team in the space attempted to build, and built, a second robot for the first time ever. And QCRA’s rookie team, Iced Java, built their first robot ever and had it ready to be bagged and packed away by the deadline.
At the UNC Pembroke District Event, YETI ended up ranking 12th out of 37 teams. They were picked by 4th seed and made it to the semi-finals, before being defeated by the event winners. But they are also, once again, the winners of the District Chairman’s Award and will be competing in the North Carolina State Championship on April 7. Iced Java will be joining them. “Both teams had a rough time in the beginning with gearbox issues but both teams were pretty well respected for their strategies on the field and were selected for play in the brackets,” Robbie informed me in an e-mail. YETI has a chance to win multiple awards at the State Championship and make it to the world finals, and they’re ready and rearing to go.
All the teams in the Queen City Robotics Alliance’s FIRST Zone do well because of their community, their space, their members, and their mentors. Robbie is one of many YETI mentors who guides students, but only when they need it. For the most part, the kids are the leaders and they cooperate with each other, with only the occasional helping hand from an adult. YETI is student led, which means all their successes belong to the students. They’re a supportive, unique community, sort of like the FIRST Zone itself. Having a space where students can build robots, and practice, and collaborate over marketing initiatives, and practice, and lead community building camps, and practice, and practice, and practice, have all contributed to YETI’s success as a FIRST team, and as a diving board from which kids can plunge themselves into the world of STEM years before they may have otherwise had the opportunity to do so.
So what does it take to be a FIRST student? Time, smarts, initiative, cooperation, and a love of learning, a love of your community, and a love of STEM. To be a FIRST mentor? “You have to be a little on the crazy side,” explained Robbie, who is very sane and very passionate about what he does. But we all know what he means. “You have to believe that what you’re doing is going to help, because there is a shortage of engineers and folks in manufacturing…You have to really enjoy engineering and you have to really believe that it’s great for the world and that these kids are going to want to do that if you can just show them that way of living.” If FIRST is the type of program someone is going to go crazy over, they have chosen well.
Thanks to Trenton DeSear, Colin Evans, James Ramich, and Robbie Hoyler for taking the time to discuss Queen City Robotics, the FIRST Zone, TPM, and their personal experiences with FIRST. All images courtesy of QCRA and YETI’s various social media accounts and YouTube.