Robots are no longer a vision of the future. High school students all over the country are competing for the right to be in the National Robotics Championship with hopes that their teams’ robot will change the image of engineering. Students across the state, along with Ball State University students and professors, combined their talents Saturday at Ball Gym for the opening demonstration of a high school robotics competition.
The For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology organization, also known as FIRST, gives high school students a chance to understand the engineering process in robotics.
FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the creator of the Segway Human Transport. He wanted to find a way to get more students interested in engineering by creating this non-profit organization.
Muncie/Delaware Robotics started its own team to unite several local high schools to learn about engineering and the positive effects it can have both in and out of the classroom.
“There were four to six robots from other Indiana FIRST teams that brought their robots and team members to give us a ‘car-show’-like demonstration of their task-oriented robots and what the teams are about,” Cheryl LeBlanc, coordinator of the Muncie/Delaware Robotics team, said. “These teams love to share their experiences including success and struggles.”
The teams present at the competition were from Kokomo, Indianapolis, Morristown, Anderson, West Lafayette, Hammond and Russiaville. Around the country, there are close to 1,000 teams and more than 20,000 students and volunteers. Teams have individual sponsors such as NASA, General Motors, Motorola and Xerox Corporation, along with hundreds of other national sponsors that help the teams. An actual competition consists of a robot being led through a task or game by two team members from a group of roughly 15-25 high school students. One person navigates the robot while the other controls the robot’s arms. The goal is to pick up large plastic triangles, transport them to another location, and properly place them onto a larger plastic triangle.
The robots must perform a different task each year, so in early January, each team receives a kit and builds its robot. The competitive season begins in February and normally ends in the last week of April.
“During build season, we work every day for six weeks. Then competitions or workshops take up the rest of the competitive season,” Nathan LeBlanc, a second-time FIRST competitor from Burris High School, said. “I want to be an engineer, so my interests were in robotics, so my mom found this. I’ve been doing this for two years now, and I really enjoy it.”
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