For high school kids across New England, the months of January and February usually mean skating, skiing, sledding, snowboarding, and other winter pursuits. The last place you’d expect to find them on weekends would be in the classroom.
But that’s what happens at Agawam High School in Agawam, Massachusetts. For six weeks in January and February 20 high schoolers and nearly as many parents and mentors spend eight or more hours a day, Saturday and Sunday, in school. And during the week the kids also manage to put in three or more hours a day after school.
Why? In a word, Rosie.
Rosie is a robot, designed, built, assembled, and operated by a select group of Agawam students as part of the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit organization based in Manchester, New Hampshire. As part of its mission—to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering—FIRST holds international technology-based competitions for children of various ages.
The robotics competition challenges high schoolers to build robots that can outrun, out-throw, out-reach, or outlast other schools’ bots in a series of 41 regional competitions held in university and civic arenas during March and April, culminating in the “Super Bowl of Smarts” championships at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. For Agawam High, Rosie is the standard-bearer.
Rosie: more than a pretty name. Rosie is no newcomer to the FIRST competitions. She takes on a new form each year, but she’s represented Agawam High at competitions since 2002, and has won her share of prizes. Still, she’s a bit of a mystery: some say her name derives from the once-popular TV show The Jetsons; others say she is named after Rosemary Sandlin, current Massachusetts State Representative and a long-time supporter of the program.
Rosie has to be built from scratch each year, starting in January. Until the first Saturday in January, none of the participants on the program’s 1700-plus (in 2008) high school teams know in advance just what their robots will be asked to do. What they do know is that, starting on that Saturday morning, the competition comes alive with a burst of intellectual energy. It’s the beginning of the “build” season, when the teams will spend six weeks planning and building their robot for the upcoming competitions.
“We’ve got a room full of students, mentors, and teachers like myself,” says Jack Barry, an Agawam High School teacher and head of the school’s program. “Once the season starts, we’re in here every Saturday and Sunday, and we’re basically 24/7—or at least the high school equivalent, since we also put in three or so hours a day after school.”
On the Saturday-morning startup, the team learns in detail what the competition will be, and what the robots will be required to do. This year, the competition involved lifting and moving large 40-inch-diameter rubber balls over or under an “overpass” while driving NASCAR-like around a track. The 2009 competition is anybody’s guess, up until January 3.
Racing bots at a FIRST regional competition
Rosie’s parts. For each new competition, FIRST sponsors pitch in in a number of ways. Some sponsors contribute parts – metal frames, motors, wheels, pulleys, and so on – to make up kits for the schools. PTC provides specifically Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill, and Mathcad to all the teams and creates Pro/ENGINEER models of the components in the Kit of Parts. The models will be available in an online catalog so teams that use PTC software around the United States can quickly get to work on their robots.
At Agawam High School, the team is structured like a business. “We’ve got design engineers, electrical engineers, and manufacturing engineers,” Barry says. “But we’ve also got a CEO and a CFO, and the kids are responsible for manufacturing, marketing, risk management, fundraising and other business initiatives. So we become a complete enterprise. Some people build the robot, and some go out and attract publicity for the program.”
To help with designing the robot, Agawam has 30 seats of Pro/ENGINEER, plus Mathcad and Windchill. Pro/ENGINEER lets the team create virtual prototypes, so they can try out and test different designs quickly.
“Before this, the team made physical prototypes out of cardboard and duct tape, whatever was available,” says Barry, who came to the high school in 2005. If a part failed, it would take a long time to figure out what went wrong and then make the fix.
Students use Mathcad to make calculations quickly—to determine how many revolutions of a wheel may be required to move Rosie a certain distance, for instance. “Mathcad is helpful, because we can quickly go back and check on calculations,” says Amanda Bessete, a fourth-year team member. “It’s faster than trying to find them in a notebook.”
Windchill lets the team work on Rosie even when they’re not in the school. “We have some kids who get an idea at night,” Barry says. “They can go into Windchill online and share that idea with other students right from home.
Rosie team members rally support from PTC employees
At Agawam High School, the FIRST program has also helped bring new faces to engineering. Young women now make up the majority of the Agawam team.
Sara Taylor, a sophomore who is taking honors classes in math and science, is in her second year as a team member. “When I first came in for freshman orientation I saw the Rosie team driving its robot around during freshman orientation and I thought, this looks pretty cool. I knew Mr. Barry from middle school, so I came to a meeting. I met Amanda and she helped me feel comfortable by showing me around the lab. I fell in love with it. So here I am.”
As for Amanda, who’s now applying to engineering colleges, FIRST is a helpful addition to the activities sections of her applications. “Colleges love seeing FIRST on the application because they know it’s an excellent program,” she says. “It’s a real resume-booster.”
Working on Rosie in the pits at a regional competition
Mentors and sponsors. Mentors and sponsors gain their own benefits from the FIRST program. Says Dana Henry, founder of the Agawam program and an active mentor, “I originally did this for my son [a former Agawam student], but when I saw how much he got out of it, I stayed on. I do it because of how it helps kids learn about everything that’s connected with engineering, business, and life, and it exposes them to good colleges and great opportunities.”
Sponsors are able to create partnerships with education in ways that can influence the students, and even the curricula of some schools. This helps grow the workforce upon which technical companies depend.
Get involved. There are a wide range of volunteer opportunities with the FIRST program, each requiring different skill sets and time commitments. A Team Mentor or Coach works side-by-side with high school students to help them build self-confidence and gain knowledge and life skills. Teams need adult mentorship in multiple areas. Of course, the teams need engineers and people who can help students use PTC software to develop their robots. But there are other areas that they need help on as well. Teams require assistance with fundraising, marketing, and developing their business plans. You can also become an Event Volunteer, supporting operating needs and helping to meet the demands of the competitions. FIRST is in constant need of individuals to help out during regional and championship events. There are numerous roles from judging competitions to assisting with event set up.
Editor’s Note: For 2009, PTC is expanding its sponsorship of the FIRST program—contributing over $500K in cash and in-kind contributions—and is encouraging partners and other sponsors to join and/or expand their involvement in the program.
PTC will sponsor the January kick-off event as well as eight regional events, and is sponsoring up to 10 current teams plus up to 10 rookie teams for the 2009 season. PTC is also offering $40K in scholarship grants to students interested in studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM disciplines) at the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology.
We want to hear from you! Tell us how you or your company is involved with FIRST or request information about volunteer opportunities.
Related Information:
Was this article interesting? Let us know.
