When 1816 team members returned to Edina High School following the summer’s construction, they found a reconfigured school and new possibilities for robot-build space and Team meetings. This new STEM Center is home to EHS’ Project Lead the Way and Computer Science classes during the day, and host to various STEM clubs and robotics after-school and well into most evenings.
Though the six-week robot build period does not start until January 6, 2018, students affiliated with The Green Machine start prepping and planning for it nonetheless. Weekly subteam and all-team meetings began in early September under the supervision of new team leadership. New subteam leads and co-Captains are assuming their positions and beginning to gear up for “captain’s practices,” where rookie team members have the chance to try different subteams and choose which ones they’d like to be a part of for the 2018 season.
“One thing I’m looking forward to this season is co-leading {the CSP subteam] and implementing my ideas of what has worked and what hasn’t worked in the past to make our team better for the future,” said Manu G., one of this year’s CSP sub team leads.
The new season brings with it new outreach events. On September 24th, the team hosted a booth at the 3rd annual Open Streets Edina event, where more than 40 community organizations and programs showcased themselves to Edina residents. One of the more popular attractions at the 1816 booth was the chance to drive LEGO robots using mobile phones.
In October, team members will host a LEGO immersion, known as STEMToberfest, for youth living at the Passages Community, and will showcase its robot during a MEA Weekend Robotics showcase held at Medtronic facilities in the Twin Cities. Medtronic is one of the Team’s first sponsors, and we are excited to demo our robot for Medtronic employees.