FRC Team 1816, “‘The Green Machine” made two appearances at the Minnesota State Capital in the past month. On March 16th, Team 1816 along with Team 2169- KING TeC, Prior Lake, testified in front of the Minnesota Senate Committee on Jobs and Economic Growth. This was in support of a bill introduced by Senator Melisa Lopez Fransen (DFL-49) requesting a reauthorization of $100,000 to support competitive robotics hubs in five locations around the state, as well as the potential to create additional fields. In 2019, Senator Lopez Fransen and 1816 wrote, introduced, and successfully saw passage of a bill reserving $100,000 to build 5 robotics practice fields. These hubs are now located in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Becker, Byron, and Duluth.
Hosting, maintaining, and outfitting these practice fields with tools and workshops took a huge step back during the pandemic. Continuing to support and advocate for after-school, mentored STEM activities, in safe facilities and locations, remains a major focus of “The Green Machine.”
FIRST Robotics Competition teams in Minneapolis and the southwest metro use the Minneapolis Urban Robotics Alliance (MURA) hub on a regular basis for robot-driver practice, to test and update code, and to scrimmage with or against other teams. The other practice fields in Becker, Byron, Duluth, and Saint Paul are in different stages of development and access to these facilities are not consistent. MURA is the most established, with full sized FRC and FIRST Tech Challenge fields, a workshop equipped with tools, and new this season, a slack channel to schedule time to practice there. Having a full-sized competition field to practice, just like all other high school varsity level sports teams do, is an amazing resource for our team. We are so excited that this opportunity may be available to more Minnesota FIRST teams through this new bill.
On March 31st, we attended the 6th annual STEM Day at the State Capital to promote STEM and advocate for public and legislative support. This was an opportune moment to talk to legislators and provide context as to what we as FIRST robotics teams do and why we need these practice fields. Through these events team members have been able to practice public speaking and how to talk about FIRST and ‘The Green Machine’ to those who know nothing about the topics. We are very grateful for these opportunities and excited to make these practice fields available for all FIRST teams in Minnesota.
–By Jimmy V. and Venna W.