The Green Machine kicked off its 2016 season in June by presenting a “State of STEM in Edina” report to the Edina City Council, and, later in the month, participating in its third annual National Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC. Throughout the summer, Team 1816 ran LEGO robotics camps, including a week-long introduction to LEGO at the Edina Community Center, and staged robot demonstrations for events such as PTC Family Day and the Minnesota State Fair. 1816 introduced STEM via LEGO Robotics to underserved children at Simpson Housing’s Passage community, and expanded this program in October with weekly “STEMtober Fest” LEGO Robotics at People Serving People, a Minneapolis shelter. In the fall, team cohesion was strengthened at the 2nd annual Team Retreat, while STEM careers were spotlighted at the Team’s 3rd annual STEM Career Night. Community service projects included an extensive landscaping project for Calvary Lutheran Church and an Edina park clean-up. A highlight of November was the national Out in STEM (oSTEM) conference in Pittsburgh, where the Team presented on methods and process to achieve greater diversity in STEM. Later that month, The Green Machine hosted Katie Coders, a girls-only coding workshop, at the College of St. Catherine. In December, team members were presenters and speakers for the Minnesota Splash at the University of Minnesota and JumpStart training workshops in St. Cloud. Still more robot demos were done at Robotics Alley and two events for different Cub Scout troops, including 50+ scouts in Maple Grove, capping off a busy pre-season. Outreach stretched into the robot build season, with robot demos at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in February, and a live TV appearance on Children’s Hospital’s Star Studio, appropriately for St. Patrick’s Day. Team members also were followed by Prep45 TV from Kickoff in January through the season’s last competition at the MSHSL-FIRST Robotics State Championship. A video feature aired on Prep45 TV in early June.
In August, the Team appeared at all six Edina public elementary schools for Open Houses. Robot demonstrations helped inspire sign-ups for potential FIRST LEGO League Jr and FIRST LEGO League teams in Edina. As a result, Edina student involvement with FIRST programs increased 8.2%, from 194 students in 2015 to 210 students in 2016. The number of FLL and FLL Jr teams in Edina more than doubled. In addition, every public school in Edina hosted at least one robotics team. From September through December 2015, The Green Machine mentored 23 FLL Jr., FLL and FIRST Tech Challenge teams in Edina and Minneapolis. Team members spent well over 600 hours mentoring younger teams in the 2016 season, excluding additional time during FLL and FTC competitions in a mentoring capacity to junior teams.
The team participated in two preseason competitions, the Minnesota Robotics Invitational in October and the Minne-Mini Regional in November, where Team 1816 also presented on Safety and Fundraising & Sponsorship. The team had a roster of 54 members as it headed into competition season, continuing last year’s trend of a significant increase in membership from prior years. This year, Team 1816 tested its robot at the Week Zero event in Chanhassen, before competing in the Lake Superior Regional, Duluth and the Iowa Regional, Cedar Falls. At the Lake Superior Regional, the Team competed on the fourth seeded alliance and finished as semifinalists. In addition, Team 1816 won the Entrepreneurship Award in recognition of its 2016 Business Plan. At the first-ever Iowa Regional, the Team won the Gracious Professionalism Award and an honorable mention for the UL Safety Award. Two 1816 team members, Allison S. and Brandon S., were also selected as Dean’s List Finalists, and represented The Green Machine at the 2016 FIRST Championships in St. Louis. Team 1816’s performance at the Lake Superior Regional qualified the Team for the 5th annual MSHSL-FIRST Robotics State Championship, making the Team one of only two Teams to win their way to the state championship every year.