Community outreach is once again happening in-person, with one of our favorite outreach events back online.
“The Green Machine” recently appeared live on Minnesota Children’s Hospital’s own Star Studio, a channel that entertains and educates the hospital’s young patients. Up until March 2020, we appeared on a regular basis as part of our ongoing commitment to community outreach to educate and encourage youth in grades K-12 to learn about STEM by doing FIRST Robotics. Bringing in our own robots to the studio is always magical when the Star Studios show features the Clubhouse hosted by “The Dude.” This talented actor-producer uses his acting background and comic skills to make the show fun and interesting, for both big kids and little kids alike!
During the Star Studios broadcast, six team members shared insights about the FIRST organization and its offerings, the competition, and “The Green Machine” 2022 robot, including:
- What the team’s competition looks like each year: from pre-season preparation in the fall, to the game challenge announced in January, then build and competitions through early May
- How the Green Machine’s 2022 season included competing in the World Championship and winning the MSHSL FIRST Robotics State Competition for the first time
- How team members keep working year-round and how summer fun includes a day at the Minnesota State Fair
- A demonstration of what the robot can do during the different phases of a match, with the first 30-seconds in autonomous (robot-programming only) mode and when teleop (or driver control) looks like for the remaining 2 minutes of each match
Our hour with The Dude went by very quickly, with ZAP moving around, shooting cargo balls, and taking questions from the studio audience. The Dude turned out to be a robot-whisperer, encouraging ZAP to make audible sounds in response to questions. We are very excited to be invited back to the Star Studio for another appearance in mid-July. The shows can be viewed live via websteam (https://starstudiomn.org/), or watched afterward by clicking on the show archives. —by Alec B.