What squawks like a duck if there’s a sliver of metal stuck in the solder? A Bluetooth speaker, of course!
In mid-December, “The Green Machine” hosted its third “Girls in the Workshop” event. The challenge this time was to solder a Bluetooth speaker kit, complete with USB connector, switch, and 2 speakers. The results ranged from clear sound to duck squawking, until the tiny shard of metal was cleared from the connection.
This workshop-based event (see photos posted here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3e26xssynb4tet8/AACpd_k5gIAKGgWWMSr_NvGUa?dl=0) was a continuation of our outreach to girls currently enrolled on our FIRST Tech Challenge teams and in Project Lead the Way classes. The goal is to increase the number of girls inspired to extend their STEM classwork to our FRC team.
To date, our workshops have included a hands-on event where we soldered game boards and a follow-up meeting with robot show-and-tell opportunities, icebreakers, and “get to know you” activities.
We started this third session by going around the work tables and sharing our names and favorite flannel apparel (shirts and pajama pants were very popular) before jumping into the activity. At this workshop, we each worked on soldering together wireless speakers. It was a very challenging task, but it was also a lot of fun. And on top of that, we all learned much more about the process of soldering. We are currently planning for another event in spring 2023, as we continue on our journey to make our team more diverse and inclusive. Not only are we looking forward to our next event, but Team 1816 is very excited for the new season’s kickoff in January! – Nora B.