“The Green Machine” heads to its second FIRST Regional Competition on March 30 at the University of Minnesota. Since our first regional in Duluth in early March, during which we earned the “Engineering Inspiration Award” for helping expand STEM and FIRST opportunities, we’ve been busy making changes to our robot and scheduling as much robot-driving practice as possible.
We hope to improve on the performance of our robot from our first regional competition in early March. In Duluth, we discovered inconsistencies in our robot’s ability to collect the game pieces, an inflated cube and a medium-sized cone. Trouble-shooting and fine-tuning the robot, nicknamed Zero, has been our focus ahead of this next regional, the MN 10,000 Lakes Regional presented by Medtronic.
Team members have also become caught up in advocating for FIRST and STEM at the MN State Capitol. One of our assistant captains, George, spoke before both House and Senate Jobs and Workforce Committees. One of the pending bills would help provide internship opportunities for high school students participating in competitive robotics programs like FRC. Come see FIRST and STEM in action, March 31-April 1 at Williams Arena, on the University of Minnesota Campus, and then join us at the MN State Capitol on April 12 for STEM Advocacy Day!
-By Nora B.