It was 10 years ago that Edina High School junior Chris Miller founded the oldest enduring FIRST Robotics Competition team in the State of Minnesota. Neighbors and friends at school looked on with amusement as Miller and a handful of Edina students, who quickly came to be known as “The Green Machine,” built a competition robot in his dad’s kitchen. Amusement turned to amazement when that same small group and their robot were on their way to Atlanta for the World Championship competition having won the Wisconsin Regional in an alliance with two other teams. That was Edina Robotics’ first of what will soon be nine trips to the World Championships in 10 years!
This year “The Green Machine” won its berth in the 2015 World Championships in St. Louis by winning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Lake Superior Regional Competition in Duluth in February. This award recognizes the team that best advances respect and appreciation for engineering within their community as well as inspiring others to respect science and technology. The team’s robot, Zebruh, made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated, a strong showing.
April 2-4 found “The Green Machine” competing at their second competition of the season, the 10,000 Lakes Regional, this time at Williams Arena on the U of MN campus. Zebruh again made it to the quarterfinals, while the Team also earned the Entrepreneurship Award for their business plan. A sound business plan has been a cornerstone of this team to guide their planning and to maintain a sustainable, student-run engineering operation. In addition, the team won the highest honor in all FIRST, the Chairman’s Award. This is presented to the team who best represents the ideals of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and sets an example for other teams to follow. Edina Robotics has certainly done that. In Minnesota, their impact on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) students is unparalleled. Over the years “The Green Machine” team has founded 22 other FRC teams and the total number of FIRST Robotics teams in the state is now 192. There are now more robotics teams than Boys HS varsity hockey teams, a fact that Senator Al Franken was amused and amazed to learn when he met with the team during their first visit to Washington DC for the National Advocacy Conference. The team will return to DC in June for the third time to advocate for funding for STEM education and after-school programs, meeting with Senators Franken and Klobuchar as well as Members of the House of Representatives Ellison and Paulsen. The team has been invited to testify before the Minnesota Senate Education Committee by Senator Melisa Franzen, who met the team at a mentoring session with Creek Valley elementary students involved in FIRST Lego League, one of the Green Machine’s dozens of outreach events. It is this sort of dedication to STEM education and FIRST that won the Chairman’s Award for “The Green Machine”.
From April 22-25, Edina Robotics will compete in the World Championships for the Championship Chairman’s Award, the highest award in all of FIRST, for a fourth time. There will be 66 other teams competing, but only one other comes to the competition having won not only a Regional Chairman’s Award, but also the Engineering Inspiration and the Entrepreneurship Awards. There can be little doubt that “The Green Machine” will represent Minnesota FIRST and STEM education well.