News

On February 24, I was given the great honor to represent FIRST Robotics in a roundtable discussion about STEM education hosted by Minnesota’s U.S. Senator Al Franken. I was asked to give my personal perspective on not only why STEM (Science Technology Engineering...

Techies from all around the Twin Cities gathered on the third floor of the Edina Community Center Saturday, February 26, to present fun activities for people of all ages. The day devoted to hands-on science fun was sponsored by The Works, which plants seeds of...

Come and join us, Team 1816, for this year’s Tech Fest“It’s All About Engineering!” This Saturday, February 26, families are invited to a day filled with science and engineering projects, including exhibits by the Minnesota Planetarium, chemistry shows from the...

Hours of debate, storyboarding, and last-minute rendering paid off as 1816s animation subteam completed and successfully uploaded their Maya 3D animation for the 2011 FIRST Autodesk 3D Animation challenge.  This year, animators were asked to...

The Green Machine packed up the robot trailer and traveled to Simley High School on February 19 to test out our 2011 robots, ZEEBO and Zaboomafoo. With an 8 AM pit load-in, FIRST teams from Wisconsin and Minnesota were anxious to try out their robots. It was a test...

Right at the halfway point of the six-week robot build, The Green Machine took a Saturday afternoon to greet the community during the annual SPARK (Sponsor and Public Appreciation Recognition and Kudos) Day open house.  More than 100 visitors...

Come and join us! Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816 invites you to its annual SPARK Day Open House. Saturday, January 29, 12 noon to 2 PM, come and meet our 2011 robot-in-progress, ZEEBO. SPARK Day is all about showing you, our community,...

New Year’s celebrations quickly turned to consultations with calendars as Edina Robotics FIRST Team 1816 adjusted from holiday break to school to Kickoff and six weeks to build a robot. Kickoff meant arriving early to Coffman Union on the University of...

Over the winter break, current and former members of Team 1816 came together for an evening of foosball, Apples to Apples, and a make-your-own taco dinner at the home of the team’s faculty advisor. There were birthday cupcakes, too. Many Green Machine current mentors...

Each fall, a sophomore level mechanical engineering class is given a challenge: In six weeks, produce a robot that does “something interesting.” The robots are put on display for one-day only in early December, and several members of The Green Machine were able to...

During build season and the crazed rush of competitions, it’s all too easy to start looking for shortcuts to save time.  Safety is something that can’t be cut short.  On Thursday, December 16, our team held its annual FIRST safety seminar, covering...

Not even snow the night before stopped the Green Machine from hosting Minnesota Splash December 4 at the University of Minnesota. It did make it more difficult to push Zazu’s cart through the snow, but nevertheless, it arrived on time for the presentations at the new...