Everyone has a different preconceived idea about what a robotics competition might look like. Many of you will picture the battle-bots TV show, where robots are built for the sole purpose of completely dismantling and destroying the opposing robot in Mad-Max cage-style matches.
The First Robotics program, often times just as exciting as a “land robot standing” competition, is a bit of a different program. The program boasts itself as “the ultimate sport for the mind.”
The program rules are very specific and well regulated in order to make sure that every team has the same opportunities. The team is required to raise funds and secure sponsorships in order to help funding for the robot and the team. Since there is no blueprint for the robot, no two team robots are the same, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The team also has volunteer professional mentors to help the team, often local parents or teachers that have experience in programming, robotics, engineering, marketing, finance, logistics, etc.
The program, which celebrated its 30-year anniversary this year globally, is based in Manchester, NH, and is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. This year, there were 3,790 teams, with over 94,000 participants representing over 95 countries. Over $80 million has been awarded through the program in college scholarships, with 2,000 individual scholarship opportunities.
Of the almost 4,000 teams, roughly only 400 will qualify to make it to the First Championship in Houston, TX, and 400 will qualify to make it to the First Championship in Detroit.
Out of 70 teams in North Carolina, only 15 were selected to go to the First Championship in Houston, a feat that the Holly Springs team did for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The selection includes some teams who go to compete for prestigious awards centered around making a meaningful impact in the world and STEM education/appreciation. The gate to Houston is only opened to those that qualify at the State meet, which is a weekend of matches between the top 32 teams in the state. For 2019, the team qualified to compete in the State meet, but fell just short of punching their ticket to Houston.
The robot requirements are very different for every season, and the time allotted to build the robot is strictly regulated. In January, First releases the layout of the field, and the tasks that will be required of the robots (including the first 15 seconds of each match having to control the robot “blindly” as a black screen is lowered between the drivers and the field). Based on those tasks, the design of the robot and programming are specific for each season. It’s not just the robot that changes every season. Sponsorship is also different every year. Sponsorship is sought after by members of the marketing team, which is a different team than the treasury, who is also working for funding, although they are all focused on the same end goal.
The competition field is the same for all the matches during the season, but that is the only constant. As an individual team, you never compete by yourself. Each match has six teams competing on the field at once. The six teams are split into two alliances consisting of three teams each. To be clear, it becomes a 3×3 match. Unlike any other sport, the chances are high that your ally for your first match, could very well be your opposition for your second match. If this all sounds confusing, it’s only because it is.
The team gets ranking points based on the performance of their alliance and individual performance during the matches, for things like performing the tasks, and parking and climbing (being docked at your station by the end of the match).
The robot is the tool to be part of the program, but the program is so much more than the matches.
Each team needs at least two adult mentors to help with the build process and to help coach the team both in the build season, and the competition season.
If a team is fortunate enough to have a lot of members (this year Holly Springs had about 90), then the team can be broken into groups, with each group being charged with a different task. The mechanical team is a different group than the programming team, which is a different group than the electrical team…you get the idea. Teamwork is one top focus point for the program. The teamwork reaches far beyond the students’ own school and team. At the matches, each team is cheering for the other teams on their alliance, and often for the teams on the opposing alliance. Hawktimus Prime made it their mission this year to also cheer for every rookie team in the competition. I’m not aware of many sports where the team sincerely cheers for the opposition. This is not a case of cheering for everyone because it doesn’t matter who wins. These are fierce matches, and the stakes are high. The message is that to be a winner doesn’t mean that you have to hate your opponent, you just have to be better than them.
There are a lot of advantages that this team offers. They are very open to accepting new members. Although many of the students start with the program as freshmen, there are also seniors that will join the team for the first time. The program offers a hands-on and all-in exposure to the fields of engineering and robotics. They also often get to work with adults that are often already in those fields as well.
Q&A with Team Mentor
We had an opportunity to talk to Sufyan Shahin, a former teacher at Holly Springs High School, and a seven-year mentor to the Holly Springs team.
What made you decide to be a volunteer in the program?
I decided to join the program after its third year because the current coach was leaving the school, and I recognized how truly awesome an opportunity this is for the students. I wanted to ensure that they continued to have a coach that would understand and pursue the passions of these students in both STEM and business practices. I don’t know what I thought I was bringing to the table besides someone who would help ensure they moved forward and understood the impact they were having on their own growth and on the world around them.
What changes do you see in the students between the time they enter, and the time they leave the program?
The changes in a student between entering the program and leaving it are phenomenal. One of the things we work to build on this team is the sense of family. We are here with some common goals, but we are also here to build a community. We have shy students who develop the confidence to give full presentations to potential sponsors, often a panel of adults from a business. We have students who have not had the opportunity to use a screwdriver before learning how to engineer the creations they imagine up, and building critical systems on a dynamic machine. I’m not sure there are enough pages in the magazine to express the multitude of ways these students evolve. Suffice it to say, they build 21st century skills with the help and support of their team and their incredible mentors.
Who do you feel should be looking to join the team next year, and for years to come?
It seems strange, but we don’t have a target audience when recruiting new students to the team. Part of what makes us successful are the same principles we see in successful tech companies: the willingness to embrace diversity. New, fresh ideas don’t come from 10 of the same type of person, but from 10 people willing to debate, brainstorm, challenge ideas, and push the collective mind towards amazing ends. I would say the members we are looking to join the team next year should be the student you wouldn’t expect. That student will spark an idea that drives the whole team forward.
What do you like the most about being a team mentor?
The best part of being a team mentor is working to affect change. Change in mindsets, change in policy, and change in students. My first year, I couldn’t really imagine what I had gotten myself into until I walked into Dorton Arena (where NC competitions used to be held) and seeing 50+ teams all collaborating even as they competed. We had A Lot of growing to do back then, and our robot broke at least every other match. We had teams, some we were about to compete against, coming to our pits (where the team takes the robot for repairs between matches) offering us help, free parts, tools we hadn’t brought, and advice all because of one simple truth: the more we improve others, the more we in turn improve ourselves.
