BENTONVILLE -- A new world opened to Kimberly Kay when she got involved in robotics a few years ago.
Kay, 16, has learned how to build and program the robots. Along the way she's also learned something about teamwork and business.
FIRST competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition for grades nine through 12 is an annual competition that challenges high school students — working with professional mentors — to design and build a robot and compete against other teams. The initial FIRST Robotics Competition took place with 28 teams in a high school gym in New Hampshire. This year’s season is expected to include nearly 3,000 teams from 19 countries, with the FIRST championship taking place April 22-25 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Source: Staff report
"We have a team captain, a business manager, a programming manager," said Kay, a home-schooled sophomore from Gentry. "So it's kind of like your team is a business."
Kay belongs to Team Wildfire, a robotics team of Benton County teens. It's sponsored by Ozark STEM, an organization assembled last year to promote high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics opportunities for students in Northwest Arkansas.
Wildfire traveled to Little Rock last month for a robotics competition featuring teams from across the U.S. and Canada. Wildfire finished 38th of 54 teams and won the Rookie Inspiration Award. The team won that award largely because of its involvement in the community and work spreading the message about science, technology, engineering and math, said Karl Kay, Kimberly Kay's father and team coach.
The team then traveled to a competition in Lubbock, Texas, where it received the Rookie All-Star Award. That award came with an invitation to a world championship event in St. Louis that starts April 22. That competition attracts hundreds of teams from around the world.
The biggest challenge for Wildfire might be coming up with the $5,000 registration fee for that event. Then there's the additional cost for team travel and shipping the robot to St. Louis.
"Their big goal is to get to the $5,000," Karl Kay said. "They're looking at doing some spirit night-type things at local restaurants. They're looking at doing a summer camp partnering with a local business where students would teach the robotics class. That's probably their most promising fundraiser."
The world championship is run by a nonprofit organization called FIRST -- For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The organization, based in New Hampshire, sponsors programs emphasizing robotics and other science and technology challenges for students ages 6 to 18.
Teams have six weeks to assemble a robot with parts provided by FIRST. In this year's game, called Recycle Rush, the robots score points by stacking totes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers and disposing of "litter" represented by pool noodles.
Daniel Sanchez-Trujillo, 16, is a member of the Wildfire team and a sophomore at Bentonville High School. His interest in electronics, engineering and building led him to the team.
"I learn something new each day when I'm building," Sanchez-Trujillo said. "I like learning, I love school. I try to learn whatever I can."
Hard work pays off, he said.
"You also need to have good team members. We need people who are able to work with each other so you're able to succeed," he said.
Students across Northwest Arkansas are involved in robotics, said Karl Kay. He estimated more than 500 students in the region are involved in some kind of program.
Blake Matthews, a technology teacher at Bentonville's Washington Junior High School, started a robotics club this school year. The club got involved in the Vex IQ Robotics Competition.
After its first competition in Fayetteville in December, the team disassembled and rebuilt its robot. At the state championship last month, Washington won the Excellence Award and qualified for the Vex IQ world championship next week in Louisville, Ky.
That competition is expected to draw more than 800 teams from more than 25 countries, according to a Vex IQ news release. Students raised more than $4,000 in three weeks to cover the cost of the trip, Matthews said.
The club has about 18 members -- mostly seventh-graders -- and a core group of nine who are really dedicated, he said. All of the club-related work they do is outside of class.
"They feel if they can build a robot from scratch, they can do anything," Matthews said. "A couple have said it's the only reason they come to school. They were actually scheming during our snow days trying to figure out how to get into the school to work on their robot."
The team's early success has surprised Matthews.
"They've scared me a few times and surprise me every chance they get," he said.
NW News on 04/06/2015