ARCHBOLD, OHIO – Three Junior High School teams have qualified for the state FIRST Robotics Competition on Saturday, March 13th.
The event, which will be held virtually, involves high-energy competition in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) fields, using those sensibilities “to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams, while also fundraising to meet their goals, designing a team “brand”, and advancing respect and appreciation for STEM within the local community.”
Similar to the Northwest State Community College Cryptic Cyborgs team, these FIRST teams are competitive, but for a younger age group.
All three teams are led by female coaches, and one of the coaches (Jani Tisovic) is an adjunct faculty member at the College. The teams also use NSCC facilities and materials for competition.
ABOUT THE TEAMS
The three teams that will be competing in this weekend’s state competition include Team MechTech #34447, The Octobots, and The Country Club. Details about each team are as follows:
•Team MechTech is led by Head Coach Erin Riley, and consists of four members – three returning from last year, and one new member who is a sibling of a returning member. The team members reside in Bryan, Napoleon and Wauseon.
The team has had fun this year, despite the challenges of COVID-19. “We applied our love of gaming to this year’s challenge by designing a project solution that helps gamers become and stay more physically active.”
“We were then able to see how this solution could be helpful to people of all ages and physical abilities, as well as users of electronic devices other than game consoles.”
•The Octobots are from St. Patrick Catholic School in Bryan, with team members attending St. Patrick’s, Bryan and Hilltop Schools. The name originates from the original team having 8 members.
Head Coach Jani Tisovic noted the team started the year hosting in-person meetings, but moved to virtual meetings in November.
“Our team has a lot of energy and we liked to play Frisbee, bocce and corn hole at the end of our meetings. This excess energy inspired our RePlay project, Taking 5 in the Triple A Field for middle and high school students.”
“We built a solid robot with attachments that ride the wall and dump bocce blocks.”
•The Country Club hails from Alvordton, and is composed of nine members – four sets of siblings from Montpelier, Pioneer, Alvordton and Fayette. Their name stems from all members living in the country.
Head Coach Jill Graham notes “Since this is our second year together as a team we have been able to increase our capabilities with the robot so that we can accomplish missions with greater reliability.”
“Our shared love of nature and technology has helped us to think “outside of the box” to come up with innovative solutions to our problem. This year specifically we have used the two to create a solution to help our elderly friends become more active while enjoying nature!”
ABOUT FIRST ROBOTICS
FIRST Robotics Competition combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology, with competitions held nationwide, as well as in Canada.
Additional information is available at https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc. To watch the competition on Twitch, go to https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires.