The Gorham Falmouth Robotics Team (Team 172) recently had a kickoff event to begin their season. Each year FIRST®, a nonprofit organization, develops a new game for teams to compete in. The goal of FIRST Robotics is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators. Although the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made it challenging for two schools to connect, the team has managed to create ways to safely and effectively work together.
“Since we are a two-school team, our mentors felt that it wasn’t possible to safely coordinate large in-person meetings yet,” said Hunter Pellerin, a Gorham High School (GHS) junior. “We have managed to stay connected and work from a distance using online meetings two or three days each week. This gives the whole team and smaller sub teams the ability to meet with each other safely and quickly.”
During a typical year, the team would be preparing for a regional competition by now. A game challenge would be revealed at the start of January and they would spend six weeks designing and building a robot. If they do well at the first competition, they would move onto District Championships and eventually World Championships (which they have made it to in past years).
Members of FIRST® Robotics Team 172 meeting via Zoom.This year, FIRST has created three new “at home” challenges. First, the INFINITE RECHARGE at Home Challenge is where last year’s robot is used and must perform five particular robot skills. Next, the Game Design Challenge is an opportunity for teams to design a new game concept. Lastly, the Innovation Challenge.
“In the Innovation Challenge, students are tasked with identifying a real world problem and coming up with a real world solution. These problems could range from global climate change to making entertainment more accessible to disabled people,” said Owen Begley, a GHS senior.
In addition to those three, FIRST is offering a fourth challenge called the BAE Systems Challenge. In this challenge, students can build and program a mini bot.
All students are placed on one of the four challenges with at least two lead mentors who will guide students through each challenge. Since gathering in person is not an option, these challenges will be submitted into competition in a variety of ways. Students can submit: videos; written documents; slideshows; send in an objective score; or deliver a pitch to a team of judges to score online.
Precautions are also being taken to ensure that everyone who is a part of this team is safe. Every team mentor has been registered with FIRST and has completed a safety training, which includes online and COVID-19 safety. For now, students are meeting in large and small groups to collaborate and work on challenges using the platform Zoom.
“COVID-19 has kind of given us the chance to step back and look at how strong the bond within our team is, and it is truly amazing that we are able to continue having fun and learning while also staying safe,” said Shruti Joshi, a senior from Falmouth High School.
Overall, the robotics team is enthusiastic about being able to still have a season together this year, despite the challenges of COVID-19.