We were once again privileged to host an international group of women in science & technology at Jemison. This year eight ladies from Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Jordan, Morocco, Republic of Korea, and Pakistan participated in the State Department program. The group first came up to the robotics lab (second floor in the College Academy) and spoke with the students about the team and the robotics program. The visitors each told their story about what they do while the students listened with interest. We then took the group to see the Advanced manufacturing where they saw the 3D printers they have down there and learned about the Greenpower car, Mechatronics, and Welding programs.
We finished the visit with a group photo under the Mae Jemison portrait in the main hallway. The students were so engaged in the visitors that several exchanged email addresses before the day was out.
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We attended the Huntsville Science Festival, better known as STEAMfest, for the fourth time. Originally the festival was at the VBC and had around 40 vendors. Now it's too big for the VBC with almost 100 vendors. It was held at the Orion Amphitheater this year! There were several robotics teams in attendance. Some had their own booths. FIRST Robotics had a large booth in front of the amphitheater stage. We participated in the FIRST booth. Almost all the booths were hands-on for the attendees. We let children drive one of our robots while supervising them carefully for safety. Our prototype swerve chassis had the speed turned down so if it did get away from us it would not be likely to hurt anyone. All the students had the chance to go around to all the exhibits when they weren't helping out at our booth. The Cave Sim activity was a favorite of our students. There were many, many more interactive STEM booths for everyone to enjoy. The students were tired after our 10AM-4 PM day, but everyone had a great time! We participated in the school Trunk or Treat event for the first time this year. The activity started out a few years ago, when it was held outside. Then it started raining, so they moved it inside to the competition gym. However, it has now grown so much that they will hold it outside next year. Since we had never participated we didn't know exactly what to expect. We purchased a bag of candy to hand out, and then decorated last year's robot in some creepy spiderweb ribbon. We got our little wagon full of materials - the candy, brochures, buttons to hand out, the paper mache jag head for the candy, etc. at Tuesday's meeting. Then we met after school on Wednesday to bring everything down to the gym. Our lab is on the 2nd floor, so everything had to go to the elevator on the opposite end of the school from the gym. Then once in the gym down another elevator to the floor level of the gym. Only that elevator was broken. Not wanting the students to carry almost 100 pounds of robot down stairs we opted to only bring our small swerve chassis down. We set up our table and prepared to be scared by all the little goblins. Click on the captions to see the photo. Once the event started we realized we were woefully underprepared with the quantity of candy we had. And the decoration of our booth. Stay tuned for next year's booth! Ideas are already being generated. Today we went to the AUVSA Pathfinder Symposium where the students visited all the booths, viewed drone flight demonstrations, and showed off our robot and impressed people from the tech companies that attended the Symposium. Other FRC teams were there today: Team 34 Rockets from Limestone County, Morgan County Mech Tech #3959 from Brewer High School, and Team 4265 Secret City Wildbots from Oak Ridge, TN. The previous two days of the symposium saw other teams, including FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge teams.
Two days before the parade we decorated a small utility trailer for the parade. We are already thinking of better ways to decorate it for next year! Students sat in chairs on the float and waved the team flag and held up posters. One student walked beside the float to hand out candy and information pamphlets to the spectators. We set up our tent at the festival after the parade. We gave out more candy and pamphlets, and talked to spectators about the robot and the team. It was very hot and not many spectators visited our display, so we packed up early and ended the day.
The Grade Level Orientation Sessions were Thursday and Friday. Students and parents went to the session in the cafeteria, then picked up their schedules, and then were supposed to go to the small gym to sign up for clubs or sports.
Not many came to the gym to sign up (they left after getting their schedules), but we did get a few. Meanwhile we had fun driving the robot around the gym and visiting all the tables and chasing Mr. Bradford around. He was a willing participant. This morning our team had the wonderful opportunity to host an international group of women in STEM through Global Ties Alabama. The students talked to the visitors about FIRST Robotics, what the team does, how our robot works, and what their future plans were. The visitors in turn told the students about what they do in their countries.
Afterwards we took the visitors downstairs to the Advanced Manufacturing section of the school and showed them the: 1) CAD/Solidworks class, 2) 3D printing lab with the printer that manufactures meatal parts, the carbon fiber room with the kiln for curing the material, and then the welding class/building. The visitors were impressed with the students and how much they knew about the robot and robotics. The students had a great time also, and were reluctant to go back to class when the visit was over. We once again wowed all the little kids attending STEAMfest by letting them drive our robot around. Our friends the Gigawatts were unable to attend, but another friend, Team 34 The Rockets, were there. In addition, there were several FIRST Tech Challenge teams there, including:
Our students had fun handing out buttons, Halloween candy, and supervising the children who got to drive the robot. The robot was in almost constant use for several hours, and overheated a few times. That's what happens when you have 4 tanks for compressed air - as pressure rises, the temperature rises. We also went through three fully charged batteries. The students are already thinking ahead to next year -- first of all bring more batteries. Second - we should have a swerve chassis to display! Until next year! We didn't participate in the parade, but did set up a booth for the after-parade activities. We had our robot, buttons, and recruitment materials at our table. When they lit the bonfire, our team members and a few other students had fun tossing around one of our "cube" game pieces from last season.
We were invited to display our robot at the Pathfinder Symposium for the second year. This year it was held in the East Hall of the VBC in Huntsville. We loaded up our robot and driving supplies, and 10 students for the event this year. The students engaged with the symposium attendees and demonstrated the robot's capabilities. In addition to demonstrating our robots, all the students had the opportunity to visit all the exhibits. Some took the opportunity to try a flight simulator, others were able to build model airplanes. The students also presented our robot in an auditorium in front of all of the symposium attendees, and many of the exhibitors. |
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