The Oakland County Robotics Championships were competitive, used state standards in building robots and most of all... fun. Here is the Oakland Press video story. Event Results will be available from Oakland Schools Shortly and story will appear in the online Oakland Press and News at Noon.http://youtu.be/K2TywGbuWn0
Roy, I'm a mentor for 3 teams that are under the umbrella of 'robotics'. We love as much attention as possible, but a little more digging is needed before this story goes out.
ReplyDeleteThere is the OCCRA- Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association, made up of teams from Oakland County high schools. Student led, designed, and built bots (much like erector sets, NO welding) with teacher mentors for guidance. Two sizes of bots can be created, large and VEX the smaller robots. This is usually where students get their feet wet to see if they are interested in more. This league is from September until November.
There is a newer league that is moving in called VEX. It is also high school aged kids and the bots are smaller. The season overlapped OCCRA, played within OCCRA and has it's own championship and separate tournaments.
These experiences lead to 'the big bots' of FIRST Robotics Competition. See usFIRST.org
FRC is the Grand-Daddy of the high school robotics competitions. Teams are often associated with a high school, but do not have to be. Teams are assembling around the world as this is written. The carrot to the media and most observers is the intricate robots the teams design and build in only 6 weeks, based on a 'game' released the first Saturday in January. I say 'carrot' because most observers never see the organization, volunteers, the writing, the media based promotion, the community outreach, or the business plans that the students participate in before the robot is built and the public competition begins. Each team has a dedicated core of volunteers from the professional communities of engineering, business, and teachers. Many teams have various corporate and local business sponsors. Michigan is one of the anchor sites for FIRST. We have the toughest competition here between our selves due to the student experiences (OCCRA) and the mentors that guide the teams (many from the big 3 and their suppliers). We are the first state to hold a State Championship to qualify for the World Tournament at FIRST. You have to be darn good and have things running your way to qualify and make it to 'Worlds'.
So, Oakland County robotics is soooooo much more than a bunch of kids-nerds or geeks-if you will, cheering for their team. These are dedicated kids who are getting a step ahead in their future because they participated in FIRST Robotics Competition teams. We are encouraging them to be interested in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM-hands on education). We are asking them to write, participate in their communities, to encourage younger students, to get off the couch, to create something they could only dream might be, to mentor each other, to dream of a community where everyone can follow a dream of becoming a professional. We are providing a platform of structure the educational community often does not, a project based learning environment that is fun, competitive, and has them coming back for more!
So, I challenge you, pick a team now, pick 3 or 4 teams and follow them. Start asking questions, each team is different from organization to years of experiences and mentors. Look at the direction education is taking, yes education! You will have lots to report on, this county is packed with kids who participate not because there is 14 million dollars in scholarship money available, but because it is FUN!
Just ask and I'll get you contacts from any team here or any we mentor outside of our great state!
Sincerely,
Kellie Determan
kdeterman@gmail.com