Tag Archives: youth

FSR in the news… 

Posted on by

Two recent articles by Tony Abraham for the technical news site, Technical.ly. Delaware, feature members of FSR …

Board president, Peggy Vavalla, who helped bring FIRST  Robotics to Delaware over 15 years ago, talked about her enthusiasm for the program and for the opportunities it offers to kids of all ages. To see the article, click here.

MOE 365 team PR manager, Holly Quinn, spoke about the high school robotics team and the growth of youth robotics competition across the state. To see photos of the team in competition at the recent World Championship, and to read the article, click here.

Team recalls their rookie year

Posted on by

Student members of FSR’s amazing rookie FTC team, Rhyme Know Reason, looked back on the year— their challenges, opportunities, and accomplishments— and set goals for the coming season–Rhyme Know Reason 2014

This past season (2014-2015) was our team’s rookie year. When we started out on our adventure we had no idea what to expect. We had no name, no history, no parts, and we didn’t even know if we could build a working robot. Thankfully, with the help of many gracious individuals, organizations and teams we made it through the year with a cool name, a reputation as an enthusiastic rhyming team, plenty of supplies, and a working robot! 

 

We started the season by attending workshops and events that were great opportunities for a new team. One of these was a brainstorming session hosted by MOE and Dr. Cheek. After months of designing and building our robot we attended two qualification competitions in Pennsylvania. We were honored to win the Motivate Award and the Think Award. 

 

After a lot of testing we decided that our first robot design was not working effectively. We ended up changing a major component of our robot the week before our first state– level competition. Although it was a good change our robot struggled at Delaware States due to a major mechanical issue. We ended up winning the Think Award again at this competition. Two of our members, Emma and Amy, were also chosen as finalists for the Dean’s List Award at DE states.

 

We finished our competition season by competing at Pennsylvania States. We won the Connect Award which was one placement away from qualifying us to Super Regionals. 

However, our season was still not done. We helped FSR host the premier event of Dean Kamen’s documentary “Slingshot”. It was a big success and we raised a lot of money for the teams that are a part of FSR.

 

We’ll be working all summer to spread STEM throughout our community and to prepare for another great season.

 

 

To see the team at work offering robot demonstrations during Robotics Day event, click here   To learn more about the team, visit their website….here.

Celebrate National Robotics Week 2015

Posted on by

Join us and others around the US by celebrating National Robotics Week- April 4-12, 2015. According to the National Robotics Week website:

The Purpose of National Robotics Week is to
  • Celebrate the US as a leader in robotics technology development
  • Educate the public about how robotics technology impacts society, both now and in the future
  • Advocate for increased funding for robotics technology research and development
  • Inspire students of all ages to pursue careers in robotics and other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math-related fields

Here are some fun activities and events worth checking out:

  • Mid Atlantic Robotics Regional FRC Championship, Bethlehem, PA, (April 8-11) info and details- click here.
  • Delaware’s Robotics Day events, Wilmington, DE, hosted by FAME and Barclay’s Bank (Saturday April 11) info and free registration- click here.
  • Download and print MOE 365’s tiny 1-page books by clicking on titles here- We Build Robots and Really Cool Robots. (For directions to fold them, click here.)
  • Robot trading cards to download and print- click here.
  • Contest to win a Parrot drone and a Sphero from tickleapp, info and enter- click here.
  • You can download and screen a movie based on a true story–a team of high schoolers who beat the odds by winning a national robotics competition against university students, Underwater Dreams– click here for trailer.