They’ve traveled back in time to airships of old, and Medieval castles over the years, but if the teases are any indication of what awaits FIRST Robotics competitors when the new campaign gets rolled out this Saturday, the time machine will only be going back to the early days of pixelated video games like one might find in Mario Brothers games of old. Whatever the future holds, the secret will be revealed on Saturday at Lake Michigan College and in similar academic settings nationwide as robotics aficionados are encouraged to “Play for Real!”
The Lake Michigan College Mendel Center’s Grand Upton Hall will once again play host to several hundred students engaged in the Sunset Coast Robotics Alliance as the live television broadcast unveils the 2018 game, the pieces that will be involved and how the game will play out from FIRST — the team acronym depicting “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology.”
The FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff will get underway with team check-ins and a public welcome at 8am, followed by a Meet & Greet with student teams and business professionals helping mentor the students at 8:15am.
Presented by Lake Michigan College and Sunset Coast Robotics Alliance, the live televised broadcast from FIRST headquarters will be the first public reveal of the 2018 Robotics Competition challenge facing the teams of high school students. Along with their mentors, the students will design, build, program, and troubleshoot their robots over a six-week period. Completed robots will later compete in district, state, and global competitions.
Twenty-three high school robotics teams will be present on Saturday morning, with teams traveling from Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kent, St, Joseph & Van Buren counties, in Michigan as well as a team from South Bend, Indiana. More than 350 students and their mentors will be in attendance.
Past Robots and Team Projects will be displayed in a “Classic Car Show” Style of showcase and Ray Gustafson from News Talk 94.9 WSJM Radio will conduct a Facebook Liver version of the station’s popular “Robotics Roundtable.
At 9am Senior Judge Advisor Tim Dunaj from St. Joseph will welcome the crowd and introduce dignitaries including Congressman Fred Upton who will address the importance of FIRST to the state of Michigan. A student perspective will also be shared from a student regarding finding a path to a future career in FIRST. There will also be a Guest Panel session featuring Q&A opportunities for students of panelists including:
- Fred Upton – US Representative
- Alicia Flood – Kettering University – Admissions Counselor
- Amber Layman – Johnson Rauhoff – Business/Marketing Account Executive
- Ann St Amand – Phycotech Inc. – Owner
- Matthew Doornbos – Kendall Group – Vice President of Operations and Information Technology
- Ken Flowers – Lake Michigan College – Dean Career and Workforce Education
- John Proos – Michigan State Senator
Following the panel discussion session the live global feed from FIRST Headquarters will fire up at exactly 10:30am followed by the formal reveal of the 2018 game at 11am.
A demonstration field will be revealed to the student competitors and parts kits will be distributed to each team engaged in the competition followed by a break and then teams will regroup around the Grand Upton Hall to begin plotting strategies until the event concludes at 3pm.
FIRST is an international nonprofit K-12 organization that designs programs to encourage young people to pursue their interests in math, science, technology and engineering through education and career opportunities. The FIRST Robotics Competition is “a varsity sport for the mind” that allows students to work alongside professional engineers, technologists, and other business professionals. Through their participation students can qualify for over $30 million in college scholarships.
Alumni of FIRST Robotics Competition teams have been introduced to a project oriented work environment. The students have learned to work together as a cohesive and collaborative unit, while striving to meet outside timelines and deadlines. Their experiences have made them the exact types of candidates that all businesses are looking to hire.
As the existing workforce ages out, companies are looking to hire young talented employees who are accustomed to working hard to accomplish a known task. In addition, these students have learned to think outside the box of pre-existing limitations and shown themselves to be innovators. This next generation of leaders only needs the opportunity to show what they can achieve.
Stay tuned for more as teams get ready to Play for Real when the 2018 game challenge is laid before them this weekend.
