Back to the Future

It was the 1960s, and we watched with fascination the Jetsons; the popular cartoon where flying saucers and moving sidewalks were the modes of transportation. And there was Rosie — the robot maid who performed all the household chores. We wondered if it would really be like that in the future. Fast-forward 50 years. We have moving sidewalks in airports across the country, and while robots may not perform all the household chores, there are robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers. With advances in technology and science, who knows what the next 50 years will bring. If you ask some students at Bonners Ferry High School, they will tell you the future is full of possibilities when it comes to technology. And they should know.

It was nine years ago when then Bonners Ferry High School science teacher, Ed Katz, applied for a $10,000 NASA grant to start a robotics program through US FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Since then, the program has continued to grow and offer students a unique opportunity to learn from some of the best engineers and innovators in the world.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, an inventor, entrepreneur and advocate for science and technology. With its headquarters in New Hampshire, the mission of the not-for-profit public charity is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

There are different FIRST programs for different age groups starting as young as 6-years-old. The Robotics competition is the program for those who are high school age. It offers students an opportunity to work alongside professional engineers to build and compete with a robot they have personally designed. They learn to use professional software and work towards an opportunity to compete in the world championship.

Ahhh, yes, the coveted trip to the world competition.

With the assistance of fantastic mentors and volunteers, that is exactly where 17 Bonners Ferry students found themselves in late April.

“We also had 10 mentors; four of them drove our gear from Bonners Ferry to St Louis,” said Katz, who added that teams range in size from five to 55 at the championships.

On the road to the World Championship, the team was part of the winning alliance at the Regional competition in Calgary, Alberta where it received the entrepreneurship award. At the World Championship, they placed 132 out of 607 teams.

Katz explains that each year NASA broadcasts a new FIRST Robotics game all over the world during the first weekend in January. “We then have six weeks to develop strategy, design, fabricate and program the robot,” said Katz. “The robot is usually 120 pounds.”

The trip to St. Louis was intense with little down time, and the structure of play is complex. “It was invented by engineers. They don’t make it simple,” joked Katz. Students scout other teams, record data and negotiate with their allies.

These young men and women, who range in age from 14 to 18, are set to become the next generation of engineers and innovators. And they don’t just dream up, design and build robots, they also learn project management, design, programming and strategic thinking skills, among other things.

Bonners Ferry High School junior, Maggie McCoy, is part of this year’s team. Having watched as her older brother went through the program, she was enthusiastic about it. “I wanted to be part of it,” said Maggie, who is now in her third year with the group. She is the head of the business team, which is responsible for the paperwork and fundraising — and that is not an easy task. “We returned from Calgary on April 6 and had two weeks to raise $15,000 for our trip to St. Louis,” said Maggie.

While the students are the focus of the program, the mentors who give of their time, talent and knowledge year after year, play an invaluable role. “The program is so engaging that all the original mentors are still with the program,” said Katz who retired from teaching last year.

This year the Bonners Ferry students had the benefit of being mentored by a retired Boeing employee and an employee of SpaceX, a company headquartered in California that designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The representative from SpaceX has flown in to help the kids and has also teleconferenced with them through Skype.

Because the FIRST Robotics Competition is not part of the Bonners Ferry High School curriculum, students devote outside classroom hours to engage in this unique opportunity. And it’s not just a few hours here and there.

“During the off-season we meet one time each week starting in September and increase as we approach the (competition) season,” said Katz. During the six weeks of competition, students meet after school from 4:15 to 6pm and then on Fridays and Saturdays for longer hours, typically 9am to 5pm. “They are that dedicated,” said Katz who adds that all the mentors also work during those time periods.

But Maggie said they are even considering making it a year-round group, even meeting during the summer months. “We are starting to recruit kids before the end of school this year,” she said.

Katz shares that the Robotics team is broadly sponsored by many community members as well as large corporate donors, one of which is Autodesk, Inc., an American multinational software corporation that makes software for architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment industries. The company has offices worldwide, with U.S. locations in Northern California, Oregon, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Katz said there are many facets to the entire project and likens it to running a company. “There is a myriad of things to do. That’s why they call it the hardest fun you’ll ever have,” he said.

The students make presentations before judges, addressing how they organized themselves in their community to gain support, how their funds were raised and what they do to give back to their community. It is a diverse learning experience that also teaches the kids respect, or in the words of US FIRST, gracious professionalism.

“In robotics, everyone helps out everyone else,” said Maggie, explaining that the people they are competing against at one time may be their ally in the next round. And, she said, students do not have to be good at science to take part in this fun and amazing event.

Maggie said she and her entire team are grateful for the support of the community. “We are very thankful that everyone helped us get where we wanted to go.”

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