During the first annual Maryland STEM Festival and Expo, FIRST Team 836, The RoboBees hosted robot demonstrations. The Expo was from 9am to 4pm on November 14th. Throughout the day, The RoboBees demonstrated Bee’s Modé, the 1st place winner of the 2014 Pittsburgh Regional Competition. This helped to reach out to children and adults by explaining how the robot functioned, demonstrating its capabilities and even letting others drive the robot.
The Mechanical students of the team explained the robot’s ability to load a ball two feet in diameter using intake rollers and the use of a pressurized pneumatic piston to launch the ball to children ready to catch them. During the demonstration, the students also explained how the piston allowed to robot to launch the ball six feet into the air scoring points during the competition.
The Command and Control team taught the older children and adults about the coding involved in programming Bee’s Modé functions. A Logitech controller (PS2 Controller) was used to input commands to a computer, which then was sent to the robot via a wireless receiver to be carried out by the robot.
The Drive Team of The RoboBees, who were in charge of driving the robot at our many competitions, taught children how to drive the robot, as well as load the ball and launch it to other children. While all this was going on, The Community Outreach and Public Relations Team (COPR) explained to the parents the purpose of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics. COPR taught them that the FIRST goal was to reach out to the younger generations and inspire them in science and engineering so they may choose to take a career in these fields when they grow up.
Two members of the team also volunteered to help the TV/Video Production and IT Networking Academy courses with setting up stations for students and children interested in the course and show them what these courses do on a day to day basis. There was even a student that helped run food to these courses when the Tech Center ordered pizza for them. At the end of the day, the RoboBees met over 50 parents and students and helped the entirety of the Tech Center ensure that everyone, students and staff alike, would enjoy their day at the STEM Expo and Festival.