VICKSBURG, Miss. – Over two decades ago, the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) created a robotics team that was formed with a mission to provide educational experiences for young people by promoting hands-on learning in the community. Today, Team 456 Siege Robotics is a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team that is made up of about eighteen students from across central Mississippi.
The letters in FIRST stand for First Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology which explains why the FRC was founded — to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in America’s youth.
FIRST is divided into three programs: FIRST Lego League (FLL) for grades K-8, FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for grades 7-12, and FRC for pre-college aged students. Many students of all ages have been impacted over the years because of these programs, and a few of Vicksburg’s elementary schools are lucky enough to be introduced to STEM early by participating in FLL.
In February, the FLL team at Bovina Elementary made history being the first Vicksburg team to win the state championship where they competed against 24 other teams from around the state. They also became the first Vicksburg FLL team to qualify to represent Mississippi at the FIRST World Championships in Houston, Texas, where they will compete against 160 other FLL teams from around the world.
They call themselves the Bovina Brainiacs — a two-year old competition team that is made up of fifth and sixth graders. These 10 students have been meeting after school for the last several months learning about robots — but that’s not all.
At the beginning of the school year, FIRST presents the FLL students with a theme and a specific problem to solve that includes the challenge of building and programming a robot.
“This year, they presented the theme ‘Masterpiece’ in hopes to bring more of the arts into STEM and inspire the community towards a specific hobby,” said Ginny Dickerson, an operations research analyst with ERDC’s Office of Research and Technology Transfer, who serves as a mentor for the Bovina Brainiacs. She and her husband, Chuck, have been involved in FRC Team 456 Siege Robotics since 2004.
After researching topics and presenting ideas to their team, they designed pieces for their project in Tinkercad and then learned how to use 3D printing software to create the actual pieces printed with a 3D printer.
“They have created a math strategy game that two people can sit down and play using the pieces they created in 3D software,” said Marion Margaret Hern, a STEM teacher at Bovina Elementary and leader of the Bovina Brainiacs. “They were amazed to see their design on the screen actually being a tangible object.”
Alton Carney, a second-year student on the team, said, “Winning the state championship and now competing at Worlds is leaving a big legacy for the future robotics members, and I hope this inspires others because this is only our second year as a robotics team at Bovina.”
When asked what makes this team special, Hern said that the students embrace each other, respect each other’s ideas and are eager to learn.
“My returning students have mentored my younger students to help them understand programming and how the robot works,” said Hern. “It is amazing to see their determination to fix issues and resolve problems along the way.”
Mary Ruth Montgomery, a second-year student on the team, said that going to the World Championship makes her feel like the team has accomplished a lot in only 2 years.
“It makes me feel like I have accomplished things that I never thought I would get to do before,” said Montgomery.
The Bovina Brainiacs aren’t the only ones from the Siege Robotics family that will be competing in the championship. Last weekend, ERDC’s FRC Team 456 won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Bayou Regional in New Orleans, Louisiana, which also secured their place at the World Championships among 600 other FRC teams.
The international FIRST World Championships competition begins next week in Houston, Texas, where the best of the best robotics teams will compete from around the World.
“If students get involved in FLL and have a real interest in engineering, they will continue through high school with FRC Team 456,” said Dickerson. “We currently have five students on Team 456 that were on the Bovina Brainiacs FLL team last year, and of the eighteen current FRC Team 456 students, fourteen of them started in FIRST on FLL teams."
FIRST is a proven pipeline for future ERDC development. Many FIRST team members carry on and pursue degrees in STEM and return home to pursue their careers at ERDC. If you know a student who would like to apply for ERDC’s Siege Robotics team, visit www.siegerobotics.org.