Girl Scouts of the USA and FIRST Partnership Introduces Girls to Robotics read the press release.
Sponsors |
|
Mentors |
UT College of Engineering: |
ContentsLetter to Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low
|
The Team
The Lady Cans are a rookie team from Austin, Texas. These 10 girls call Murchison Middle School and Anderson High School home. They are mentored by FRC #2158 ausTIN CANs, The University of Texas Cockerill School of Engineering Robotic Automation Society and National Instruments. They are sponsored by Bezos Family Foundation and Girl Scouts of Central Texas.
Statistics
Rookie Year - 2009
Team Number - #2881
Team Name - Lady Cans
Robot Name - "Firstie"
Team Motto - kind and courteous
Names of Batteries - Thin Mint, Peanut Butter Pattie and Shortbread
Team Members
Team Captain: Natalie
Project Manager: Kori
Safety Captain: Catherine
Website Manager: Christi
Community Outreach: Allison
Drivers: Inaya
Spotter: Kailey
Outposts: Margaret, Claire
Scouting: Allison
As a small rookie team, everyone is hands on with everything. In the future the Lady Cans will be organized like a business with a CEO and a CFO. Each chief will tackle either "build" or "brains."
The Game
How is the game played?
Each year's Kickoff event unveils a new, exciting, and challenging game. From the Kickoff, teams have just six weeks to solve the season's common problem using the same kit of parts and a standard set of rules. In the 2009 game, "Lunacy," robots are designed to pick up 9" game balls and score them in trailers hitched to their opponents' robots for points during a 2 minute and 15 second match. Additional points are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the opponents' trailers during the last 20 seconds of the match. "Lunacy" is played on a low-friction floor, which means teams must contend with the laws of physics.
What is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)?
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an annual competition that helps young people discover the rewards and excitement of education and careers in science, engineering, and technology. FRC challenges high-school-aged young people - working with professional mentors - to design and build a robot, and compete in high-intensity events that reward the effectiveness of each robot, the power of team strategy and collaboration, and the determination of students. Seventeen years ago, the initial FIRST Robotics Competition took place with 28 teams in a high school gym in New Hampshire. In 2009, the largest-ever FRC includes 1,686 teams from11 countries competing in 40 Regional events, seven District competitions and a State Championship in Michigan only, and the FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Who participates in the competition?
During the 2009 season, over 42,500 high-school students on 1,686 FRC teams will compete in 40 Regionals (in the U.S., Canada, and Israel), seven District competitions and a State Championship in Michigan, and the Championship. Each team is comprised of professional mentors and an average of 25 students in grades 9-12. In addition, each FIRST team has one or more sponsors. Those sponsors include companies, universities, or professional organizations that donate their time, talent, funds, equipment, and much more to the team effort.
To learn more about FIRST, go to http://www.usfirst.org/
The Robot
Name: "Firstie"
Reason for name: First attempt at building a robot, first Girl Scout team in Central Texas, first experience with FIRST
Drive Train: Holonomic using 4-2.5" CIM motors, 4-Andy Mark tough boxes, 4 rover wheels
Elevator: 2-window motors, 6-8' fre-thane tubing wrapped in friction tape
Shooter: 2-3 1/2" PVC pipe
4-Sections of wedge top tread
2-Fisher Price motors
2-Bane Bots gear boxes
Mission of the robot: to herd moon rocks into the elevator until they rise up into the shooter to be deployed into our alliance trailer.
Girl Scouts of Central Texas
Girl Scouts is the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls where, in an accepting and nurturing environment, girls build character and skills for success in the real world. In partnership with committed adult volunteers, girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives, like leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth.
Girl Scouts of Central Texas serves more than 20,000 girls, grades K-12 and nearly 12,000 adult volunteers in 46 Central Texas counties: Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Coleman, Colorado, Comanche, Concho, Coryell, Erath, Falls, Fayette, Gillespie, Grimes, Hamilton, Hays, Irion, Lampasas, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Llano, Madison, Mason, McCulloch, McLennan, Menard, Milam, Mills, Robertson, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Sterling, Sutton, Tom Green, Travis, Washington and Williamson.
Read more about the Girl Scouts of Central Texas.
FIRST
The missionof FIRST 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.
"In this ever-increasing technologically-focused global society, it is essential for us to give our girls the tools they need to thrive." said Norma Barquet, Executive Vice President, Girl Scouts of the USA. "We are thrilled to bring FIRST to Girl Scouts everywhere."
" ...to create a world where science and technology are celebrated.... where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes...." said Dean Kamen, FIRST Founder
Community Events
Saturday, December 6, 2008: FIRST Lego League teams competed at Anderson High School FLL Qualifier. FRC #2881 Lady Cans worked this event as pit runners and research judge runners. 24 FLL teams attended.
Saturday, January 10, 2009: Central Texas FLL Championships were held at Rouse High School. FRC #2881 Lady Cans worked this event as pit runners, research runners and competition floor runners. 60 FLL teams attended.
Thursday, January 22, 2009: FRC #2881 spoke with Girl Scouts Bluebonnet Valley Service Unit about girls robotics and invited everyone to come to the Austin Robot Round Up.
Sunday, January 25, 2009: FRC #2881 spoke at the Murchison Middle School FLL meeting about the girls robot team and invited everyone to come to the Austin Robot Round Up.
Thursday, January 29, 2009: Hill Elementary Science Night. FRC teams #2881 Lady Cans and FRC team #2158 did a joint presentation of their 2009 robots. The elementary students were able to watch NXT robots in action, drive VEX robots and look at the FRC robots. 500 elementary students 2nd-5th grade were in attendance.
Monday, February 2, 2009: FRC #2881 talked to Anderson High School School Board about the upcoming Austin Robot Round Up.
Saturday, February 14, 2009: FRC #2881 demonstrated, talked to and scrimmage their robot ‘firstie' in the annual Austin Robot Round Up. 9 Central Texas teams were in attendance at Anderson High School.
Photos and Video Gallery
Calendar of Events
December 6, 2008: FLL Qualifier at Anderson High School
January 3, 2009: Kick Off in San Antonio
January 4, 2009: Brainstorming
February 19, 2009: Present slide show of the build season to Bluebonnet Valley Service Unit
March 25-28, 2009: Lone Star Regionals in Houston
May 21, 2009: Demonstrate robot to Girl Scouts Bluebonnet Valley Service Unit
June 26-28th, 2009: Off season competition in Houston
After the robot completes it's robot season, Girl Scouts Central Texas will begin booking the robot and team for demonstrations in all 46 counties. The robot will be on display at the Girl Scouts of Central Texas Kodosky Program Center during the month of May.
FIRST Experience
As a rookie team, the FIRST experience cannot be judged over time, but merely over days. Since kick off on January 3, the 10 Girl Scout FIRST team members have become close friends, have learned how to use power tools, have learned how to question and not just accept, have dumpster dived for pool noodles, and have gone to social events proudly covered in sawdust with grease under the fingernails.
Quote from Allison: "We always have fun, even when we come home tired and dirty."
As a rookie team, we look to our mentors as role models so that we can learn and pass on that tradition. The University of Texas: Cockerill School of Engineering IEEE Robotic Automation Society acts as our primary mentors. These college students while only a few years older than us still have a love of learning, a love for teaching and joy in sharing their stories about FIRST. They encourage us to "try it, you learn by your mistakes." Our head mentor has patience, show us how to do it and then lets us do the work. He explains our mistakes without intimidation. He is very tolerant of multi-simultaneous conversations. He is a good role model because he has good safety skills, he likes to teach, he knows what to teach. He was on a FIRST team so he knows the importance of reading the rules and following them. He makes building robots fun.
We are also mentored by FRC #2158 ausTIN CANs, while they are only a third year team, their guidance has been great. They share their work space, they always let us use the ‘old' tools and keep us up to date with the, "oh, by the way, don't do it that way." We also learn by watching them brainstorm and prototype. They learn from us because we keep asking why.
Quote from Kori: "Our mentor, despite our giggles, always manages to teach us something new."
Our impact on the community is just beginning, we have demonstrated our robot six times in the community. Our goal is to work with Girl Scouts and tell each and every Girl Scout Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador about our FIRST experience. We want all the girls to see, feel, touch, drive and ask questions about the robot.
Girl Scouts of Central Texas is 46 counties strong. "Have robot....will travel" is our new message to spread for FIRST. We are planning to demonstrate the robot to 17 counties over the summer. The robot will be displayed in the lobby of the Girl Scouts of Central Texas Kodosky Program Center and we will give demonstrations as needed. Our continued goal is to be a positive FIRST force by getting FIRST Girl Scouts teams started in the San Antonio and Houston Girl Scout councils.
Letter to Juliette "Daisy" Low, Founder of Girl Scouts
Dear Daisy,
The world has changed for girls since you started Girl Scouts. We have the right to vote; we can go to high school and choose any college; we earn equal pay for equal jobs; we own our own businesses and are chairman of the board. Did you ever think that we could build a robot? Yes, we can! We designed it, we built it, so get out of the way, we are going to compete it. Because we have built a robot, we stand with more confidence, we now know that we can make the physics work and we know that our ideas are valid.
When you were searching for something for girls to do, were you thinking about physics or the co-efficient of friction? Probably not. Did you think that your Girl Scouts would learn how to use a power drill, lubricate a gear box, file 1/2" aluminum angle or saw polycarbonate acrylic? Did you think that your Girl Scouts would be able to talk with college students about calculus? This new world is fun, exciting, scary, thrilling, and empowering. Each day that we learn something new, we are taking baby steps to make us stronger more knowledgeable women.
We are following in your footsteps to lead by example. We began as a high school team and have invited home-schooled and middle school Girl Scouts to come work on the robot. This is the first robot any of the girls have made but we feel our ideas and final product will be a success. Building the robot is only half of it, teaching other children and Girl Scouts about what robots can do for us and the future is fulfilling. Sharing the fun we have and talking about the great robot experiences we have had is exciting. Watching the faces of the young girls at the robot demonstrations was priceless. Each girl walked away thinking, "Wow, I drove a robot !" "Hey, if the big girls can do that, so can I, this is something new and I think I might like it."
You had Lord and Lady Baden Powell as mentors. We are lucky to have engineering students from The University of Texas mentor us. We are lucky to share space with FRC Team #2158 ausTIN CANs. We get to snoop around their robot and they may over hear some of our ideas, but we are happy to have them as mentors. We have learned that to learn something new you need a good and understanding teacher. This experience has shown us that we can't just be quiet and let other people do the work; we have to speak up and share our ideas. Just because our mentors are older and have been building robots longer, doesn't mean that their idea is the only idea or that it is the right idea. When I first came to robotics, I thought "Hey, I understand what the mentors are talking about." Then I realized, "Wow, they said my idea was good." Now, they ask me "Should we do it this way or that?" It makes me feel special, confident, proud, and excited, when a mentor tells me that my ideas are sufficient. Sufficient is an "engineering term" for fantastic, out of this world, awesome, and as good or better than what I could do. When your mentor tells you that your job was sufficient, they mean you surpassed their expectations. We are lucky to have mentors who were FIRST team members. Not only do they teach us how to use the power tools and give us feed back on our ideas, but they care as much as we do about the robot and the FIRST experience.
Almost a hundred years ago, Daisy, you set out simple tasks for the girls to follow to learn about the world. In your day, it could have been "how to type on a typewriter." That skill would have been challenging and frowned upon as "not lady-like" and not a skill a proper lady would need. Building a gear box is definitely not a lady-like task, but one that teaches how to take things apart and put back together in working order. When you imagined teaching girls to build a camp fire out in the wilderness, you thought of that as a life skill and a survival skill. It gave girls a sense that they could do things on their own without someone looking on to see if it was completed correctly. Standing in front of the power saw, is frightening and a little scary, however, it is important to our goal and must be done. Getting over this fear and knowing that you can complete the task is empowering, exciting, and can prepare us for challenges in the future and things we must overcome.
Overcoming challenges is an important part of the FIRST experience. Just as you had to overcome the trauma of losing your hearing, we have had to overcome the difficulty of putting together a robot. The simple paper & pencil drawing looked so easy on January 4th, but in reality, it has been one failure after another. Not failure, but solving a problem. We did the research and learned about the different drive trains, we read all the rules and figured out a strategy for the game. We made prototypes of the drive train, elevator and shooter. It all seemed so simple. As in your life, Daisy, you had to overcome becoming deaf and learn new ways to cope with a life situation. We had to research parts and figure out which of the millions of choices for parts would be the perfect for our robot. Once parts arrived, some things failed, like the elevator rollers. Who knew that the green pool noodle would be less dense than the blue and orange ones? Who knew that the ice cream cone wedge top tread would be too tough for the pool noodles? Who knew that the fre-thane tubing would be difficult to join. Who knew that the weld on the shooter was not done correctly and would break? Who knew when the weld broke, it would damage the new parts? Who knew that we'd get sick of going to Home Depot? Who knew, that carriage bolts could only be purchased at a store that closed at 4:30pm and was not open on the weekend? Who knew that all of these simple challenges would make us think harder, learn to problem solve more and to adapt to many changes?
Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers, knew all along that all of these simple challenges would make us better problem solvers. Aah, but now we know to measure and squeeze the pool noodles before we purchase them. Now we know what a good weld looks like and how to ask politely if the welder would stress test his welds. Now we know that the bolts holding the wedge top tread were too rough for even the more dense blue and orange pool noodles. Now we know a better way to join the fre-thane tubing. Now we know to ask for more volunteers to go to Home Depot and other stores. Now we know, if your first idea works the challenge isn't hard enough.
Being a "friend to every girl" is a valuable aspect of Girl Scouting. Thru Girl Scouts and FIRST we have formed great friendships. Yes, building a robot is about science and technology, but it is also about working together, accepting each other's strength's and weaknesses, learning to listen, learning to find your own strength and being confident enough to say, "okay, I've learned the proper way to use a band saw, but it scares me, I'd be much better working with the power drill" or "LabVIEW is slightly confusing to me I'm going to go cut a PVC pipe on the mitre saw." It's also good to learn that the "builders" and the "programmers" can work together with one girl teaching the other. While Natalie is holding the PVC pipe for Inaya, she's talking about the LabVIEW programming changes. While Natalie is working on the programming, Allison is explaining how the motors work and why the programming needs to relate to the motion of the wheels. It makes sense to utilize their skills so that it make an efficient team that works well together and has fun. If we didn't get along girls to girls and girls to mentors then we would never have a finished robot. As the robot season grows, so does the friendship between the girls. They each have had the dynamic experience of taking a box of parts and turning it into a viable working robot.
Part of the FIRST experience is to learn to be a gracious professional. That has always been a part of the Girl Scout promise, we ask that everyone be kind and courteous. Even though the robots compete fiercely against each other, they still need to stand side by side and compete with each other as alliance partners. When the robots are on the field, yes, they challenge each other for one goal but that doesn't mean they can't be kind and courteous, a gracious professional. FIRST teaches us we don't need to be meanly competitive; we are all trying to build a better future and robots are the way. If someone's robot breaks or if they need a different size drill bit you should never say ‘"oh they're the competition we can't help them," because the alliances are chosen randomly they could be your next partner and there is no reason to be overly aggressive just because you get too competitive.
Daisy, as you developed the Girl Scout movement in the US, we will develop the FIRST movement thru Girl Scouts by going out into the world and giving Girl Scouts the opportunity to develop self reliance and resourcefulness by learning to build robots. We will help girls prepare not only for the now traditional jobs in the arts, science and business, but also in the technological world of the future....robots on Europa in 2045. We will travel 17 counties within the Girl Scouts of Central Texas, allowing all future Daises to see, feel, touch and learn about robots.
Yours in Girl Scouting,
FRC #2881 Lady Cans
Contact Us
| Girl Scouts of Central Texas STEM Coordinator 12012 Park Thirty-five Circle Austin, TX 78753 | FRC #2881 |
