When a team of MIT students showed up at a national robotics tournament, their robot – aptly named Timbot – didn’t work. They were invited to demonstrate Timbot at the launch event United States Governors Cup in Washington, D.C., a March Madness-style competition that featured high school robotics teams from all 50 states.
Solving problems on the fly is a given at robotics tournaments. Timbot had a few technical issues, mainly with Wi-Fi, so the team sat cross-legged on the floor and got to work. Meanwhile, high school students began to gather and ask questions about the cabling and subsystems. After about an hour, Timbot was working againcollecting and throwing foam balls as intended.
“It really was a great moment,” says freshman Lily Sand. “We ended up connecting the robot with a long Ethernet cable instead of using a wireless connection, and many of the students thought, ‘Oh, we do that too!’ It was a nice touchpoint.”
Using a cultural touchstone for good
Getting younger students interested in robotics is one of the goals of MIT students as members of a up-to-date club, FIRSTxMYTHwhich started at the beginning of the academic year. All members are graduates of programs offered by FIRST Robotics (FIRST), a nonprofit organization dedicated to sparking interest in STEM among primary and secondary school students around the world through team robotics programs and competitions.
FIRST has deep roots at MIT. Inventor Dean Kamen worked with the overdue MIT professor Woodie Flowers, a pioneer of hands-on engineering design education, to establish the FIRST Robotics Competition in 1992. The competition was modeled after the inventive robotics competition that Flowers developed for his Iconic Mechanical Engineering Class 2.70 (Introduction to Design)i.e. currently 2,007 (Design and production I).
With FIRST, students learn more than just designing, building and programming robots. The program emphasizes an ethos of “gracious professionalism” – a term coined by Flowers to describe high quality work, respect and cooperation, even in a competitive context. Students also build self-confidence, gain leadership experience, and improve communication skills as well as technical knowledge.
Many FIRST graduates feel a deep sense of gratitude for the program and a mighty desire to remain involved. Debbie Ang, co-founder of FIRSTxMIT, continues to mentor the team at her high school in Modern Hampshire. However, there are few FIRST alumni clubs on campus. Ang and co-founder Perry Han, also a sophomore, met in high school for FIRST and reconnected at MIT. “We noticed that FIRST was founded here, and yet there was nothing organized on campus, even though we kept meeting people who had founded FIRST and still cared about the community,” he explains.
In fact, participation in FIRST is something of a cultural touchstone among MIT students. MIT Associate Director of Admissions Trinidad Carney, a liaison to FIRST Robotics, estimates that 15 to 20 percent of students have participated in the program.
Han and Ang worked with Carney to launch FIRSTxMIT under the auspices Edgerton Centerto strengthen connections among the MIT FIRST community and provide members with the opportunity to channel their passion for FIRST into outreach and public service. Their hunch about the untapped potential of the alumni club was spot on: the kick-off event attracted 185 students, and they have about 200 on their Discord channel.
Sharing the “Power of the FIRST”
Now the club is not operating. They organized a meeting for Modern England FIRST alumni; worked with Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Boston to launch the LEGO Robotics League; volunteered as a judge at local competitions; and helped the MIT Admissions Office get there. Carney, who serves as the club’s advisor, says, “We’ve actually had other universities reach out to us and say, ‘How did MIT manage to launch a club that’s so successful and so exciting?'”
One of the club’s most ambitious undertakings to date was building Timbotin three days, in January, during the Independent Activity Period. Robot in 3 Days (Ri3D) is a collegial challenge in which students build THE FIRST Robotic Competition-level robot in 72 hours, which would take a high school team about six weeks. Experimental roboticsThe consortium, which uses an experiential robotics platform to promote engineering and public service, provided support for MIT’s Ri3D challenge and invited the team to serve as STEM ambassadors at the Governors Cup.
In addition to the robotics competition, the two-day event brought together governors and leaders from government, education, industry and others to highlight the critical role states play in supporting STEM education.
To this end, the FIRSTxMIT team demonstrated Timbot, spoke to high school students, staffed the MIT recruiting booth, and met with VIPs, sharing the value of project-based STEM enrichment opportunities like FIRST. “Having MIT students tell the story of the power of FIRST is incredibly compelling,” says Carney. “They can say, ‘I did this in high school, it made me who I am, and now I’m at MIT still building and giving back.’
Many governors stopped by the MIT recruiting booth to talk to students, including Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. “She talked about the importance of STEM education in primary and secondary schools and was very supportive,” says Sand, logistics coordinator at FIRSTxMIT.
In addition to inspiring others, MIT students were inspired by the Governors Cup themselves. Han recalls a conversation with a state senator from Ohio, a former teacher and mighty supporter of programs like FIRST. “It really showed me that if you have people in government who are excited about STEM education, it can really be a success.”
Building a better future
Looking to the future, Han and Ang plan to spend some time further refining the club’s organization and future goals. Practical information activities occupy an crucial place in their plans. “FIRST places a strong emphasis on starting new teams, supporting underprivileged communities and spreading awareness,” says Ang. “Many of us feel FIRST has played an important role in shaping our academic and career paths, so we want to give that opportunity to others.”
“Part of our goal is to put the robot in the hands of as many students as possible to kind of give them a sense that STEM is not just about reading an AP Physics C-Mechanics textbook,” Han adds. “It’s actually putting those ideas into action and building something useful.”
They also have no shortage of up-to-date ideas to explore. Han is particularly interested in encouraging students to earn credits through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program or coursework credit for projects such as Ri3D, as well as encouraging students in the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program to gain leadership recognition through mentoring the robotics team. He also wants to explore how to leverage FIRST alumni networks to aid students develop professionally.
Regardless of the path they choose, Carney has no doubt that they are making an impact. She saw their full potential when they built Timbot.
“These students, many of whom had never met before, came from different backgrounds: different schools, different regions, with different life experiences,” he says. “But they worked together with respect, curiosity, and generosity. They are collaborative, mission-driven, and passionate about creating opportunities for others. They make MIT better and will make the future better.”