We were invited to demo for two days at the Benton County Fair. We had a field and table set up in a barn with other FIRST Programs such as FRC and FLL. We had a total of three robots on the field, two of them were ours and one was from another team, Cat in the Hat Comes Back. Many kids and adults had a chance to drive around the robots and deposit freight around the field. The adults were very curious and the kids had fun trying to drive the robot. We also explained to people how our robot works and what FTC is as we had many people ask about who we were and what we were a part of. This event helped us spread awareness about FIRST and FTC and get more people interested in STEM.

Showing the kids how to drive our robots

Every year our local library hosts several “storytimes” where they read stories to kids in the community. This is our fourth time doing this demo, and we were excited to return again in person. We were able to demonstrate our robot to the kids and have it dance with them. We also let the kids drive our Skystone robot and pick up stones. We had a lot of fun, but sadly this will be the last time we can do this demo since our team will be graduating. We invited Potential Energy to shadow us and see the demo so that they can continue the library’s Robot Storytime in our place in future years.

Showing the girls how to drive (left) and telling them about FIRST robotics (right)

Our team demoed at TRANE Industries and while setting up the event with the coordinator we found out that we would be there at the same time as a group of girls from Project Scientist. Project Scientist is a nonprofit organization that prepares girls for future careers in STEM. We offered to demo for the girls as well since we would already be set up to demo to the engineers from TRANE. The event worked out very well and we were happy to have the extra opportunity to show these girls FTC. A few of them even had some previous FIRST experience. We met the girls and gave them an overview of FIRST robotics and our team. They split up into three groups and got to drive a robot. Some of them drove Potential Energy’s or CIA’s robots as they were also demoing at TRANE with us. It was really exciting to see these young girls excited about robots and already passionate about STEM. The girls were super talented drivers and they were all able to collect and deposit freight with our robot. Everyone received a robot driver’s license and we’re so glad that we had the opportunity to demo to them.

Kaposia Days is a community celebration in South St. Paul where people get together to learn, increase quality of life and develop a sense of unity. We showed kids and adults our robot and allowed them to try to drive it around. We had a mini Freight Frenzy field set up so people had a chance to pick up and deposit the Freight into the Shipping Hub. Our team gave kids robot driver’s licenses once they successfully drove the robot. There were other FTC and FRC teams that were also at the event so kids were able to see and experience different team’s robots. We met some people who were new or trying to start teams and we told them they were free to contact us for help. We went to this festival to get more people interested in FTC and STEM, and to connect with other teams and see their robot designs.

Kids driving the robot and picking up freight to deposit onto a Shipping Hub

Our team went to the Anthony Family Days and showed middle schoolers and their parents our robot. We had a partial field of Freight Frenzy set up and we let kids drive the robot to pick up the Freight and deposit it onto the Shipping Hub. They had a great time trying to line up the robot correctly to pick up the minerals. They also loved just driving the robot all over the field and seeing how it worked. We did this demo to try and get more kids at the middle school interested in joining FTC as well as other STEM related activities.

During the tour of FedTech, we learned the differences between using water jet cutters and laser cutters, the two types of cutting machines they use, and what effect they have on the materials. For water jet cutters, the water is mixed with garnet of a specific size, called abrasive, to help with cutting. The pressure is kept at 60,000psi by large pumps that are taken apart for maintenance daily because of the potential damage from the high pressure. The inside of the nozzle is shaped like a funnel to help prevent it from clogging, and the end of the nozzle is about the width of a hair. Water jet cutters can cut very thick material, while laser cutters are used for cutting much thinner sheets of stainless steel and hardening the edges of the cuts. Water jet cutting also prevents warping due to heat because the material is cut by the pressure and abrasive. It was a very interesting tour and we are in contact with FedTech to set up a demo.

At the MN FTC Kickoff event, our team presented about outreach. The title of our presentation was “Everything You Need to Know about Outreach” and in it, we covered what outreach is, how to find and set up events, and general outreach tips. The presentation went well and we were able to answer the audience’s questions. We even received feedback that an audience member learned a lot and enjoyed it. It was very exciting to go to kickoff and be able to present. We had presented at the 2020-2021 Ultimate Goal Kickoff, but it was all virtual so this was a different experience. We hope to present at kickoff again next year!

During our FLL to FTC Webinar, we invited the teams to come visit our HQ to learn about our workspace and how we work. One of the teams that came to visit was CIA. We gave them a tour of our HQ and helped them create and program a basic push-bot. This was a great experience for us to learn more about their team and practice teaching robotics which we will use in the future.