FIRST Robotics Competition encourages STEM skill development

The teams prepare to battle in the 2019 Regional event, held in Oklahoma City. Photo by Dane Wilkins

Editor’s note: though the event scheduled for this weekend is postponed, we thought our readers would appreciate learning about this exciting event designed to encourage interest in STEM fields and help our education and workforce development efforts.

More than 10 years ago, it was merely a dream for Oklahoma City to have high school teams coming downtown for a robotics competition.

This weekend, hundreds of high school students will be at the Cox Convention Center for the 13th Annual FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST, which stands for For The Inspiration of Science and Technology, was started in 1989 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The nonprofit organization encourages high school students to engage in science, technology, engineering and math work by challenging them to build a robot that has to do a specific task. The teams get their parts in January and within six weeks, they must have an operating robot for the competition. An adult mentor, such as engineer from a sponsoring company, will help the students create their robot as well.

The 2019 event had 62 teams, with 3,000 people coming to the city and generating 287 room nights, spurring a $640,000 economic impact.

The 50 teams coming to the Cox Center this year hail from Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. Unlike high school sports, there’s no division by school size or financial assets. Oklahoma’s program has also seen a change in its participants, with 51% of the 2019 students being female.

“Some of these teams from smaller districts actually do just as well,” said Harold Holley, regional director of FIRST-Oklahoma.

Ponca City High School produced the state’s first team. Ponca’s former coach, Tonya Scott, helped advocate for the state to get its own event. Oklahoma City developer Mickey Clagg, then-banker Burns Hargis and financial backing from the Chickasaw Nation brought the event to the city in 2008 where 20 teams competed.

Teams arrived on Wednesday, unloaded their robot and had a couple days to get everything into fighting shape. In downtown, people will spot the students walking around wearing funny hats and other flair. Small trailers are parked behind the Cox Convention Center, displaying names of high schools and vo-tech centers from across the state.

Competitions start on Friday and last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the center’s arena and continue on Saturday as well. It’s free to attend.

Through FIRST, students learn how to work on a team as well as how to be friends with a competitor. They have to learn to work with a competitor if they want to make it to the next round.

During the initial rounds on February, three high school teams are randomly matched together to compete against three other high school teams, forming two different alliances. The fighting lasts two-and-a-half minutes.

“You don’t want to break your alliance partner’s robot because then they can’t be a good partner on your team,” Holley said. “Your alliance partner might be your opposing competitor from five minutes ago. Your enemy is your friend.”

Alliances partners change throughout the initial rounds until the finals. Then at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the highest-scoring team gets to pick two other teams for its alliance and the fighting continues. The final top three teams – which would be one alliance – gets an invite to the World FIRST Competition in Houston.

While the robot building teaches the students science, technology, engineering and math, the skills they learn that will help them get into the workforce don’t require a wrench or soldering kit.

“The whole thing about this is collaboration,” Holley said. “They come to the team as individuals, then have to create something to demonstrate at the event. They really come out of the shell.”

Hargis said that the teamwork aspect of the competition, as well as having to meet a deadline, is why he continues to support the event. The teams get their kits at Oklahoma State University and while there, they compete in a one-day build competition.

Hargis compared it to the university’s elaborate homecoming decorations. He said he’s received some criticism over the years that all that student-led work takes away from academic work.

“(The homecoming decorations) are a perfect, real-life experience. You have to conceive of an idea, draw it up and raise the money to do it,” Hargis said. “(FIRST) is the same way. I think it’s a wonderful soup to nuts experience with a deadline. They really learn a lot and not just the STEM part. It’s about leadership and teamwork.”

FIRST co-founder Dean Kamen has always said about the competition that the kids are building robots; rather, it’s the robots that build the kids. The national program also has $80 million in scholarships available for participants. Holley said Oklahoma’s FIRST participants are enrolling in more STEM-related coursework than their non-participating peers.

“FIRST is certainly strengthening their skills and abilities beyond high school,” he said. “You’ll see our students excelling in computer science, electrical engineering and education.”