Local robotics team shows off robots for “Take Your Kid to Work Day”

For many parents around the country, Thursday was “Take Your Kid to Work Day.” But for Huntington’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team 1501, it was “take your robot to work day.”

BAE systems, a global defense, security and aerospace company in Fort Wayne, invited the local robotics team to show off the robots they built this year to students visiting their parent’s place of employment.

Approximately 100 Fort Wayne area students visited BAE systems to tour the facility.  Students walked through nine different areas of the plant, observing 15-minute engineering-related demonstrations at each stop.

One of the stops in their tour was a presentation by the Huntington FIRST Team and a chance to test drive the robots that the local students created for the 2010 competition.

Samir Shaikh, one of the students on the Huntington FIRST Team, gave each group that came through an explanation of the 2010 robotics competition and how the team did this year.

Shaikh said this year’s challenge was to create a robotic game called “Breakaway”, similar to a miniature soccer game, but with multiple balls in play. He explained that the Huntington FIRST team was placed in the number one seed in the robotics competition at Purdue University, but lost in the semi-finals and didn’t place. However, the team went on to win silver in the Connecticut Regional Compeition.

“I ran the numbers and calculated that we ranked thirtieth out of more than 2,000 teams worldwide,” Shaikh said.

Shaikh then showed the students how to operate the robots.  After the brief how-to,  students were paired up and assigned to one of two robots to compete against each other on a miniature soccer field they had set up.

Huntington FIRST Team Adult Leader Chris Elston said he enjoys opportunities like this because it offers students a chance to speak in front of an audience and help hone their presentation skills.

Samir Shaikh, far right, teaches students how to run the robots' controls before they take them for a test drive.

Students drive Huntington FIRST Team 1501's robots at 'Take your kid to work day' at BAE Systems in Fort Wayne, IN