Robots. They assemble vehicles, they vacuum floors, they explore and photograph distant planets.
And now, they toss T-shirts at football games?
The Albert Lea High School FIRST Robotics team has made appearances at pep fests, this summer’s Independence Day Parade, on TigerVision, and during homecoming week sports games, shooting prizes into the crowd.
Junior Mark McGivern feels that a large majority of students here at ALHS know there is a robotics team, but doesn’t think everyone knows what it’s about.
FIRST–an acronym meaning “For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”–is a national contest in which thousands of schools participate. Each year, a “game” is presented, and the teams are given six weeks to build, test, and refine a robot that will win that game.
“Each year the game is different,” said coach Mike Sundblad. “So this year’s robot won’t be any good for next year’s game.”
Founded by Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST’s vision is “to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders,” according to usfirst.org.
Although the FIRST Robotics Competition has been going on nationally for 20 years, it was just last year when Mike Sundblad introduced FIRST to ALHS.
“We have a bunch of students who weren’t represented in any activities in school,” Sundblad explained. “Athletics weren’t their thing. For some, music wasn’t their thing. But they have a great ability for solving problems and are perfect for this activity.”
But FIRST isn’t just “smart kids” doing complicated math, according to junior Forrest Darbo. There are positions on the team for students interested in graphic design, scouting, and much more.
“Some people will say ‘I can’t join robotics; I don’t know how to build a robot,’” McGivern said. “Well, at the start of last year, none of us knew how to build a robot either. But we learned, we competed, we scored, and we had an excellent time.”