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 Wit,
Grit & Robot Games, a one hour documentary marking the tenth anniversary
of the founding of the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST (For Inspiration
and Recognition of Science and Technology), is an international high school
robotics program that was the brainchild of world famous inventor Dean
Kamen. Now with more than 1,000 registered teams, FIRST challenges teenagers
and their adult mentors to design, prototype, and build a functional robot
in just six weeks, then test them against each other in regional, national
and international competitions.
Wit, Grit & Robot Games, hosted by popular science & technology
correspondent, Dr. Michael Guillen, follows three different teams as they
deal with the complexities of building and refining 125 lb remote controlled
robots, manage the logistics of getting them and their team delivered
safely to designated playing fields, and struggle with the vagaries of
head to head competition.
The largest team, the veteran fourth year Leopards, are from Houston
inner-city magnet school Booker T. Washington High School for the Engineering
Professions. They have never won a championship, and this year they are
hoping to go all the way. The second team, the Warriors, from Philadelphia
Mississippi, are rookies, and the first Native American (Choctaw) team
ever enrolled in FIRST. They have a lot to learn, but are determined to
make a good showing. The third team, the Terminators, from suburban Cypress
Falls, are also rookies, made up of a handful of enterprising students
from the Cy-Falls High industrial arts program.
To keep things challenging, the game is changed every year, with new
and harder rules and objectives. “This year,” Dr. Guillen explains,
“it’s a cross between basketball and football, with teams having
to be just as concerned with alliance building and strategy as they are
skill and performance.”
It’s what I call “co-opitition”, says Woodie Flowers,
MIT Professor of Engineering, and co-founder of the FIRST competition.
“It’s similar to the way things work in the real world of business,
academics, and technology, and it’s one of the most important lessons
they’ll ever learn.”
 Dean
Kamen, insists that, unlike other competitions, “FIRST is not intended
to be an educational program, but rather an inspirational opportunity
where kids learn by working alongside mentors, who pass on skills and
knowledge acquired in the real world of science and technology.”
One unique aspect is that employees of the teams’ corporate sponsors
offer their knowledge and expertise as mentors and partners in the team’s
activities. According to one parent, “It’s the only program
of its kind where we grown-ups get to play in the same sand box as the
kids.” Kennedy Space Center Director of Business Development Jo Ann
Morgan, herself an engineer and volunteer, says of her FIRST experience,
“It’s absolutely the most fun I have ever had!”
The 2001 competition season culminated at Epcot Center, with 350 teams
attending from throughout the US as well as teams from Canada, Brazil
and the U.K. Altogether, with kids, parents, coaches, and volunteers,
there’re more than 20,000 people in attendance.
Living up to the promise of FIRST, by the end of the season, all three
of our teams gain far more than trophies, ribbons, or shiny awards. Because
of their success in the competitions, the Leopards become celebrities
in their school and community, and are invited to the state capital for
recognition. The Terminators accomplish exactly what they set out to do
- learn the ropes. As for the Warriors, they too have become celebrities,
and because of their respectable showing, their high school will add a
robotics course to its curriculum, along with an on-campus machine shop.
FIRST was founded to show kids that being a participant in life is a
whole lot more fun than being a spectator - and that building a better
robot is a “FIRST” step in building a better future. In Wit,
Grit & Robot Games, we get to see three amazing examples of how
FIRST kids reach out for that better future.
Wit, Grit & Robot Games is a production of HoustonPBS, and
is presented by LARK International, a leading provider of international
programming for public television. This one-hour documentary was produced
by Richard Coberly and Veronica Veerkamp for Windward Media. Partial funding
provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through a grant from
Native American Public Telecommunications. Additional funding provided
by the Education Foundation of Harris County.
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