High school teams get ready to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition Tallahassee Regional at FAMU’s Lawson Center in March 2023. (M Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU Engineering)
Excitement filled the air as the kick-off season for the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge meet got underway at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The day brought new dreams for some, while others reflected on their FIRST journey and how it paved their path to becoming an engineer.
FIRST alum and robotics professor Christian Hubicki knows firsthand some of the benefits of the mentor-based program. He was once a student in a meet just like this one, and now he’s an engineering faculty member at Florida State University and the nation’s only joint engineering college.
“FIRST is a premiere international organization for the promotion of science and technology promotion in K-12 education,” Hubicki said. “Their team robotics competitions are legendary, gathering thousands of teams from all over the world over the past 30 years.”
“Teams are comprised of high school students, their teachers and volunteer mentors,” Hubicki explained.” Each year, FIRST unveils a new game and gives the teams six weeks to build a robot to play it. It’s an immersive and rewarding experience for these students, teaching them the core lessons of engineering, professionalism and teamwork.”
The program is run by a dedicated group of volunteers, like Carson Kelly, a FIRST volunteer at the competition. Kelly, a first-year mechanical engineering student at the college, was only four years old when his dad took him to an elementary-level FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition. Some of the teams are tagged with colorful, playful names like the Chaotic Coders and boast creative mascots to add to the fun.
Kelly said, “I was so inspired after seeing that FIRST competition at a young age that as soon as I was old enough to compete my dad helped me start my own First Lego League (FLL) team named the Bane of Bionic Polar Bears.”
That was only the beginning for the Panama City, Florida native, who went on to win regionals and later started a community FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team named the Galactic Squirrels. FTC is the second level of competition for middle and high schoolers.
“After elementary and middle school competition, I participated in the FIRST Robotic Challenge (FRC) in my junior and senior year in high school,” Kelly said. “It was just a year ago in 2022 when our team, Ballistabots Team 8788 received the Rookie All-star award at the Tallahassee Regional competition that gave us a bid to the Worlds of Houston Texas competition.”
It’s not just about competition for Kelly, who said his involvement with FIRST helped him find a greater interest in the design and building of robots than coding them. The young engineering student is currently engaged in undergraduate research at the college under Stephanie Burrs, Ph.D., a first-year engineering faculty in mechanical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
“I am looking at the sustainability of bio and nano composites,” Kelly said. “My interest in engineering research was fueled by FIRST robotics competitions. There are a lot of similarities in trying to innovate and refine new ideas, and concepts and meet new design challenges.”
“FIRST has played a huge role in my life,” Kelly explained. “All those years ago, I got inspired from the kids at the upper levels and my goal was to be like them. Then I got the chance to meet teams from all over the world and learned about professionalism and teamwork. That experience taught me how to lead and guide others to be the best they can be, and now my goal has shifted from trying to get to higher levels of competition to making sure those younger than me have the same opportunities through FIRST that I got to enjoy.”
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is hosting FIRST events with middle and high schoolers on the weekends during the semester and hosting the FIRST FRC Regional, March 12-16th at the Al Lawson Center at Florida A&M University. Click here for more information about local events.
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