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Robot visits Birchview students

Birchview Elementary School in Ishpeming was recently visited by a 95-pound remote control robot. Team members from the Westend Gearbusters, headquartered in Westwood High School, brought their competition robot that they designed, built and programmed. It can move in any direction, place large plastic gears on a horizontal peg, toss 5-inch balls into a large trashcan eight feet off the floor and climb a rope. The Birchview students first listened to a brief presentation of what the robot was tasked to do and how it worked as well as shown videos of some competitions. Then they got to operate the robot. Some students picked up on the complicated steering quickly, others not so well. There were many excited squeals and dodging as a slightly out of control robot was headed toward someone. There was bumping into each other and maybe some rug burns as some students attempted to catch the balls as they streamed upward from the robot. The teachers were interested but didn’t try to drive. The students had many questions and overall everyone had fun and a few expressed interest in joining a team. The Westend Gearbusters consist of high school aged kids from the west end of Marquette County. They are part of a large international organization called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) with over 450 teams just in Michigan and over 30 teams in the U.P. FIRST is more than robots. FIRST participation is proven to encourage students, K through 12, to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields, inspire them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st-century work-life skills. The Gearbusters and other robot teams will be at local libraries for their summer’s reading program, “Build a Better World,” which is heavily focused on STEAM. To learn more about FIRST go to www.firstinspires.org. To learn more about FIRST in Michigan and teams in this area, go to www.firstinmichigan.org.

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