FIRST Robotics

FIRST Robotics is a robotics competition designed to teach students hardware and software skills from the engineering perspective, and team management, leadership, and fundraising from a corporate perspective. As a participant in FIRST robotics for over 5 years, I have had the opportunity to start from working with small Lego robots in FLL, to large six-foot tall custom designed robots in FRC.

 

As captain of FTC Team 7078 STEMBotics, I had the opportunity to lead the team to win over 20 awards, and compete in the FTC North Super Regional. As an independent team, I worked to raise $4500 to support our team's infrastructure, and ensure that we were able to compete effectively. In addition, I worked to start a partnership with Wright State University to get mentors, and a location to host FLL competitions. As a team that believes in the power of outreach, we hosted multiple competitions and volunteered at multiple events to spread the joy of STEM education and robotics. 

 

I worked as the lead programmer on my team, working on autonomous and tele-operated control systems, designed to work with our hardware. FIRST gave me the opportunity to work with sensors, and apply the sensor processing skills that I had learned in other avenues. FIRST also allowed me to understand the relationship between hardware and software, and the need to develop them in tandem.

 

FIRST gave me the opportunity to greatly grow not only in my leadership ability, but apply my STEM knowledge to a specific challenge, gaining experience in multiple facets. I expect these unique and useful skills to stand me in good stead as I pursue my dreams.