Team RobotiX inspires through robotics
John Scherer, 9, and Landon York, 9, both of Upper St. Clair, are part of Team Robotix.
Evan Vopal, 12, and Anthony Ioli, 12, both of Upper St. Clair, are also part of Team RobotiX.
Members of Team RobotiX at the NREC workshop.
In an effort to promote its STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program for students and teachers, Team RobotiX has launched its robotics summer workshop series. Team RobotiX recently applied for nonprofit status as a 501(c)(3) and begun work on a funding campaign to purchase a classroom set of robots and laptops to loan to schools. Hoping to promote robotics through curriculum integration and after-school clubs, they recently offered free training for teachers and students.
The first workshop, for regional educators, took place June 3 at the Upper St. Clair Community and Recreation Center and included a special training session by NASA. NASA IV & V education resource director Todd Ensign used LEGO NXT robots to teach proportional mathematics, computer programming, sensor use and science concepts.
On June 21 at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) at Carnegie Mellon University, Team RobotiX hosted a free programming class. Tim Friez, a software engineer at CMU, taught RobotC, a C-based programming language to 24 participants ages 7-66. The group also received a tour of NREC. Nine-year-old Landon York said, “I loved using the computer to program the robot and then control it. It was an awesome day!”
Dr. Kim Johnson Hyatt, a professor at CMU and a South Hills mom, started Team RobotiX as a middle school robotics 2013-2014 competition team. Along with lead mentors Mike Dischner and Jay Clayton, and team treasurer Bea Conte, Team RobotiX had an impressive rookie season. Its members were the youngest participants in the Lehigh Valley Regional FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Tournament, and along with their alliance partner they won first place. They also won the Rookie Team award. Recently, the team presented at the Carnegie Science Center for National Engineers Week, the Macaroni Kids Club Summer Expo and at a few local school and community events in the South Hills in an effort to inspire other kids to learn about the design, building and programming that goes into robotics.
Thanks to community support from Gillece Services, Handyman Matters, Rolliers, 84 Lumber, WESCO and MPC Process Equipment, Inc., a state-of-the-art robotics workshop was recently built in the Hyatt’s basement. Gillece Services donated initial and ongoing electrical services and equipment for the high-tech workshop, as well as financial support to sponsor the summer workshop series for students and teachers.
Team RobotiX, which includes participants from Upper St. Clair, Peters Township, Mt. Lebanon and Scott, is actively seeking donations to grow their organization in three areas: to host kids community workshops; to train teachers; and to compete in international robotics competitions.
“Although we are a small, newly formed organization, we are making a significant impact in our community,” said Dr. Hyatt. “We engage professionals from our area, such as engineers, business leaders, technology specialists and others, to help create great experiences for kids and teachers. If we obtain funding from a few key sponsors, we could really expand these opportunities.”
The next phase of Team RobotiX workshops currently being planned and will be listed in The Almanac when the information becomes available.
Team RobotiX is always looking for guest speakers, additional mentors, new team members and sponsors. To make a donation or for more information about Team RobotiX programs, email teamrobotixinc@gmail.com.