Titanium Titans up and programming in Canonsburg and Peters Township
Titanium Titans mascot Anthony Corkos helps demonstrate the team’s 2014 Competition robot, Promethius, at this year’s Peters Township Community Day.
Boy Scouts learn about robotic controls and functions at the Boy Scout Robotics Merit Badge Workshop held in August at the Western Area Career & Technology Center.
During the summer months, the Titanium Titans #4467 – a FIRST robotics team based in Canonsburg – seeks to promote and encourage learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for students of all ages. From hosting Just for Girls Technology workshops to demoing its robot Promethius at the Peters Township Community Day, the Titanium Titans have not only had an active and prominent role in its communities, but have also inspired other students to engage in STEM-based learning and exploration.
To promote its mission of encouraging students towards STEM careers, the Titanium Titans hosted a variety of workshops at the Western Area Career & Technology Center and the Peters Township Public Library, mostly geared towards students from fourth to 11th grade. At the Exploring Robotics Workshop hosted at the Peters Township Library, Titantium Titan team members helped groups of boys and girls entering grades 4-6 design and program a Lego Mindstorm robot to meet a design challenge to detect and drive along a road with tricky obstacles like curves, color changes, a tunnel and speed bumps. Students had to program and design their robot for speed and efficiency. Although there were plenty of difficulties, each group was able to have their robot finish the course successfully in a four-hour time frame.
Another exciting offering hosted by the Titanium Titans was the “Just for Girls” Exploring Technology Workshop. During two sessions this summer, a total of 45 girls met to build and program Lego Mindstorms, tour WACTC’s machine shop, learn about recent technology and see a 3D printer in action. The girls even got to create their own LED-lit badges using electronic thread, LEDs and a circuit board.
For Boy Scouts, the Titanium Titans hosted three sessions of its Robotics Merit Badge workshops at WACTC for 90 scouts from troops throughout Southwestern Pa. While completing the merit badge requirements, Scouts got to design and build a VEX robot to compete in a SumoBOT competition against other scout teams. With a little help from Titanium Titan robotics team members, they came up with an engineering design plan, constructed and wired their robots, learned about controller and motor functions and programmed their bot for the competition. The day just wouldn’t be complete without a machine shop tour and a chance to drive the Titanium Titan’s 2014 competition robot, Promethius.
To reach a broader audience, the Titanium Titans set up a booth at Peters Township’s annual Community Day. With demonstrations of its 2014 competition robot Promethius and its team mascot (a Titan fitted in a helmet and a sword), the booth drew large crowds. Team members also drove three of their robots in the Canonsburg Fourth of July Parade.
Future plans for fall/winter include setup and mentoring of five FIRST Tech Challenge Teams in the South Hills for students in grades 7-9, hosting a FIRST Tech Challenge Scrimmage Event at the Peters Township Middle School on Dec. 13 and creating programming curriculum guides for Peters Township Library’s new FINCH robots.
For more information about FIRST, visit www.usfirst.org. To learn more about STEM programs for students, visit Creative Learning Collaborative, a sponsor of the Titanium Titans, at www.creativelearning-PT.org.
Stephanie Wang is a freshman at Peters Township High School.