FIRST Tech Challenge Alabama State Championship for robotics teams held at New Century

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), an international nonprofit, hosted the Tech Challenge Alabama State Championship on Saturday, March 2, at New Century Technology High School.

Held in the school’s gym, with pop hits blasting from the speakers, the event had the feeling of a sporting event – with all the attending camaraderie and competition. 

Michele Keepers, a parent volunteer who also assumes marketing responsibilities for FIRST Alabama, explained the rules of each two and a half minute match.  

“The teams are going to start out with a 30 second autonomous period where the teams try to score points without driving their robots. They have programmed the robots to do things. After the autonomous period, there is going to be a teleoperation (remote operation) time,” explained Keepers to the Business Journal. “The teams will score points by putting [plastic] pixels on the board. Then, the robots will shoot paper airplanes outside the field.”

For the final component of each match, the teams attempted to get their robots to use their mechanical arms to lift up on a bar in a move that resembles a robot pull-up with the goal to get all of the robot’s wheels off the ground. 

Teams of students in grades 7-12 traveled to Huntsville from across the state to participate in Saturday’s competition. These crews meet multiple times per week in the months leading up to the event to design, build, and program their robots. 

In addition to engineering their robots, FIRST teams also connect and collaborate with industry leaders from their local STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) communities.

The Nerdettes is an all-girls team based in Huntsville. Hannah Holsonback, Harveen Deol, Lily Sullivan, Emily Carr, and Loklinn Hamill were decked out in Barbie-pink for Saturday’s event, and accompanied by their bright pink robot. 

Harveen Deol is a local 8th grader and a member of the Nerdettes. She recalled a recent meeting between her robotics team and female representatives from BAE Systems. 

“I’m exploring career options and seeing those women inspired me. The way they face daily obstacles, how they are passionate about the work. I want a career like that,” Deol told the Business Journal. “It was so inspiring. I went home and told my parents ‘I want to be an engineer.’”

Judges interviewed teams throughout the day. Awards were given for hardware industrial design, engineering design, use of sensors and software, outreach, and innovation. 

Two teams, the 7842 BrownCoats and S.C.A.M. (Super Cool Autonomous Machines), advanced from Huntsville to the FIRST Championship in April. Students from around the world will participate in this competition, which will take place in Houston on April 17-20, 2024.

FIRST serves students in grades PreKindergarten-12. To learn more about how you, or your child, can get involved with FIRST please visit their website.