Robotics competitions foster scientific thinking

Cool robots, exciting contests and the empowerment of learning. Put those together and one has an idea what’s drawing Kansas students to robotics competitions. The two main ones are the Kansas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) and Kansas FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Competitions.

In these competitions, the robot is actually a tool for more important purposes, according to Noel Duerksen, and engineer and educator who has coached both BEST and FIRST teams. “Students are developing leadership, project development and management skills, teamwork and a sense of accomplishment,” he says.

Both BEST and FIRST programs provide a teacher to oversee and an industry professional to mentor student in the basics of engineering physics and electricity. Students then learn scientific thinking skills as they design a concept, test, modify and compete.

The Kansas BEST hub comes out of Wichita and is sponsored by Wichita State University. It has about 28 teams, some from as far away as Oberlin, Independence and even Bentonville, Ark.

The 2007 area competition at WSU, held in October, was themed 2021: A Robot Odyssey. Supplies have been dropped on Mars. The teams, who are given their assignments only about six weeks before the competition, must design and build a robot to collect the supplies and move them, traversing an inclined plane when needed. Directing via radio-control are a driver and a spotter. Because the robot is out of the driver’s sightline, he must rely on the spotter’s communications to issue orders to the robot.

“The Kansas BEST hub is the most competitive one in the U.S.,“ says Duerksen. Teams from the Wichita hub have won five out of six and four out of six of the trophies given at the regional competitions in Ft. Smith, Ark., in the last two years.

One of BEST’s strengths is that it emphasizes the soft skills of engineering, “ says Duerksen. Students learn documentation, creating and presenting power-point presentations of technical aspects and giving trade show demonstrations.

It also fosters school spirit as teams bring school bands, cheerleaders and school mascots. “Our goal is to make science and technology interesting to students and to make heroes out of the people in the competitions just like an athlete would be a hero,” says Duerksen.

In the BEST competition, which has no registration fee, teams learn to work with precise restrictions. All are given the same kit of supplies like plywood, nuts, bolts, pvc pipe or a radio control kit for use in building the robot.

While BEST is mainly a Midwest/Southern competition, FIRST is nationwide with its Kansas City regional held in March.

In FIRST, teams are also given a mission with a limited work time, but means for doing it are less restrictive.

“One of FIRST’s strengths is that it uses much larger and more difficult-to-work-with materials like aluminum, steel or fiberglass composite and pneumatic systems. From an education standpoint, the complexity means there must be more planning,” says Duerksen. It also allows for more creative freedom.

The robots are software controlled, so whatever the students can conceive of and make work as they write their own software is allowed. Students also have access to professional level animation and computer-aided design software and compete in making computer-generated animation.

There are about 20 teams in the Kansas FIRST program, most in the Kansas City area, though there are some from Parsons, Newton and Liberal. The FIRST registration is $6,000 yearly and in recent years most teams in Kansas and Missouri have been partially funded by grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City.

The BEST and FIRST competitions teach different but similar lessons based on different rules and they complement each other particularly well,” says Duerksen.