CLEVELAND — "It feels good to, like, try something new," said MC2 STEM High School freshman, Quantasha Brown.
Grab the tools and your problem-solving skills, it's robot building time. A team of a dozen girls from across the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is taking on the challenge for the first time. Ten weeks to build a robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition Buckeye Regionals. Keeping everyone and everything on track is team captain, Quantasha Brown.
"I go around, help everybody and make sure everybody in line and doing what they got to do," said Brown.
The team named Lady Voltage meets at the Great Lake Science Center, which supports several robotic teams. Being their rookie year, there is a lot to learn.
"It's fun,” remarked Brown. “I can say that. And it's like it's challenging. You get to learn stuff."
"The girls are just rising to the challenge. They're learning so many things so fast," said teacher and coach Jordan Seigler from MC2 STEM High School.
It's not just the students, it's the rookie year for Lady Volage's mentors and coach Jordan Seigler as well.
"Without these amazing people from Sherwin Williams who know a million times more than I do, it would be impossible. Like, they know everything," said Seigler.
"I've been able to see them work through challenges,” said Laurel Soren, a mentor and Senior R&D Chemist with Sherwin-Williams. “With electronics and mechanical things and to really open up."
The goal, to outscore other robots in a head to head match. With multiple ways to get points, strategy influences how the robot is designed. This day was a big one for Lady Voltage.
"So, this is actually the first time that we've gotten the electrical and mechanical base hooked up together,” said Soren. “So, this is the first time that they've actually been able to drive the robot."
The students kept the celebrate short, because they still have a long to do list to get the robot ready. But they know the challenge is worth it.
"It imitates the engineering process and like what it would really be like in a career like this,” said Seigler. “It's like great for them to see like, oh, I want to do this as a job. It's totally possible."
"I think when you have the opportunity, you should take advantage of it. And just have fun,” said Brown.
The FIRST Robotics Competition Buckeye Regionals is held in Cleveland at the Wolstein Center from March 20th to the 23rd. Over 50 teams are competing from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and even a team from China. We wish all our local Ohio teams good luck.