ABOVE: The ‘Little Einsteins’ robotics team, consisting of area children in grades 3 and 4, operate remote-control robots, testing their skills during a race to pick up each ball and bring it to the opposite side of the square area, as members of the Fairmont High School Robotics team and families observe. Approximately 80 children participated in the Martin County KnowHow VEX IQ Robotics Competition on Saturday morning at Fairmont Elementary School. Photo by Vanessa Schultze.

FAIRMONT – Looking to further spread robotics and encourage interest in engineering, Martin County KnowHow (MCKH) has seen continued growth with its youth robotics program.

It, in collaboration with Project 1590, holds a VEX Robotics camp in the fall for fifth and sixth graders and in the spring for third and fourth graders. In the fall, 60 students attended, while in the spring, 81 students attended. Last Saturday, the students from Fairmont, Truman, Granada-Huntley-East Chain and Martin County West showcased their skills.

“The robot pieces are like Legos,” MCKH Board Member Sam Viesselman said. “You also have a wireless controller, a [robot] brain, and a bunch of motors and sensors the kids can use to build their robot.”

The objective is different every year, based on the type of kit VEX Robotics puts out. This year, Viesselman said the kids were tasked with putting small yellow and big green balls into goals.

“They had to build robots that could move them, pick them up, and score them,” he said.

To do so, the kids were put into groups of two or three and had mentors to supervise their progress. Mentors included high school robotics members. Viesselman said a handful of them had been in the youth program themselves. All of them are headed to the Houston Worlds Robotics Championship today to compete.

While the kit did have a basic design built in, the kids were given free rein to design their robot in whatever fashion necessary to get the job done.

“You see some kids make very small changes,” Viesselman said. “You’ll see some who do complete rebuilds depending on how large their ideas are and how inspired they are to upgrade their robots. It’s nice because you can come in with zero experience and still have something that can do well. You also have the ability for the kids who want to reach further, giving them those opportunities.”

During the competition, teams were paired up to score as many points as possible with the balls.

“These 30 teams will play matches with random teammates,” Viesselman said. “It averages their score, and the top average score wins.”

The Little Einsteins and LeBot James teams ended up winning the competition. Viesselman said they utilized drastically different builds to come out on top.

“One of them utilized this combine design to pick up the little ones fast and score them,” he said. “The other one was a specialist at picking up the large ones and scoring those. Between the two of them, they’re able to split the field in half.”

Viesselman said the kids pick up several skills through assembling and competing. They follow technical instructions, improve communication skills, and figure out how to turn what’s in their minds into a reality.

“You look at this pile of parts and say, ‘How do I use these to achieve this idea?’, which is the fundamentals of engineering,” Viesselman said.

Contrary to the concept of passing or failing, Viesselman said robotics teaches kids the trial-and-error process common in engineering.

“They put it on the field, they find out it doesn’t work, and they can try again and again,” he said. “In a traditional classroom, if you fail a test, you fail the test. In the engineering space when you fail something, you don’t let it kick you down. You get up and you try again.”

Though they are happy to see where current participation numbers are, Viesselman said there are still areas the program can grow.

“Extending the opportunities to some parochial schools is a big potential growth area for us,” he said. “In this competition, the students get a controller to drive it and we don’t explore the programming area as much as we could. I’d love to see some expansion. Letting the robots drive themselves, using sensors to navigate, and giving kids both mechanical/design and software/electrical experience.”

For more information, visit https://www.fairmontrobotics.com/ or call 507-238-4411.