Goal:
To expose our community and beyond to engineering
The second goal of the Robonauts is to expose our community and beyond to engineering. This is crucial in accomplishing our mission statement. We have three main methods of accomplishing this goal: expanding robotics programs and competitions, participating in community events and supporting Houston Robotics Education Program.
In 2002 the Robonauts played a part in the formation of the Houston Robotics Education Program (HREP). This program is a partnership between Houston area schools and local businesses with the goal of exposing every elementary student to engineering & technology, subsequently providing year round robotics competitions. We support this initiative by mentoring various robotics programs, fundraising, and exposing engineering to our community. You can learn more about the Houston Robotics Education Program by visiting HoustonRobotics.org.
In addition to supporting HREP, the Robonauts recognized a need to provide a robotics program for elementary students, before stereotypes are formed such as "engineering is nerdy," and "Robotics isn't for girls." We filled this need by creating EARLY (Engineering and Robotics Learned Young) in 2003. EARLY consists of introducing engineering to every elementary school student through the LEGO simple machines kit and providing a robotics competition for interested students. Since its incarnation 5 years ago, EARLY has spread to encompass over 200 teams ranging across the U.S. and over international waters, into South Africa and Australia, bringing robotics education to new corners of the world. You can learn more about the EARLY Robotics Program by visiting EARLYRobotics.org.
FIRST LEGO League is a major component of the Robonauts outreach efforts. To qualify to be on the Robonauts, students are highly encouraged to participate in our fall initiative, FLL mentoring. In groups of two or three, the students of the Robonauts mentor 22 district elementary schools. The Robonauts spend several hours each week teaching FLL teams design concepts, programming, and team work. This mentoring allows for a continually increasing number of FLL teams in the Houston area, which has led to the Southern Texas FLL Tournament escalating to the World’s largest FLL tournament in the world for the last two years. Robonauts don’t stop at just mentoring FLL teams, we have been running the Southern Texas FLL Tournament for the last 6 years. Robonauts through a partnership with the University of Houston’s CORE assist in the planning of the event, perform the setup of the venue, and volunteer in all positions on game day, including referees, judges, and emcees.
Robonauts volunteer within the BEST, Tech(formally VEX), and Botball programs to help encourage the transition from one level of robotics to the next, and instill a passion for engineering in next generation of FIRSTers and professional engineers.
Robonauts are also involved in community events at every chance that become available, over 100 events over the last twelve years. These events aid in not only exposing the community to engineering, but raising funds that are then redistributed to other robotics initiatives.
This year, the 2008 Robonauts have:
- Demonstrated robots at the NASA Day Care
- Made FRC Care Packages for new and rookie teams
- Compiled a “FIRST
- hand accounts” book in an effort to preserve NASA Robotics Education Budget
- Showcased our robot and participated in the Cystic Fibrosis Walk
- Shared designs and manufactured parts for FRC1817 and FRC226
- Discussed robotics on 89.7 KACC FM radio show
- Sent letters to State Congressmen inviting them to attend FIRST events
- Invited local media to attend and document FIRST events
- Demonstrated robot at HoustonActive showcase
- Demonstrated robot at high school freshman orientations
- Begun organized the 2008 Houston Botball regional
- Helped acquire funds and recruit teams for the Houston Robotics FIRST Sponsorships
Some examples of how the Robonauts have spread engineering to our community and beyond over our history are:
- Invited over 250 Atlanta area schools to the FIRST Championships in 2007
- Adopted a student from the Texas City School District to be a Robonaut
- Hosted HISD Furr High School who will start a FIRST team
- Attracted students to robotics events
- Participated in the Indiana Robotics Invitational
- Mentored several FIRST teams
- Mentored several FLL teams
- Inspired young students at FRC Championships, and Lone Star Regional through EARLY Exhibit
- Assisted with organizing and setup Houston FRC Championships & FLL Invitational in 2003
- Organized and conducted the South Texas FLL Tournament since 2003
- Mentored BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology) Robotics teams
- Assisted with the BEST Robotics Kickoff, Practice Day, and the Competition
- Designed, organized, and conducted the EARLY Robotics Competition
- Assisted with the Houston FIRST Remote Kickoff
- Organized and Assisted with Houston Botball regional
- Held a FIRST workshop at the University of Houston Super Sci-tech Saturday for middle school girls
- Presented FIRST and engineering education as a member of Citizens for Space Exploration to several staffs of United States Congressmen and Senators.
- Published the Orbiter, a monthly newsletter about the Robonauts
- Demonstrated robots to boy scouts ages 6
- 8 at Twilight Camp
- Participated in a WNBA Houston Comets half time 3-point shoot-out between our robot, Magnum, and the Comet’s mascot, Hailey
- Presented robotics to incoming freshmen at CCISD Course Fairs
- Presented FIRST to the Seabrook Rotary Club using robots
- Presented robots for local area businesses at the Bay Area Economic Council
- Participated in Great Strides to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis
- Demonstrated EARLY and FIRST to inspire elementary students at Family & Space Day
- Demonstrated FIRST at SECME National Conference and Mousetrap Competition
- Demonstrated FIRST at NASA JSC Open Houses
- Demonstrated FIRST at NASA JSC Inspection Days
- Demonstrated FIRST at Space Center Houston Exhibits
- Demonstrated FIRST at Houston Children's Museum Festival
- Participated in Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Specials
- Highlighted during Tech TV Special
- Demonstrated FIRST at World Space Congress
- Demonstrated FIRST at Lockheed Martin Open Houses
- Drove robots in John Glenn Parade
- Demonstrated FIRST at Offshore Technology Conference
- Presented at University of Houston FLL teacher workshop
- Demonstrated FIRST at World Space Congress Education Kids Day at University of Houston
- Drove robots in Galveston ASME parade
- Demonstrated FIRST at Boeing 'Bring Your Kid to Work Day'
- Demonstrated FIRST at University of Houston ASME Crawfish Boil
- Participated in International Space Station Teacher Conference to expose FIRST
- Participated in NASA Learning Outpost Webcast
- Demonstrated FIRST at Space Day at Johnson Space Center
- Organized and run various K
- 12 demonstrations and activities
- Demonstrated FIRST at NASA Johnson Space Center Volunteer Awareness Day
- Presented FIRST to The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas
- Donated robots for Hurricane Katrina Robotics Education Relief