West Virginia Robotics Alliance
Rivalry, teamwork and off-season training. While these words might conjure images of a football field, basketball court or weight room, they also apply to the world of competitive robotics. West Virginia is poised to become the eighth state in the nation to recognize robotics as a varsity sport, and thanks to the work of the West Virginia Robotics Alliance, students in grades K-12 are excelling in this arena.
From students as young as 5 who simply love Legos to college-aged science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students seeking employment, the benefits of the competitive yet team- and solutions-oriented environment this alliance provides are priceless. NASA and Fairmont State University (FSU) have formed a unique partnership with 12 different competitive programs and numerous other institutions across the Mountain State to connect students with STEM employers through robotics competitions, prepare youth for future STEM careers and increase opportunities for young West Virginians that allow them to live and prosper in the state they call home.
Inside the Alliance
This grant-funded alliance is managed by FSU within its Education Resource Center (ERC) and is an initiative within NASA’s nationwide Independent Verification and Validation Program (IV&V) in Fairmont, WV. The IV&V’s Robotics Alliance Project leverages competitive robotics programs to create a human, technical and programmatic resource pool of robotics capabilities to enable the implementation of future robotic space exploration missions.
“We coordinate more than 35 tournaments a year, which are hosted and managed by more than a dozen education and nonprofit partners across the state and funded by a consortium of public, private and government grants and sponsorships,” says Dr. Todd Ensign, ERC’s program manager.
Starting in 2012 with the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) LEGO League state championship in competitive robotics, the ERC began hosting and managing all aspects of the competitive programs, including fundraising, date and location selection and recruiting and training tournament hosts, volunteers, coaches and students. Within two years, the competitive robotics programs grew from approximately 75 teams statewide participating in three programs to more than 500 teams participating in more than a dozen programs.
“Because of the alliance, our children can work with parents, teachers and mentors locally to learn the necessary skills of teamwork, problem solving, computer coding, engineering, science and mathematics, which will help them in both their education and any career they choose,” says Ensign. “The partnership helps our communities by bringing families to nearby colleges and universities where they are able to meet faculty, visit facilities and even earn scholarships, thus breaking down barriers to participation in post-secondary education.”
The alliance’s goals are to showcase West Virginia as a national leader in robotics education, create an environment where student robotics is respected as a team sport and increase the percentage of students earning post-secondary certifications and degrees in STEM.
“Statewide, our students are given an opportunity to excel at not only regional but state championships, and those winners go on to represent West Virginia at world championships where we have repeatedly won recognition as some of the best teams and earned the most prestigious awards,” says Ensign. “For example, our own Mountaineer Area RoboticS FIRST team received the 2017 Chairman’s Award, the highest achievement possible in the most competitive high school program in the world.”
To meet these goals, the ERC has assumed the management and coordination of 12 competitive robotics programs, including FIRST, VEX, SkillsUSA, Zero Robotics, World Robot Olympiad (WRO) and Cyber Robotics Coding Competition (CRCC).
FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, is a nonprofit started by inventor Dean Kamen and Dr. Woody Flowers that includes four programs that send K-12 students out of state to compete.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. is a non-competitive program for students ages 6-10. Students design and build a challenge-related model using a LEGO WeDo robot and Inspire Set to solve real-world math and science problems as well as develop teamwork skills. Participants then present their solutions with a poster and robotic model at free expos offered year-round.
FIRST LEGO League is currently the largest program in West Virginia with more than 100 teams that compete in 10 qualifying events across the state every November in order to earn a spot at the West Virginia state championship held in December at FSU. Based on the LEGO EV3 robot, students compete on a field with LEGO elements and deliver three judged presentations, working through research challenges and using presentation skills. In addition, the NASA ERC conducts an international FIRST LEGO League tournament called the Mountain State Invitational every other year at FSU. This three-day event draws more than 50 teams from around the world to celebrate the best of West Virginia with numerous collaborative and engaging activities, including a STEM carnival hosted by the High Technology Foundation at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center in Fairmont.
FIRST Tech Challenge is a middle-to-high school program for students ages 9-14 that uses both off-the-shelf and engineered parts. Teams are responsible for designing, building and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The state championship for this program draws highly competitive teams from across the nation using a sports model, and all West Virginia teams receive a scholarship to attend the state championship in December.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is for high school students and combines sport with science and technology. With strict rules, limited resources and a six-week time limit, teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team brand, hone teamwork skills and build and program a robot to perform against a field of competitors.
VEX
VEX IQ, VEX Robotics Competition and VEX University are all managed by the nonprofit Robotics Education and Competition Foundation. VEX activates students of all ages with VEX IQ targeting elementary through middle school students, VEX Robotics Competition engaging middle through high school students and VEX University empowering college students.
VEX IQ is the fastest-growing robotics program in West Virginia. Students in VEX IQ build a plastic robot that is remote controlled and autonomous. Qualifying tournaments in several locations across the state feed the West Virginia state championship in February at FSU.
VEX Robotic Competition offers students a program that encourages teamwork, leadership and problem solving. Certain qualifying events are in January and February, and the West Virginia State Tournament is at FSU in March.
The West Virginia VEX University is the only university-level event in the state and is the largest VEX University event in the nation aside from the world tournament. The competition is based off of the VEX Robotics Competition but allows teams more customization and the ability to build two robots that can play together. Teams travel to Fairmont for this event from all over the eastern U.S.
SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA conducts dozens of simultaneous competitions across all areas of career and technical education each year at its annual state tournament in May. During the event, the NASA ERC conducts three robotics competitions, including Mobile Robotics, based on the VEX platform and game; Urban Search and Rescue, where teams remotely control a robot using on-board cameras to find and disarm simulated bombs; and Human-Robot Interaction, which involves programming a humanoid robot to perform tasks.
Zero Robotics
Zero Robotics is an initiative of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA. It begins as an online virtual challenge, but the final tournament occurs onboard the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts serving as the referees. The free programming competition uses Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites robots, known as SPHERES, inside the ISS. The middle school competition is conducted as a five-week summer camp with teams that compete for the top spot in West Virginia. The final tournament occurs each August with the top West Virginia team competing against more than a dozen other states on a live simulcast conducted at the High Technology Foundation’s Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.
World Robot Olympiad
WRO is an international competition based on the LEGO WeDo and EV3 platforms for students of all ages and is offered each summer in West Virginia through an annual summer camp program. West Virginia students can join as a team or sign up individually to participate in a week-long course to learn how to build, program and compete in the WRO challenge, which is held each Friday. This past September, FSU hosted the U.S. national championship for WRO, bringing in teams from California to Maine to try to earn a spot at the world tournament to be held in Thailand.
Cyber Robotics Coding Competitions
The newest and most accessible program is the CRCC, which is based on the CoderZ online virtual environment. By logging into the free platform, middle school students learn to program a virtual LEGO EV3 robot and compete at their own pace during a 10-day qualifying event. The top two students from each registered school then travel to FSU for the annual state championship in May, where they meet industry and educational leaders and compete for the top award in West Virginia.
Inspiring Young Innovators
The numerous partners, sponsors, hosts and agencies that support the West Virginia Robotics Alliance and its programs collectively aim to increase access for Mountain State students to gain valuable experience working on teams, solving real-world problems and sharing those solutions with peers and experts.
“We are continually building new partnerships and expanding the alliance to allow more West Virginia students to access the world of competitive robotics, all while bringing those students to higher education campuses, benefiting both constituencies,” says Ensign. “Most importantly, we hope to inspire our students to complete their high school degree and pursue a post-secondary degree. We know our economy is evolving, and these skills, along with a degree, will fuel our future workforce. Ultimately, we hope our students will stay in West Virginia and join the workforce or even start their own STEM-based businesses.”
