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GRAND RAPIDS — The hot sun illuminated the pavement of Rosa Parks Circle as middle and high school robotics teams from across West Michigan gathered for the Robotics Expo and Parade on Saturday, Sept. 21.
As a segment of the Confluence Festival, the Robotics Expo and Parade enabled robotics students to showcase their work and expertise.
Robotics is an extra curricular activity for students, using robots as a way to teach about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while also helping them build skills like creativity and teamwork.
With the abundance of robotics programs across West Michigan, the expo showcased demos for all ages to give people the opportunity to see what exists in their community.
“Robotics is an exercise in problem solving,” said Trista VanderVoord, the Red Storm Robotics program coordinator and co-committee host of the Robotics Expo and Parade. “If something doesn’t work, how do we adjust to fix it?”
Each year, robotics teams are challenged with new objectives to design and build robots around. This can include building a system that can pick up items or deliver them to new locations.
The expo was organized into three levels, elementary, middle and high school, with students being present at each to help with instructions and questions.
With many teams represented, students had to work together to educate the community.
Some of the teams in attendance were from Kentwood Public Schools, Grand Rapids Public Schools, West Ottawa Public Schools and a community team from the Byron Center area.
“There is this concept in robotics called ‘cooper-tition,’ sometimes we are against each other and sometimes we are with each other but we are always working together even though we are competitors.” said VanderVoord. “We always join forces in things, like this event, to bring awareness of robotics to the community.”
After completing their morning demonstrations, students lined up and paraded their robots around Rosa Parks Circle to show the public their work.
During their time in robotics, students get to learn technical skills that may help them further their education or career.
At the high school level, students use computer numerical control machines (CNC’s) and computer-aided drawing software (CAD) to design robot parts, giving them the ability to learn mechanics and programming along the way.
Although robotics is a technical program, it aims to create adults who are problem solvers, critical thinkers and team players.
“They’ve done a lot of research and determined there are 90% gains in most areas of teamwork and leadership — the key things that are people-centered,” said VanderVoord. “Students in robotics are outperforming their peers who are not in those types of activities.”
With so many opportunities for students to explore during their time in school, robotics teams want to get the word out that their programs and resources are widely accessible.
“It’s important that the community is aware that there are robotics teams in the area,” said VanderVoord. Many schools in West Michigan have robotics programs. Some start as early as kindergarten and go through 12th grade.
The Confluence Festival is an annual free event that celebrates art, technology, music and science, and has been a part of ArtPrize for four years.
In addition to the Robotics Expo and Parade, the festival featured a Super Smash Bros. tournament, music performances, vendors, food trucks and a variety of other technological innovations. More information on the Confluence Festival can be found on its website.
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