Archive: Around Town

Code Red Robotics, Ithaca High School's FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics team, is gearing up for Kick-Off '18, coming up this Saturday, January 6! At Kick-Off, the team will find out what this year's game, FIRST Power Up, will involve, and will begin brainstorming ideas for the design of their robot for the 2018 competitions. This marks the beginning of the six-week 'Build Season', the time frame in which all FIRST teams must design, prototype, build and program their robot.

Each year, Code Red members work together to create a 120-pound robot, carefully designed and built to play a complex game against other robots. FIRST is the worldwide organization sponsoring competitions for the 3,000+ teams around the world that are designing and building robots. Teams that win regional competitions then advance to the FIRST World Championships. The World Championship is dividing in two for the first time this year; one competition will be held in Houston, TX and the second will be held in Detroit, MI.

Code Red has a large team this year, with 83 students currently on the roster. The team is diverse; 25% of the team members are female, including its president (for the first time!), three officers, and two female sub-team heads. Under-represented minorities represent 6% of the team, and 16% of the team's members are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Members have the choice of participating on one or multiple sub-teams. These include Media, Scouting, Pneumatics, Programming, Electronics, CAD (Computer-Aided Design), Machining and Assembly. The Media Sub-Team captures videos and pictures to be used for websites, award applications and publicity. The Scouting Sub-Team develops a website that is used to gather information about other FIRST teams at competitions. The Pneumatics Sub-Team works with air-powered controls that drive certain systems on the robot. The Programming Sub-Team codes the robot's software, and the Electronics Sub-Team works on the circuitry for the robot. The CAD Sub-Team uses software to create a model of the robot to guide construction. The Machining and Assembly Sub-Teams go hand-in-hand, creating robot parts and bringing all of the pieces together to build the robot.

Code Red is doing a few things differently this year. This fall, new team members and sub-team heads worked on a project of their own for the first time. Known as the 'Froshbot', rookie members created a robot that could play last year's game, FIRST Steamworks. With only 28 hours of work, they designed and built a drive system and a gear acquisition system that enables floor pick-up. The rookies learned new skills and gained valuable experience, which will enable them to hit the ground running when the six-week Build Season starts up.

Code Red team members have been working hard on fundraising. Code Red partnered with Eco-Scents and organized a new candle fundraiser, in addition to the annual Gimme Coffee sale. They also hosted a LAN (Local Area Network) party, a video game frenzy which was fun for Code Red members and other IHS students alike.

Code Red is moving forward with its collaboration with Cornell's Society of Women Engineers (SWE). All interested female Code Red members will be paired with a SWE college student mentor during Build Season to learn more about robotics and women in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math).

Team members are giving back to the community by doing four hours of community service each month. For some, this involves mentoring FIRST Junior Lego Leagues and helping out at local events. 21 team members are mentors for one of the six elementary school Lego League teams. These teams engage younger students and introduce them to STEM concepts using LEGO elements. In addition to mentoring, members helped clean up Taughannock State Park and cleaned frames at the Quilter's Guild Quilt Show. The team also raised money for Camp Good Days, a camp for children battling cancer, at an event called Kazoo Fest.

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