Get Excited About Robotics, or GEAR, is a program that Frenship elementary and middle school campuses participate in and compete in each year. Students and coaches prepare for GEAR Robotics events by building robots with the LEGO Mindstorms program and the EV3 robots.
The Kickoff Event hosted teams from across the district and surrounding areas at the Frenship High School Performing Arts Center. This is the first chance for teams to see the year’s theme, the materials teams will be using, and any new rules for the year’s competition. Teams picked up all their materials and game mats and got to see how the playing fields will be laid out this year.
This year’s competition theme is ROBO Park. A city is developing a park that will need to be maintained by robots. Students must build and program robots to clean up trash, sort out recycling, build playground equipment, install benches, and plant trees. They will also get to flex their creative skills to create their own statue for the park. The challenges use everyday materials such as PVC pipes, electrical outlet boxes, and packing peanuts to represent the various park facilities, so the entire process requires lots of creativity and imagination.
Every school received new LEGO SPIKE kits this year, so students get to explore newer technology that will allow them to solve problems in different ways. “We’re hoping that the transition to the new kits will be smooth, seamless, and provide new advantages for all students,” stated Jared Kitchen, GT Teacher and GEAR Sponsor at Crestview and Willow Bend Elementary.
Kitchens stated that students who decide to get involved in GEAR learn important skills through problem-solving and collaboration. “Students get to work like engineers to ask questions, brainstorm solutions, make plans, build robots, and then figure out what went wrong in order to make improvements,” said Kitchens. “The challenges require students to use those “soft skills” that are so important, such as navigating group dynamics, listening to others’ ideas, and persevering in spite of failures.”
The first competition event is right around the corner. Teams will compete in the Trial Run on February 24 at the Frenship High School Ninth Grade Center.