DALTON, GA (WDEF) – Creating a working robot requires a strong understanding of mathematics and mechanical engineering. Teams of local teenagers recently showed what the machines could do at the GeorgiaFIRST Robotics competition. We visit the Dalton Convention Center for tonight’s “What’s Right With Our Schools.”
“Today is the Dalton First Robotics Competition qualifier. This is one of five qualifiers that we’ll have in the state of Georgia this year, the first one of the year. And uh we’ve got 31 teams from around the state of Georgia who are here today to compete; all the way from South Georgia, East Georgia, all the way here in Dalton. We got four local teams that are competing as well,” Brian Cooksey, President, Board of Directors, Georgia First Robotics, said.
“So, we actually have two teams from South Georgia up here that are newer this this year. We have a a rookie team. This is our team from Bainbridge and we have another one from Grady County right next door. But we come up here because they know how to do it. And they’re very helpful and they the mentorship is phenomenal,” Amy Dock, Brainbridge, Georgia, said.
“This is the first competition these teams have had this year to put their robots on the field. They’ve had about two months from the time we learned about the competition to understand the rules, to design and build a robot from scratch that weighs about 120 lbs and has real technology on it from vision systems to automation systems, uh, autonomous programming, things like that,” Cooksey said.
“So, how does it work?” David Moore, News 12 Chief Photographer asked.
“We’ve had local teams here in Northwest Georgia for the last 11 years. And uh the four teams we have here this year, we’re very excited about them. We’ve got one from uh the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy, one from Dalton High, one from Adairsville High, and one from North Murray High,” Cooksey continued.
“I’ve learned massive uh communication skills. My freshman year I could not talk to anybody. And this year I not only did a whole uh speech in front of judges, but I’ve also talking more people,” Jessee Jaynes, Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy junior, said.
“So being part of this team, you gain a really good sense of community with the people around you. Um it has a lot of fun opportunities. Uh you… you gain a lot of skill sets, a lot of uh STEM opportunities and you do a lot of outreach and volunteer work,” Lilly Betterton, Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy junior, said.
Cooksey says, “Lots of companies need these kind of skills, not just the technical skills, but the teamwork and all that, the collaboration, the problem solving. So when you have, when you’re given a set of rules in a rule book and you have two months to understand those rules and design a robot to meet those challenges, that’s real world. The robot gets a lot of the attention. So that that’s what draws them in. But they’re also learning business skills. They’re learning communication skills, teamwork skills, all those essential skills that are also important in the workplace.”
“The challenge is we have these 6 in uh very dense foam uh round balls. They’re called fuel. There’s 504 of them on the field at one time,” Cooksey said.
“And you have six robots on the field for every game. And so when they’re when they’re the robots are on the field, you have three working together and three working in another alliance. So three versus three. And they’re trying to have the best strategy to accomplish the the winning result. We’ve got teams from all over the state. We want to make sure they have a great experience. They’re safe. They… they learn a lot, but they also, you know, are here in an environment that supports them. And and we just have a lot of great volunteers and sponsors that make this happen every year. So, thank you to all of them for investing in these young people with their time and talents,” Cooksey says.
