Robotics competition brings hundreds of students to Macon

Georgia high school students carted an assemblage of metal parts, motors and wiring through Mercer University’s Hawkins Arena, a blur of bright T-shirts and smudged safety goggles. Announcements echoed over the speakers as some teams began lining up their robots for a match. 

It was the second day of the FIRST Robotics Competition Peachtree District Championship, held last Friday through Sunday in Macon.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international nonprofit robotics organization designed to foster student interest in STEM through programs for all ages — starting with small LEGO robots and building up to robots that weigh up to 120 pounds.

“It grabs the kids. They’re fascinated,” Carole Myers, lead coach of the Bibb County School District’s Team 9260 Built4Bibb Robotics, said. “Traditional classroom programs don’t do everything that robotics does.”

She helped launch Built4Bibb, Macon’s only FIRST team, after its previous one disbanded during the pandemic. The new team went to the world championship when they first launched in 2023.

Myers, who has a software, coding and systems design background, has been involved in FIRST robotics for most of her 20 years as a teacher. 

As a district team, any Bibb County high schooler can join Built4Bibb, which operates from SOAR Academy on Riverside Drive. 

The program is costly, according to Myers, who said the annual budget — which includes transportation to competitions and build materials — is $30,000. It’s an additional $20,000 if the team makes it to the world championships. 

In a district where students qualify for free and reduced meals, Myers said she tries to make the experience as affordable as possible with minimal financial burden on students.

Despite qualifying for the playoffs at the district championship last weekend, Built4Bibb did not make it to the world championship this year. 

The team, however,  has a lot to look forward to in the coming year, according to Myers, who said robotics classes will be available through Hutchings College and Career Academy for the first time next year. The academy will offer culinary, cyber security and other speciality courses to high schoolers throughout the district.

Built4Bibb will also move into a brand-new build space, a collision center on Eisenhower Parkway donated by Butler Toyota. Myers hopes the new robotics classroom and practice space will allow students with limited transportation to participate on the team.

FIRST robotics’ lasting impact

Over 3.2 million students from more than 110 countries have participated in FIRST programs since the organization’s inception in 1989. 

Community, high school and district teams spend an eight-week “build season” designing, programming and building a robot to compete in a uniquely designed game with objectives and a playing field that changes every year. 

Students can design their robot to move autonomously for certain periods of the match and objectives often involve shooting game pieces at targets and using a mechanism to “climb” or lift the robot off the ground.

“I love meeting people and I just love the atmosphere,” said Built4Bibb team safety captain Connor Darity. “Every event place is different.”

Darity and drive team member Stephen White are both examples of the impact FIRST can make on Georgia’s future STEM industry workers.

Darity, a high school senior, will attend Mercer, pursuing the biomedical field. He hopes to work with prosthetics one day. 

He spent two years on the team doing everything from making team buttons, building robot bumpers and making sure the first aid kit is on hand. He even plans to mentor Built4Bibb once he leaves.

White, also a senior, programmed the robot’s controls. This year’s robot has a swerve drivetrain, meaning all the wheels move independently and in all directions. White was recently accepted to Georgia Tech for mechanical engineering.

Students’ interest in STEM begins earlier than college, according to robotics competition volunteer Jamie Cook, who said seeing students grow each year and become members of the workforce is a full circle experience.

“This is making an investment in the supply chain for tomorrow’s technical workforce,”
he said. “That’s why I do it.”

For this year’s ocean-themed game, REEFSCAPE, students must score points by placing PVC pipes or “coral” on reefs and harvesting “algae” by throwing balls into a suspended net above the field. They end each match by attempting to hang the robot from swinging cages to “ascend to the ocean’s surface.”

Teams begin the season by competing in district qualifier competitions and some advance to the district championship. For the PeachTree District, teams competed at competitions in Gainesville, Dalton, Gwinnett, Statesboro and Albany before heading to Macon for the district championship. Each event is run by dozens of community volunteers, who help with scorekeeping, field reset, announcing, safety and more.

The FIRST robotics season culminates in hundreds of the top teams — from other U.S. cities and places like China, Turkey and Mexico —  traveling to Houston, Texas to compete in the world championship.