We founded and co-chaired the Raritan Valley Science and Technology Showcase (RVSTS), renamed RoboCon NJ, the most significant outreach event in our team’s history. For this event, our team and five others transformed our local mall to showcase all levels of FIRST robotics and engineering. Tens of thousands of people from the community attend every year. This year, not only did we have Jr. FLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC teams showing off, but we also had combat robotics from the Garden State Combat Robotics League (GSCRL), intricate and large scale LEGO models from the Garden State LEGO® Users Group, and hands on activities for all ages spread all across the mall.
At the event, students from Team 102 lead Robot Driving. This activity gave guests ranging from adults to the youth in the community hands-on experience driving full sized FRC robots with a variety of control schemes and drive bases.
We also developed and implemented a program designed for Girl Scouts to earn their robotics badges. At the event, we successfully welcomed over 100 girl scouts of all ages and abilities from the tri-state area and look forward to continuing this event. It was so successful that we had to offer additional sessions to meet the demand.
Photos courtesy of Bridgewater Commons Mall.
