At what point did current UW–Madison College of Engineering students decide they wanted to major in engineering in college? What convinced them to take on the challenging course of study? From as young as nine to as old as eighteen years of age, Madison area youth are getting a taste of what being a real engineer is like through the BadgerB.O.T.S (Building on Talented Students) program.
Epsilon is a BadgerB.O.T.S robot designed from 2004. Each season,the robot designs must perform different tasks in competition.
Photo Credit: Adam DirczBadgerB.O.T.S was founded in 2003 on the principles of promoting science, technology and entrepreneurship to students by Ben Senson, a Madison School District science and technology faculty member. First competing in the 2004 season, the program has come a long way in its seven years.
The BadgerB.O.T.S program competes with numerous teams at the state, regional and world levels each season through the FIRST® organization. FIRST® is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1992 by the inventor of the Segway, Dean Kamen. Since its creation about 20 years ago, FIRST® has grown from just 28 teams, to over 250,000 participants and 90,000 mentors in 56 different countries.
Beginning with only the FIRST® Robotics Challenge (FRC) team for students in grades nine through twelve, BadgerB.O.T.S has grown to provide programs for kids from as young as second grad all the way to the high school level. Many of the FRC team members enjoy mentoring the younger age groups such as the Minor League Teams for students in grades two and three, the FIRST® LEGO League (FLL) for students in grades four through eight and the FIRST® Tech Challenge for students ages 14 to 18. “Many of the members on the FRC team came in through the LEGO league and they enjoy giving back to the program since it meant so much to them,” the director of BadgerB.O.T.S, Ben Senson, says.
In addition to high school FRC team members mentoring the younger LEGO League members, many UW-Madison students lend a helping hand to the program as well. Within BadgerB.O.T.S, “college students mentor the participants and act as connections to the next level,” Senson says. Whether you have technical expertise in programming, graphic arts, web design, mechanical design, logistics, etc., you will come in handy on any of the BadgerB.O.T.S. teams. “We need every talent one would need to run a successful small business, in one shape or form,” Senson says.
Having many connections to large corporations including General Electric (GE), Plexus, Oshkosh Corp., Rockwell and Microsoft, involving yourself as a mentor with the BadgerB.O.T.S. program and so being able to mention the world-respected FIRST® organization during an interview may be the best way to land your dream job.
The Wisconsin Regional Director of FIRST®, Maggie Rossiter Peterman, emphasizes how wonderful and beneficial involvement with the FIRST® program can be. “When corporations see the FIRST® on a college students resume, that resume goes to the top of the pile. Mentoring with our program shows long term persistence, diligence and passion for what you do” says Rossiter Peterman. Originally becoming involved with FIRST® by writing an article on the organization, the free-lance writer fell in love with it, became involved, and is now the Regional Director for Wisconsin.
During the course of the season, students involved with BadgerB.O.T.S achieve many difficult goals. For example, each year members of the Lego League are given a new project in which they must brainstorm, design and create an automated Lego robot. Similar to the assignments, projects and personal ambitions of many UW-Madison College of Engineering students, members of the BadgerB.O.T.S Lego League are looking for solutions to real world issues. The LEGO League kids have to research the international problem assigned to them and present it back to the group. “The kids realize they are doing the same exact thing their college mentors have to do at the University level for school and research, and that is fun for them,” Senson says.
For this year’s competition, members of FIRST® LEGO League were assigned to a challenge called ‘Food Factor’ which consists of finding solutions to the issue of quality food affecting many parts of the world. Taking problems like exposure to insects and creatures, unsterile processing and transportation, and unsanitary preparation and storage into account, the task given to the fourth through eighth grade members of the Lego League has involved great amounts of in-depth brainstorming and research.
After the team is finished brainstorming and researching, they design, build and test their Lego robot to complete the given missions. While the children’s favorite part of the Lego League program is having fun and building cool robots, they start to develop skills needed to be a successful engineer at the same time. Building the Lego robots encourages Madison’s youngest Badgers to think analytically by experimentally finding solutions to complex problems, just like real engineers and scientists. In addition, the personal satisfaction after creating a successful final robot helps the young LEGO League members gain self-esteem and confidence in themselves and their ability to positively contribute to society.
A bit more strenuous than the FIRST® LEGO League, the FIRST® Robotics Challenge (FRC) gives high school students a larger glimpse into whether or not a career in engineering is for them. Meeting once a week in the fall for company tours and safety lessons, the team really goes into high gear around January after NASA announces the challenge for the upcoming season. The FRC members pile into a bus, drive to Milwaukee and watch the announcement of the challenge for the upcoming season on big screen televisions with hundreds of other people from many different teams in the room. “As an engineering person, your mind will be thinking ‘are you kidding me?’ because the challenges given to these high school students are always off the charts,” Ben Senson says.
Whether it is putting gym balls through hoops, throwing racket balls at targets, or sending bowling balls down ramps in order to complete the challenges, the team of high school students amaze many by designing, building, testing and shipping their final robots in just six short weeks. “Sometimes the kids meet four, five, or even six times a week to get the projects done,” Donna Bambrough says. Donna is a dedicated volunteer of the FRC team and is also a large advocate of involving more college students in mentoring opportunities with the BadgerB.O.T.S program.
Come competition time, the students once again voyage to Milwaukee for the regional tournament. Junior FRC member Ryan remembers his first experience at regionals, “walking into the Cellular Center was absolutely amazing. Seeing all the different teams set up, looking at how they made their robots, the designs we hadn’t thought of that we could have built-it was amazing,” Ryan says.
Ryan is considering majoring in mechanical engineering and is having a blast making designs on the CAD program Inventor and working on the 3-axis mill the BadgerB.O.T.S recently purchased. Maddi, who loves FRC as much as the next team member, has come to realize a major in engineering is not for her. “A common misperception is that we really push science and technology, but we celebrate just as much when a kid decides that is not what they want to do and decides to go a different track. That is a great thing for them to realize before they go to college,” Ben Senson says.
Although some team members enjoy the engineering aspect of BadgerB.O.T.S more than others, there are plenty of tasks not as directly linked to the robot which are just as important for a successful FRC competition season. “I mostly work with marketing and PR. I don’t touch the robot, I am afraid I would ruin it,” Maddi says, while laughing.
Whether it is with technology or business, the FRC team members are becoming prepared for college through all the designing, machining, programming, team work, financial balancing and marketing experience they are gaining. In addition to all the academic benefits, it is evident the BadgerB.O.T.S program truly prepares the young adults for college as 11th grade FRC member, Maddi, comments on her experience. “It gets to be a huge adrenaline rush preparing for regionals. Everyone is running on very little sleep, a lot of stress and a lot of sugar, but the energy on the team is amazing,” Maddi says.
BadgerB.O.T.S. director Ben Senson is very optimistic this season, whether it is with the second and third graders who present their robots to their parents at an end of the season celebration, or the LEGO League and high school FRC teams who both have good shots of going to the world championships.
Despite the positive outlook for all the BadgerB.O.T.S teams in the upcoming competitions, the season does not always run as smoothly as the students, mentors, and volunteers would like. Some of the major hurdles the teams face every season include finances and location. The BadgerB.O.T.S are continuously seeking corporate sponsors to help make it over these hurdles.
For starters, the cost of just the FRC season ranges from $13,000 to as high as $25,000 if the team qualifies for the world championship. The BadgerB.O.T.S receive a very tiny portion of their financial support from school districts since it is a Dane County organization and not affiliated with any school. In addition, a major goal of BadgerB.O.T.S is to allow any Dane County student to participate, even if they cannot afford to pay the dues required of regular members. “About eight to ten percent of our team is on fee waivers at any given time. This ranges from partial to complete financial support. We don’t want the financial part to be a barrier for anyone’s participation,” Senson says.
An even more difficult challenge for BadgerB.O.T.S has been finding a home. “One season we literally moved 5 times, we didn’t get a whole lot accomplished that season” Donna Bambrough says. In early October, BadgerB.O.T.S found out their current corporate sponsored building location will no longer be available come April. This means Ben Senson and his dedicated volunteers are once again looking for a new corporation who will be able to lend a bit of unused space for the BadgerB.O.T.S teams to build their robots. The group is really hoping not only for a new home, but a new home which is more permanent than previous ones.
Despite the challenges facing BadgerB.O.T.S, the team always has great fun whether it is wearing their N.E.R.D (Never Ending Research and Design) shirts, eating snacks provided at meetings, machining on the new CNC mill or helping the younger students build robots. Students likeRyan and Maddi may even be joining some of FRC alumni at universities such as UW-Madison, MIT and Cornell some day. “These kids are so bright it’s ridiculous. Come out and see our competitions, we’ll have you as a mentor any time,” Ben Senson says.