2020-2021 Build Season/Competition Season Update #1

Competition season for Girls of Steel kicked off on January 9th! This year, FRC teams have a choice of three different virtual challenges, INFINITE RECHARGE at Home, Game Design Challenge, and the FIRST Innovation Challenge. The INFINITE RECHARGE at Home challenge engages teams in two ways: teams can compete for judged awards using their 2020/2021 robot and compete in a Skills Competition, a series of challenges for teams who have access to their robot. In the Game Design Challenge, teams design a FIRST Robotics Competition game and present it to judges for the opportunity to inspire future FRC games. Finally, the FIRST Innovation Challenge requires teams to identify a real-world problem related to movement and activity, and innovate a solution. Girls of Steel has split into three groups to tackle every challenge. Here are a few words from every project leader about what their groups are working on.

INFINITE RECHARGE at Home

“For Infinite Recharge at Home, we have been working on two parts: we are working on improving the design of the robot from last year on CAD and working on a presentation about it; and we are working on the “Skill challenges” where we have to use the robot to complete smaller tasks and record it. We haven’t been able to actually meet with the robot, however we have been working on how we will if we get the opportunity to meet in person. ”

Game Design Challenge

“Game Design Challenge team has been working to create an FRC style game that would be fun and engaging for all teams. The game consists of retrieving game pieces from the center of the field and scoring them into goals. After scoring so many game pieces, teams will be able to obtain a “reward” in order to score even more points. Currently, team members are working on CADing the game components in order to create a field CAD, and creating a submission and presentation to accompany their game. Shown below is the CAD of one of the proposed field elements.”

FIRST Innovation Challenge

“This year, Girls of Steel has decided to pursue the Innovation Challenge offered by FIRST. The game challenges teams to invent or improve ways to revolutionize how we exercise and play to achieve our physical and mental health goals. We decided to focus on the accessibility aspect of exercise because we recognize that accessibility can be a major hurdle that deters many from being physically active. We believe that making exercising more accessible can help improve motivation, mental health, and body positivity in a greater number of people. We spoke to a local teacher, who gave us input and advice on our project idea. From there on, we split off into two groups, one for prototyping and one for the pitch and business model. For prototyping, we are currently learning to use microelectronics. For the business model, we have created an executive summary, a business canvas, and we are currently working on our pitch presentation and branding.”