Robots in Robins: Local groups help students explore STEM field

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – The Fort Valley State University Chevron Fab Lab in Warner Robins Center was the mainframe for the Robotics Boot Camp on Monday and Tuesday.

High School Robotics teams from Bibb and Houston County joined together to participate in the two-day camp, preparing for an upcoming robotics competition during the fall and winter.

According to organizer Scott Cox, students learned about coding, programming, working on Autodesk, a computer program, and drafting robots in a three-dimensional model.

“It’s very highly technical and yet a lot of fun for STEM,” said Scott.

According to Debra Cox, co-organizer, about 30 people, including students, mentors and robotics team coaches were involved in both sessions. Interns in the STEM field were also present at the camp to share their experience to students.

Scott said students not only built a robot, but presented it to judges and sponsors on the second day. Students learned how to improve their communication skills by practicing an elevator speech, which Debra explained is a 30-second speech that involves the student introducing themselves and summarizing key points.

Overall, the camp was held to introduce kids to the STEM field and improve their soft and technical skills. Scott said it is like a football team training in the summer for upcoming games in fall and winter.

“What we’re doing is doing that piece of it with them and trying to help. If we have some new students that are coming in or freshmen, trying to get them on track and team build, so they know who the team is, so that when they go in the competition they know each other and it’s a team. It’s not just thrown together at the end,” said Scott.

Scott and Debra got involved two years ago, and their jobs brought them to mentor the next generation of the workforce.

Scott said one of his wife’s coworkers at 21st Century Partnership informed them about the boot camp. According to Debra, the company has a partnership with Robins Air Force Base and together they are partnered with the Middle Georgia STEM Alliance, a group that supports local robotics teams and builds up the workforce.

Scott, who works at Georgia Power, added that the company also wants to help build up the STEM field, which led to the perfect opportunity to mentor local students.

The duo has experience of mentoring, since they are also involved in Perry Youth Leadership; they were eager to teach another group how to become leaders in their community.

“We’re actually teaching those soft skills and how to recruit, branding and marketing, how to make yourself better to compete, and giving them some different resources that maybe they haven’t thought about, and doing some breakout sessions that allows them to get their brains flowing and be more creative in their thought process,” said Debra.

In the future, Scott and Debra plan to make this camp a series for more kids to be involved in STEM related careers.

“We want these students to extend what they know to the lower grades so that we continue the STEM pipeline and get other kids interested in STEM education,” said Scott.

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