Team R.P.G. competes in FIRST® Tech Challenge

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Team R.P.G. (Robot Programming Guild), a Tennessee team, recently competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) in Owensboro, Ky. where they won the Rockwell Innovate award for their wheel design.

The FTC is designed for students in grades 7-12 who want to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams of up to 10 students are responsible for designing, building and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams.

The team was able to acquire a robot and compete due to sponsors like AEDC 's STEM Center coordinator Jere Matty.

Mark Ferguson, the team's coach, said the award the team received is only issued to one robot per competition.

"Guidelines for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award Robot or robot sub-assembly must be elegant and unique in its design; the creative component must work reliably; the team must submit an engineering notebook; the robot is stable, robust and controllable; and the robot design is efficient and consistent with team plan and strategy," Ferguson said.

The team's coordinator, Kimberly Ferguson said the team members are from Eagleville High School, Central Magnet School, Friendship Christian School and Volunteer State Community College.

Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition and for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.

AEDC's STEM Center is a sponsor for two FTC teams. For more information about AEDC's STEM Center see this link: www.arnold.af.mil/STEM .