Chase Field looked a bit different recently, perhaps offering a glimpse into the future as student-built robots roamed the ballpark rather than Diamondbacks players.
The robots were there Thursday to throw and swing their way through the fourth annual Futureshaper Robotics Competition, hosted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Honeywell Aerospace Technologies.
Students from 14 Valley high schools showed off robots they built with VEX V5 starter kits provided by the Diamondbacks organization and Honeywell. In addition to the kits, each school received $500 to support their STEM programs and were assigned a Honeywell engineer who helped guide students through the robot-building process.
A $2,000 grant was on the line for a first-place finish, with the second-place school taking home a $1,500 grant and third receiving $1,000 in grant funds.
The students were presented challenges to meet with their robots, each with a baseball twist. At one station, the robots were tasked with picking up balls at each base and shooting them into a net at home plate.
Another station tested the robots’ ability to hit home runs. The third station required the robots to pitch balls at a target.
The competition was close, and to separate the top three teams organizers had to use a tiebreaker that tallied separate scores from all three events.
“We wanted to make sure each challenge was equally weighted, and so they’re basically getting ranking points,” said Heather Harris, senior regional support manager at Robotics Education.
The top-ranked team gets 16 points, second receives 15 points and so on, she said.
“We didn’t have exactly 16 teams show up today, but we didn’t want to change the scoring against a big old messy spreadsheet,” Harris said.
When the final points were added up, Globe High School took first place, followed by Tonopah Valley High School. Paradise Valley High School finished third. Globe is a small copper mining community located about 90 miles east of Phoenix.
The win for Globe’s team of Jonas Schwenk, Simon Schwenk, Michele Hogan, Nick Enfield, Aiden Alvarez, Alexis Mull, Tatum Baroldy, Dereon Bahlen, Brent Smith, Izabella Anzar and Damon Enfield was a product of hard work, said Ray Baker, a career and technical education teacher at Globe High.
“Today was awesome,” Baker said. “There was so much work that went into it, so many hours and hours of practice and building and iteration stuff like that. So today was just a culmination of all this.
“I think the Diamondbacks and Honeywell just went over and above to make this accessible to the students and to give them something to shoot for. I think they did great, and everything was perfect, from the planning to the organization, to execution. It was just a fabulous day.”
The day wasn’t all about winning. For many, the best part was seeing students from different schools connect and support each other.
“I think one of my favorite things about this competition is the teams interacting with each other,” said Shelby Daniel, community relations and partner programs coordinator for the Diamondbacks.
“This year we have Phoenix Day School for the Deaf and another student knew sign language and just seeing her talk to the other school and then teach the people on her team how to do sign language was cool,” Daniel said.
“Also, last year we had a school who got second place and there was only one kid on the team, and so the first-place team gave him a shirt. Seeing teams come together like that is my favorite part.”
That teamwork was paired with meaningful support, as organizers emphasized the importance of investing in students’ STEM education through funding, mentorship, and hands-on experiences like the Futureshaper event.
“Each team gets $500 to their robotics program at their school, and depending on how they perform today at the competition, they can receive a grant for up to $2,000 depending on first, second and third place,” said Jeremy Byrum, senior communications specialist at Honeywell. “It’s really cool to help shape the future of STEM education, that’s one of the pillars for us at Honeywell Aerospace. We’re happy to do it.”
In addition to the $2,000 first-place grant, as the winning team Globe’s robotics team was invited to attend a Diamondbacks game at Chase Field and were recognized by the club in a pregame ceremony.
Months of building and testing led students to a stage unlike any classroom – a major league field. Whether they left with prize money or new friendships, the competition highlighted how far creativity and teamwork can carry them in STEM.
Be the first to comment