1/12/14: FIRST Block Party FTC Qualifier

I had the joy of being a judge at the latest FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge Qualifier at Andover HS.  My company PTC sponsors the FIRST to inspire the Engineers of the Future.  This is a competition for students to build a robot and compete in many categories.  You can see previous games in my past posts here.  My son loves robots and when I brought him in to the PTC Family Picnic he loved controlling the robots.  Evan and Lauren were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the teams practicing in the pits with having a Mom as a judge. 

As the judges we could award teams for Innovation of Design, Design aspects, Motivation, Connection with the community, Think - for their Engineering Notebook, and Inspire as a combination award of who placed highly and did well in matches.  Here were our judging volunteers.

 

The competition started with opening ceremonies with a very excited crowd of students and family ready to see their team compete.  It felt like a sporting event and the enthusiasm was infectious.

 We had some front row seats right next to the ring to see the robots in action.

Vision for FIRST: "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." - Dean Kamen, Founder  

This year's competition was called Block Party.  The full game description is here but the highlights are that teams need to put blocks in to containers with end game points at the end if the robot can hang from a bar and make a flag go up.  

 Here you can see a couple hanging which was really cool to watch.

The first 30 seconds is done autonomously and then the last 2 minutes is done by controlling the robots.  There is also extra points for lifting up another robot.

I was on the team of 3 judges to go in to the pits and interview each of the teams and see their robots up close.  It was so nice to see so many young people with a true excitement for the engineering design process.  

It was also wonderful seeing so many women involved.  Being one of 3 women in my Aerospace Engineering classes I knew what it was like being in the minority in an Engineering field.  The skills these students are learning at such a young age are phenomenal.

Many of the teams were sponsored by PTC.  I have been with PTC for over 15 years so this is always exciting for me to see our logo proudly displayed. 

I loved seeing the enthusiasm for the game.  Seeing the teams with matching team shirts and hearing shouts from the crowd for their school's team was so fun.    There were so many extraordinary teams and it was so hard to decide who should win.  

PTC is a Strategic Partner of FIRST and provides donated software and nearly a million dollars of funding in support of the program.  They donate the most advanced CAD (Creo) and Collaboration (Windchill) software to all FTC and FRC teams.  Here is a video that PTC put together around FIRST.

I hope my little ones are inspired to become the engineers of the future and get involved with FIRST.

Find them online:  http://www.usfirst.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/FIRST-For-Inspiration-and-Recognition-of-Science-and-Technology/184063051616518

Twitter:  @firstweets

Disclosure:  No compensation was received for judging, this is an activity I volunteer at as I think it is a wonderful endeavor.

8/2/13: Family Day at PTC

I have been working for PTC for 15 years.  PTC is a software company that started out making Computer Aided Design software called Pro/ENGINEER but has grown in to enterprise software over the years. I work there as a Project Manager.  I was lucky to be able to bring my kids and parents in for Family Day for them to get to check out where I work and have some fun.

 Here is a picture of one of the buildings in our campus.  We have three buildings with a pond behind which is lovely to go running or walking around.

First, we headed over to the area that had all of the FIRST robots.  I judge FTC competitions so it was nice for the kids to see some of the robots that are built for competitions.

 I have been judging for the last three years and I can't wait until my kids can get involved in FLL FIRST Lego League.

 I couldn't get Evan to leave this area.  He must have got the engineering gene from my husband and I as I went to WPI for Aerospace Engineering and John went to WPI for software engineering.

 Checking out Jr. FLL.

 John Deere also had a tractor there that was designed using our software for the kids to climb in.  So many companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, car companies and more use our products to design and control their data.

 John Deere is a huge supporter of PTC and have used our software for years.  There was a super cool demo in our 3D theater which showed virtual reality working with a tractor assembly.

 Here you can see the full tractor.

A highlight of the day was that the kids got to get a badge of their own.  Here is Lauren getting ready to get her picture taken for hers.

 Then we walked around the office and the kids got to see where I spend my time when I am at work.

 They got to draw on my white board and check out all the pictures I have of them in my office.

They even got to pose for silly pictures.

 Lauren liked the boa.

 Oh no Lauren is in jail.  A little cardboard jail.

 Evan too!

 They did an excellent job providing lots of fun for the kids including a scavenger hunt, balloon animals, lunch provided by the Outback, and interactive exhibits.  Of course now my kids think I ride around on a tractor and drive robots around at work and can't wait to come back.  Here is a picture from up in the building of our campus.

 What a wonderful day.  I am so glad I was able to share it with my family!  Thanks PTC for 15 years and hope to see another 15.  You have already given me lots of great memories.

I miss my Pro/INTRALINK Support Team.  We rocked!

1/27/13: FIRST Ring It Up FTC Qualifier in North Andover

My company PTC sponsors the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge to inspire the Engineers of the Future.  I have been lucky enough to be a judge three years in a row at the competition.  This is a competition for students to build a robot and compete with it in the ring and in many other categories.  The teams can win awards for Innovation of Design, Design aspects, Motivation, Connection with the community, Think - for their Engineering Notebook, and Inspire as a combination award of who placed highly and did well in matches. 

Vision for FIRST: "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." - Dean Kamen, Founder  
Here I am at the Opening Ceremonies speaking on behalf of PTC.

This year's competition was called Ring It Up.  The full game description is here but the highlights are that teams need to put rings on pegs with their robot.  The first 30 seconds is done autonomously and then the last 2 minutes is done by controlling the robots.  There is also extra points for lifting up another robot.

It was so nice to see so many young people with a true excitement for the engineering design process.  It was also wonderful seeing so many women involved.  Being one of 3 women in my Aerospace Engineering classes I knew what it was like being in the minority in an Engineering field.  The skills these students are learning at such a young age are phenomenal.

Here you can see the PTC logo on one of the robots.  I have been with PTC for over 14 years so this is always exciting for me to see our logo proudly displayed. 

I loved seeing the enthusiasm for the game.  Seeing the teams with matching team shirts and hearing shouts from the crowd for their school's team was so fun. 

Here is an example of game play.

An attempt at trying to lift one of the robots for extra points. 

  PTC is a Strategic Partner of FIRST and provides donated software and nearly a million dollars of funding in support of the program.  They donate the most advanced CAD (Creo) and Collaboration (Windchill) software to all FTC and FRC teams.  Here is a video that PTC put together around FIRST that I showed during my presentation.

I hope all of the teams had fun today, I know I did.  Get involved if your local school has a FIRST team, or better yet, start one up and join in the fun.

1/14/12: FTC Bowled Over Robotics Competition

My company PTC sponsors the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge so I was able to participate for the last two years as a judge. This is a competition for High School students to build a robot and compete with it in the ring and in many other categories which I as a judge interviewed and judged them on. These included Innovation of Design, Design aspects, Motivation, Connection with the community, Think - for their Engineering Notebook, and Inspire as a combination award of who placed highly and did well in matches. Here is one team that had a lot of support from PTC.  I found out later they made it through the qualifier. 

Vision for FIRST: "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." - Dean Kamen, Founder
This year's competition was called Bowled Over. 

It was so nice to see so many young people interested in science and engineering. It is great we have something like this for young people. Many of the groups we spoke to were very inspiring and were very impressive individuals. I know it must have been intimidating to have a panel of 3 judges asking them questions, but the enthusiasm for their robots showed through. And for me it was nice seeing some young ladies involved also. Being one of 3 women in my Aerospace Engineering classes I knew what it was like being in the minority in an Engineering field.

Another PTC Logo.

Another cool robot by the team from Lexington - 2 Bits and a Byte who received the overall Inspire award, and I found out after won the whole competition.

Robots during competition getting caught up.

Also one of the High Schools in our town competed called Shawsheen Technical HS.  I talked to their coach and they were having a tough day competing.  Here they are tipped over.  So heartbreaking when you know how much work they put in to compete.

 I hope all of the teams had fun today, I know I did.