Australian FIRST: recognition for commitment to STEM outreach

For the first time ever, a team from Sydney has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Chairman’s Award at the 2017 FIRST Championship held in Houston, Texas. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the flagship competition of FIRST, a large-scale robotics competition that brings together students and mentors to build robots that perform in a competitive but gracious environment against teams from all over the world.

Thunder Down Under is the first Australian team to win the esteemed Chairman’s Award — the highest honour given at the FRC Championship — recognising the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.

According to Michael Heimlich, a professor at the Department at Engineering at Macquarie University, “This is like Australia winning the America’s Cup all over again! Nobody expected a team outside of North America to win it and we didn’t just win it, according to the judges, the team ‘changed the paradigm’. It is a very exciting achievement.”

The Chairman’s Award is presented according to the contribution of the overall team, not just the robot. It is awarded as a result of what the team has achieved over an extended period of time.

Thunder Down Under created an innovative program for STEM outreach in 200 rural and remote Indigenous communities. This program was adapted for the inner city, also reaching homeless kids. The team’s outreach extended to 12 countries in almost every continent around the world and the impact of their work has been visible and measureable over more than five years.

“The award is just as much attributed to the current team, as it is to the kids that were on the team three to five years ago that also worked to put all this in motion and really lay the foundation. Many of these founding members are now working as engineers, undertaking graduate degrees or working during the day and coming to mentor the kids after hours,” explained Professor Heimlich.

Professor Heimlich has worked with Thunder Down Under since it was established eight years ago. Macquarie University pioneered the FIRST program in Australia approximately 15 years ago.

“The program is now in approximately 7–8% of schools in Australia and to put that in perspective, it’s only in approximately 1–2% of schools in the US. If you use that as a measure of the program, it is really more successful here than what it is in the US,” said Professor Heimlich.

There were a number of obstacles that needed to be overcome to run the FIRST program outside of the US. Being in Australia, distance, foreign exchange and cultural factors with the program starting while students are on summer holidays are all significant challenges that had to be overcome.

“As a valued sponsor of FIRST, Rockwell Automation helped remove one of the major stumbling blocks for running the program in Australia by providing access to parts that are usually only available in the US. They have shown a real passion in working with all kids and set up programs to support kids throughout the age groups,” said Professor Heimlich.

Rockwell Automation is recognised as a FIRST Strategic Partner, which signifies the highest levels of support available at FIRST. It is also a FIRST Robotics Competition Crown Supplier.

Kerryn Sakko, senior application engineer at Rockwell Automation, is responsible for encouraging staff to get involved in the FIRST program locally.

“Our staff enjoy donating their time as team mentors and competition judges, providing mutual benefits to both our volunteers and the participants alike. FIRST is a great initiative and, by getting involved, it gives us the opportunity to help young people foster a lifelong interest in STEM while having lots of fun along the way,” she said.

With a mission to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, there is no doubt that the kids and mentors from Thunder Down Under are role models to other FIRST participants and worthy recipients of the Chairman’s Award.

“Thunder Down Under is a group of kids and mentors who believe in the ideals of FIRST and worked to overcome all the obstacles in their way. It’s a phenomenal story for all of Australia. We decided we were going to do this and we did. If anyone says that Australians can’t innovate, this just proves that they’re wrong,” said Professor Heimlich.