Poly @ FIRST

Saturday, in addition to family duties, I had the great opportunity to visit the Long Beach Arena where our Poly students entered their first robotics completion in the 2010 Los Angeles Regional event of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The FIRST event is co-sponsored by USC College of Engineering and JPL (NASA Jet Propulsion Lab) along with many other science, engineering and technology firms. You knew it was a pretty amazing event when you walked in and safety glasses and lab coats were the “cool” dress for the day – additionally there was huge excitement and people rushing around with their 100+ pound, multi-function robots making corrections and modifications (including software and wireless communications).

Unlike robot competitions of an earlier era, these games required the cooperation of one 3-team multi-high school group to compete against another 3-team of robots in a game resembling a soccer game (along with lots of twists and turns) with amped up music and crowd engagement.

This was the Poly team’s first season and they did well – as there are lots of rules, requirements, and learning that must go into it. Kudos to the team, their teacher, John Gifford, the very supportive parents that were there, and the corporate partners involved. Strong commitment was necessary just to get to this event and compete.

I wish the Poly team well in their endeavors to prepare for next year’s competition along with other high schools that are interested in this exciting competition. If people are concerned about the unemployment figures for the Inland Empire and California in general, I wish that could see the creativity and industry in the room. It makes me believe that there are solutions and great hope with our students and economy.