On February 8, 2020, Robotics for Youth kicked off 2020 with a showcase of all planned activities and programs for the upcoming year. The event focused on EV3 Hackathon, Drone demo, FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics scrimmage, STEMPowering Girls robotic workshop, Robotics for Youth Education and Innovation booth and the official kickoff of the World Robot Olympiad Qualifier. Over 400 STEM enthusiasts attended the event!

Fourteen teams and a total of 42 kids participated in the very first EV3 Hackathon. This event was wholly designed and carried out by a group of RFY students. The event was highly engaging for on-the-spot programmers. Due to the challenge being in-the-dark, teams were able to compile their best thoughts and implement them into their robot, coming up with creative solutions to the various challenges. This competition was perfect for EV3 enthusiasts who participate or have participated in other competitions and sought out a new programming challenge.

The RFY FTC Teams hosted a very successful scrimmage at the RFY Kickoff Event. The event, primarily hosted by Absolute Zero, lasted 4 hours with a total of 9 teams playing 12 matches, which we were able to host and score on the FTC Scores official page. We had volunteers from Absolute Zero and Gearbox Gators and a field provided by Gearbox Gators. This event was a good opportunity for teams to interact with each other, build relationships, and test their mechanisms in a competition like environment. Not only did the teams get an opportunity to practice with other Virginia teams to prepare for States, but they were also able to conduct outreach with the audience members. 

At the RFY Kickoff event, the RFY Drone team showcased their work from last year’s first ever Drone Competition of its kind in the Virginia, DC, Maryland area. Over 70+ young pilots were able to experience the drone flight, some of them as young as 4 years old. The Drone team was able to create immense interest in the youth about learning Drone technology and participation in various Drone related challenges. RFY 2020 Drone competition will be held in June, 2020 where we are expecting 50+ young teams to participate. 

We had many people interested in learning about STEMPowering Girls and robotics in general. We taught the basics of EV3 Robot programing. We explained to parents the various avenues to pursue robotics either through FIRST or WRO programs. We also provided information about STEMPowering Girls’ upcoming event, the STEMpowering Symposium. We are planning to hold an event that will promote the inclusion of girls in technology. 

If you are interested in learning about RoboticsForYouth, signup at  https://www.roboticsforyouth.org/