Presented by: Alexus Garcia Battle for ‘Bots in Merced High Schools Source: Battle Bots

Outline  Personal Experience  What is FIRST ® Robotics?  What Makes Robotics Special?  Outcome of FIRST ®  Lack of Robotics In Merced High Schools  The Benefits of Implementing Robotics in Merced  Feasibility of Robotics in Merced  Where Will Money come from?  Joint Teams  Future of Merced Robotics

Personal Experience  Name: Alexus “Lexii” Garcia Computer Science & Engineering Major at UC Merced  Member of FIRST ® since 2012  Former Team Captain – Team 2761 Source: Clovis North

So… What is FIRST ® ? F OR I NSPIRATION AND R ECOGNITION OF S CIENCE AND T ECHNOLOGY  FIRST ® is a non-profit organization that provides: 1. A competitive sport 2. A life experience 3. Opportunity  While enhancing the local community Source: Duncan

What Makes Robotics Special?  FIRST ® inspires while involving: Mathematics Science Writing & public speaking Business & Finance Computer Science Fabrication Teamwork & community outreach Source: Clovis North

Outcome Brandeis University Study “More Than Robots” (Funded by Ford Foundation) Compared to their matched peers, FIRST ® Alumni are: ✔ Significantly more likely to attend college. ✔ 3x more likely to major in engineering. ✔ 4x more likely to pursue a career in Engineering. ✔ 2.5x more likely to volunteer in the community. ✔ Female FIRST Alumni are 4x (400%) more likely to pursue Technology and Engineering majors in college. ✔ Minority FIRST Alumni are 2x (200%) more likely to pursue Technology and Engineering majors in college.

Why don’t Merced High Schools Have Robotics Already?  Typical costs range from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars annually for successful teams (Clovis North)  Merced School District may not have enough funding to accommodate this large amount of money

Benefits of Merced Robotics  Students experience real world problem solving, time management and responsibilities  Robotics teams create a family  Merced High Schools should utilize local and corporate sponsors along with joint teams to relieve financial expenditures on individual high schools.

Merced High School Robotics is Feasible  Local and corporate sponsors can relieve financial pressure on school districts  Joint high school teams can also minimize costs per school Source: Clovis North

Local and Corporate Sponsors  Local sponsors and corporate businesses Tax-write offs enable businesses to donate easier Grants are available  Teams typically promote their sponsors Close relations can create a network of contacts Source: Clovis North

Joint School Teams  Merced High Schools can form joint teams Less costs per school More student involvement Closer community within Merced Less competition for sponsors Source: Gong

Future of Merced Robotics  A couple of high schools in Merced want to start a team  Currently searching for UCM students to help mentor  Merced has local business that could assist in funding  Joint teams have proven successful  Robotics may help the community and students involved

Works Cited Gong, Garry. "Let's Talk Robots!" Telephone interview. 03 Apr Clovis North. "IronHorse Robotics." Telephone interview. 2 Apr Buchanan. "BirdBrain Robotics." Telephone interview. 2 Apr Duncan Polytechnic High School. "Duncan Dynamics Robotics." Telephone interview. 2 Apr More than Robots: an evaluation of the Robotics Competition (April 2015): n. page. Brandeis University. FORD. Web. "USFIRST.org." FRC RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr "BattleBots Is Back, But Fighting Robots Never Went Away – Make:." Make. 24 Feb Web. 25 Apr