AMRoC Fab Lab BSides

hey Terry uh we're here at the steam Village can you introduce yourself maybe your team and what you guys do over at amrock Fab labs creative space that has machine shop in back sewing from sewing lab 3D printer lab Electronics lab we have computer labs we have drugs and Robotics programs and with us here at the State Building we have two of our students from our robotics program so we have Jason and Julie's church and representing two of the robotics so you guys look that way and say hi and they can tell you a little bit about what they do but I'll give you the quick run now this is a first robotics competition robot this is a high school level program they build 120 pound robot without and then they compete they're going to Huntsville Alabama next week this is the first challenge robot this is the middle of high school program uh this team went to the state championship a couple a few weeks ago and they wrapped up their season with spring finish they did a great job so they can tell you a little bit more about what they do on the team um and how their seasons have been so far yeah please introduce yourself Jason hello I'm gay I'm gay and so this robot this is our robot from last year's it's broken down a little bit since we used it for this year but last year it used to be a shooter you had to score balls into a high and low goal wow very cool thanks Jace and if you don't mind introducing yourself as well tape in the FTC lead and our job was basically for us to use this cloth to pick up and score cones on a small medium high Junction that's awesome someone's Terry tell me what is this Village all about the steam Village this is experience and I think it's important because in the context of the information technology cyber security and Security Programs that you're doing here this is kind of the foundational space one right and so we work with that we like to say David Gray so used to adults introducing uh science attack engineering and math programs um and having people come here with their kids to the event right it's a Saturday bring their children of course and now you're introducing this foundational level of getting to see older students working on something um so they get to see their stuff they get to move around the room they get to appear you know see about Electronics um you know even even the process of soldering the badges right um that's that's what we do at the Fab Lab and so having the steam Village sort of to me brings it all together at the foundational level and helps people see how you can start with children and they help them see the career paths and the academic Pathways they can take contain their parents and their families are here enjoying it as well that's awesome what else pretty much all Legos of course I'm gonna have to move so of course Electronics but kind of Lego robots and then FTC lead First Tech Challenge that's this robot making medium-sized robots um having challenges like scoring cones onto Junctions and things like that so you're just now getting into really thinking um innovatively and then first robotics challenge that's big robots um this is actually under the size limit so there are robots that are actually bigger than this and that is high school we do have some exceptions built but mainly is high school-based team and I think our youngest members either 12 or 13 at the moment but they're learning they're learning at the foundational level and job on those [Music] days oh yeah but they understand the language they understand the context and they're creating they're reading these things so that they do something getting video feedback it's experiential learning it's informal education and it's for most powerful way and it's basically what's happening here that's awesome this is a great cause I love that people can bring their kids to the conference you know have them learn a little bit about what they do explore um that space so how can people get involved in this incredible organization amarok Fab Labs is there anything we can do well yeah we always need more mentors so our programs discussion over youth programs depend heavily on the expertise of people who are in professional fields to share their knowledge with you then they in turn actually share it down other children right so they were here working with younger students that's the best way to learn so they get experiences from the mentors that we have who are either retired from different fields we have Engineers who work for a simulator a flight simulator company we have electrical engineers we have mechanical engineers we have people who specialize in business development we have programmers right and so the students who are in our programs get to experience and hear from Real World Professionals in real time and how what they're doing is directly relevant to their future right you're going to get older you're going to graduate high school then how you're going to make bank right so you can make bank I got the skills and what's the best way to learn that is from the people who already have those skills and want to share it back because I think we all know as we as the population ages and we have all these fields and we have all these older engineers and older programmers who's going to replace them these are the folks going to replace them and you know so to get involved go to amrocktampabay.com there's a volunteer page on there there's a calendar page you can see all the different things you can do you can jump in anywhere get involved we want to sponsor teams we love it this one doesn't have sponsor panels on it but we have a lot of sponsors work with Lockheed Martin some work soft works with Florida high-tech quarters Raytheon oh okay I thought I saw it on something whoops no that's awesome yes another team not these guys nice but so having from the professional community support the student s do that works for you and at some in some point you'll be working for is really important is our economic ecosystem it builds builds our communities in our future that's so great now I love that we can do engineering business as well as you know giving back it's a walking up the corporate ladder and bringing up the people behind you too we're really grateful to be here being here with you guys we always appreciate being asked to be part of it and we want to keep building the steam Village up uh people acquiring more kids and engaging more adults and supporting these programs besides Elementary School through high school we also have a link that's um college and all other ages up so just because you graduated from high school and you're in college or an adult doesn't mean that you still have which is kind of like a small version of if you've ever seen BattleBots except without the saws on the walls we're a little more safer it's like yes look at those little Sparks nice love that well thanks so much guys for coming um we'll drop the links how you guys can get involved thanks so much