Robotics team leads the way

HILLSDALE — Robot Commander, FIRST Robotics Team 4568, is taking the mission of FIRST’s founder, Dean Kamen, to heart.

Robot Commander is the North Adams-Jerome robotics team, which earned the Top Rookie Award, the Rookie All-stars Award and were finalists at districts this past spring.

Chris Voisin, mentor of Robot Commander, said the team has taken heed to Kamen’s mission of becoming technology leaders by attaining goals. Kamen’s mission is “to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.”

In doing so, Voisin said Robot Commander approached the Hillsdale County Community Foundation about expanding robotics within Hillsdale County.

“The Hillsdale County Community Foundation came through with a $17,000 grant for such an expansion, easing the fundraising burden on Robot Commander during this daunting task of expanding robotics within the county,” Voisin said.

During the fall of 2014, Robot Commander will be working with the Camden-Frontier High School and the Jonesville High School (Phil MacDowell, co-owner of Cobra Motor Sports) to make sure students know about the opportunities that await them by becoming involved in FIRST Robotics at their local school, Voisin added.

“This would help students learn from professional engineers, build and compete with a robot of their own design, learn and use sophisticated software and hardware and compete in alliances and tournaments, possibly earning a place in the World Championship along with opening the doors of students to over $19 million in scholarship money,” Voisin said.

The Robot Commander team would like to thank their past year sponsors: Frank Beck Chevrolet, South Central Michigan Works, LoMar Machine and Tool, Allied Chucker and Engineering, North Adams Lions Club, North Adams-Jerome Alumni Association and North Adams-Jerome Public Schools, for giving students the opportunity to be involved in FIRST Robotics.

“They (the robotics team) would also like to thank the Hillsdale County Community Foundation for their generous gift to expand this opportunity to more students of Hillsdale County,” Voisin said.

HCCF executive director Sharon Bisher said the grant is ideal because it takes an after school program and shares its success with others.

“It allows students to learn the stem curriculum in an after school program,” Bisher said. “And, they are willing to share the knowledge with other schools in the county.”