by Colleen O’Donnell
Dec. 6, 2021
DTE, Ford Motor Company, Magna among corporations scouting future engineers, developers and project managers as Detroit middle schoolers compete for scholarships and the chance to move on to the statewide competition in the 2021-2022 FIRST in Michigan / FIRST Tech Challenge Middle School Robotics State Championships.
Kids and robots are back together again – in person, after the pandemic hiatus, as Detroit welcomed 19 teams, the most ever for the city, to the Detroit qualifier event for the FIRST in Michigan Robotics State Championships, Saturday, Dec. 4 at Southeastern High School in Detroit.
Amid the buzz of motors on the competition floor the kids’ enthusiasm is contagious (even through masks, which are required on the premises). Yet, amidst all the fun the kids are having, for the corporate sponsors it’s also serious business.
Here’s a look at some of the action in the alliance competition rounds and in the pits:
FIRST, an international organization, which according to its website is “a global robotics community, preparing young people for the future,” has a who’s who list of corporate sponsors from the automotive, energy, defense and other high tech industries. This season’s challenge, called Freight Frenzy is presented by Raytheon, and involves creating a “cargo-delivering robot to traverse rough terrain.”
DTE and Ford Motor Company are among the local sponsors that also have a presence onsite at the Detroit qualifier event. University of Detroit – Mercy and Eastern Michigan University also have staff here, watching and engaging with students and mentors.
Though few of these middle schoolers are thinking about the future and career opportunities yet, companies looking to cultivate homegrown talent are thinking about them.
Many of the judges are also scouts, and according to competition judge and former mentor Matthew Tomai, a battery engineer in the Electrification Group at Ford Motor Company, scouts from his organization often follow the trajectory of young FIRST robotics competitors from as early as high school or even middle school forward to identify and monitor talented students.
The broad set of marketable technology skills these young people are exposed to while working with FIRST includes programming, project management, coding, engineering, product design, and troubleshooting. The Motor City Alliance, the hosting organization for the FIRST Detroit qualifier event, was formed in 2019 to help ensure that Detroit kids have the same opportunities as their peers in Metro Detroit suburbs — to build robots that can win, and to gain the valuable extra-curricular qualifications that can help them get ahead in college and careers.
Like many parents, FIRST Robotics coach and co-founder of Motor City Alliance, Leon Pryor, a senior technical program manager at Amazon.com in Detroit, initially got involved to help his kid. After his son, also named Leon, hit some snags in his elementary school LEGO® robotics competition five years ago, Pryor promised him that together they would start experiencing victories. That commitment started paying off immediately when they qualified for the state competition the following year. Now this year in the 2021-22 season their. team came in first place in the Detroit qualifier.
“My son is my primary programmer for my team – and he’s 13,” said Pryor. “He’s programming our robot in Java. He’s using computer vision, which means he’s programmed our robot to use a camera to recognize the world around it and make decisions based on confidence levels and statistics. This is a core component of autonomous cars. He’s been using sensors, he’s doing multithreading. He’s doing college and professional level work at age 13. In terms of his resume, that puts him in a fantastic place.”
In this interview clip, recorded the week before the Detroit qualifier competition, Pryor shares how his connection with the superhero Iron Man guides his coaching approach with the kids on his FIRST team #14010 Techno Phoenix:
Beyond the sought-after STEM skillset, kids are also acquiring experiences that could serve them well in any career, said Janelle Moore, FIRST robotics team mentor, co-founder of Motor City Alliance, and volunteer coordinator at the Detroit qualifier event. “Solving a problem in a short amount of time with limited resources, teamwork, presenting their ideas and designs, analyzing game strategy, and thinking on their feet under pressure,” said Moore. But for the corporate sponsors and scouts, “the No. 1 technical skill is coding and debugging a problem, whether it’s hardware or software,” added Moore.
International automotive supplier Magna has sponsored FIRST since 2001, when they helped found the #503 Frog Force team at Novi High School.
“We strongly believe that we need to do our part in educating and supporting the next generation, for them to be properly prepared to enter the workforce and to have awareness of opportunities that exist,” said Heather Beach, Senior Talent Attraction & Employer Branding Specialist for the Americas at Magna.
Those opportunities include what Beach anticipates as jobs of the future: “As the industry continues to shift to autonomous vehicles, connectivity, and electrification, we will need more coders, electrical engineers, ADAS engineers, and industrial automation. The biggest emphasis being on software/digital skills and ‘soft’ skills.”
According to Crystal Whetzell, Global Marketing Intelligence Manager based in Magna’s Novi office, the company is not only looking to fill jobs of the future, but also jobs of the present, with current openings for engineers, skilled trades, interns and management among their locations in 27 countries globally.
“For Magna, the motivation to work with FIRST included the opportunity to become more involved within the community and mentor students into becoming our future innovators,” said Whetzell.
Sponsors, coaches and community partners weigh in here in this behind-the-scenes video about how impressed they are by what these middle school kids have accomplished:
In its 2021-22 season launch video, FIRST credits national corporate sponsor Qualcomm with: “Helping build the pipeline of STEM leaders who will drive the ‘Invention Age.’” Looking around the pit areas where students are busily troubleshooting their robots for the next stage of qualifying matches, it looks like the future is in good hands. Meanwhile, Pryor is looking to duplicate his team’s success by recruiting more coaches like himself, who have a technology, engineering or project management background.
This year by the end of the Detroit qualifier competition, Pryor and his son’s team #14010 Techno Phoenix placed No. 1.. For more details on how the other Metro Detroit teams placed, The Orange Alliance tracks team rankings in the Detroit qualifier match and other FIRST competitions.
Want to get your kid involved in robotics? Here’s a map of the Motor. City Alliance founding teams:
New Media Portfolio | Colleen O'Donnell 