Using Drones to teach STEM

[Gardner C]

Team 1648 G3 Robotics is starting its third year running a STEM program for middle students using drones. Check out https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7U...VleGZIaDA/view and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NMy8yHpVYU
We would be interested to know if other FIRST teams would be interested in starting a similar program.

[Arkive]

Hey my team would be open to joining you guys. We have been looking to expand our outreach program for next year.

[Gardner C]

We will contact you after Pechtree

[Collin Stiers]

After watching the videos I have a few questions
1)How much does the program costs for teams that compete, including costs for building the drones and competition related costs
2)What type of expertise or mentorship is required for teams to get going, how hard would it be for an adult with little technical knowledge to run or build a team
3) how are teams and events organized, are teams associated with specific schools, is the program run through a specific school district or county? how did you get enough teams involved to start the competitions?

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by Collin Stiers

After watching the videos I have a few questions
1)How much does the program costs for teams that compete, including costs for building the drones and competition related costs
2)What type of expertise or mentorship is required for teams to get going, how hard would it be for an adult with little technical knowledge to run or build a team
3) how are teams and events organized, are teams associated with specific schools, is the program run through a specific school district or county? how did you get enough teams involved to start the competitions?

These are some questions that crossed my mind as well. I think our team would be more than open to the idea, but we'd definitely need to know more specificities before planning to implement such a program.

[4CSND]

I would like more information.

[Gardner C]

A little background, the G3 Drones for Good Competition originated on the way to the airport from the 2014 Drone Prize competition in Bend Oregon.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLGca_o4Vts

The Drone Team was deeply involved in STEM outreach through our FLL program. After the competition one Drone Team member ask “Why can we use drones technology the same way FLL uses robotics to introduce the excitement of STEM to middle school students”. It sounded like good idea so we did.

The first year we invited several FLL teams who had done well in our FLL competition to our little after season STEM experience. We limited the number to five teams to be manageable. We stressed the technical aspects of drones, the best flying practices (FAA rules and AMA guidelines) and a research project to study how drones could be used for positive purposes their community. We also had students build their own drone out of Kne’x, learn to fly and compete in an exciting flying skills competition. The first G3 Drones for Good competition was a great success and all the teams ask if we could do it next year and invite them back.

For our second G3 DFG competition we wanted to grow it to 20 teams and extend an invitation to some of the underserved area in Atlanta. This dictated that we shift the training from ourselves to coaches and mentors. To do this we developed a training program which covered the theory, how to build and troubleshoot student drones and how to teach flying. We also setup up Saturday morning trouble shooting and flight training sessions at our high school.

As word got out and we were approached by others asking how they could do the same.

For our third year we are looking into developing a package to help other replicate our program. Before we pulled the trigger on this effort we wanted to gauge the level interest, hence this post.

[4CSND]

What kind of drones are you using. How man different frequencies do the drones have?

[Gardner C]

We have two student built drones flying at the same time in an enclosed space at our torment. We use standard 2.4 Ghz frequency hopping RC equipment. Interference is not a problem.

[Gardner C]

We will providing more information on our G3 DFG STEM program and will answer all who have poster to this thread after St. Louis. Stop by G3 Robotics 1648 pit and we will be glad to share our experience with you.

[Coach Norm]

This sounds like a very interesting and exciting activity. I am interested in finding out more information about this program.

Norman

[Gardner C]

Attached is a short video of out G3 Drones for Good program. We hope to have an article out soon.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7U...VleGZIaDA/view.