Engineering students find community in the chaos of FIRST Robotics

Seven high school and four collegiate teams maneuvered their robots to pick up algae and coral from the floor of a "reefscape" in the Shape Corp. Innovation Design Center (IDC). A successful move led a teammate to shoot the algae — a green exercise ball — into a net, "the barge," for points.

The February 15 event was the culmination of a Robot in 3 Days (Ri3D) competition for the college teams and a step on the road to FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics district competition for the high school teams. 

The competition was organized by FANGV Robotics, Grand Valley students who participated in FIRST Robotics while in middle or high school and now mentor teams as alumni and volunteer at area FIRST events.

For Avery Schuen, the opportunity to continue with FIRST as a Laker means she can give back and advance her robotics skills.

"When I was in high school, our robotics team at one point was me and my coach," said Schuen, president of FANGV and a third-year engineering student. "It's because of robotics I wanted to major in engineering."

The event brought teams from Michigan Tech, Penn State and the University of Michigan with their own Ri3D builds. Like the FANGV team, those students built robots after learning about the required specifications at the January 5 kickoff to the 2025 FIRST Robotics competition. 

FANGV hosted a kickoff watch party at the IDC for area robotics teams then, after the crowd left, got down to business to build what would become "KRAB-E."

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Darren Fife, a computer science major and computer engineering minor, said the team quickly read the rules and decided the most important components needed to score points during competitions.

"We built an elevator for the first time," said Fife, from Stevensville. "We spent the night in the building, it was a great bonding experience."

In 72 hours, FANGV built a four-wheel robot with a swerve drive (two motors per wheel) and elevator, which was needed to lift PVC pipes (the coral) onto fabricated metal poles bent to resemble ocean algae.

Ryan Aldridge is the operations manager at the IDC and often attends FANGV meetings. He said their build was impressive. "The high schools that compete in FIRST have four to six weeks to finish their robots; this team did it in three days," he said.

The IDC was intentionally designed to have enough space for a FIRST practice field, which area high school robotics teams can reserve. 

Tricia Figuera, head coach of the Potter's House team, "Tactical Hams," said it's especially great for new students. "We can come and see what the competition looks like before the big event and use the field," Figuera said. 

FANGV members are mentors to the Potter's House team, traveling to the Wyoming school to help with coding or building swerve drives.

Graduate student Logan Weisner said he got involved in FIRST as an eighth grader after a family friend took him and his father to the Fieldhouse on the Allendale Campus to watch the West Michigan district tournament. This year's tournament is March 20-22 and around 40 teams are expected to compete.

"After watching what it was like, I joined the Holland/Black River team and I got to work with computer-aided design," said Weisner, who earned an engineering degree and is now pursuing a master's of business administration degree. "Later, I joined the design team and was the building captain.

"When I got to Grand Valley, I was hoping there was an alumni team."

Abishek Balsamy-Kamaraj, assistant professor of engineering, is in his first year as the FANGV faculty advisor. It didn't take him long to learn about the FIRST community.

"The Grand Valley students would have received this similar mentorship and now they want to give back," Balsamy-Kamaraj said. "They've also learned more skills and are ready to handle a bigger challenge like a three-day build."