When Jack told me about the documentary that KETC is doing about Robotics, I was interested. But until today I had no idea how interested others are!!!!!!!
In January, KETC/Channel 9, the St. Louis public television station, began production of FIRST Robotics Competition: 2008 (working title), a two-hour documentary scheduled for broadcast nationally on PBS in late 2008 or early 2009. KETC received full funding for the project from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). It is being shot and edited in high definition.
The program will follow the experiences of five groups of high school students from around the country as they engineer, build and operate robots to compete in regional and national FIRST robotics tournaments. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition began in 1992 with 28 teams; today it attracts over 37,000 students on 1,500 teams from eight countries in this “varsity sport of the mind.”
For the national documentary, a KETC production team has been following a group of competitors from Wentzville’s Timberland and Holt high schools; they’ve named themselves Ratchet Rockers. Each team is given six weeks to build their robot from a kit of common parts provided by FIRST. The robots will compete in the St. Louis regional contest to be held February 28–March 1 at the St. Charles Family Arena. The St. Louis regionals will host 43 teams from 12 states; the St. Louis area alone is contributing 14 teams from 29 high schools. Winners will move on to the nationals April 17–19 in Atlanta , Georgia .
Not only will the documentary explore the technical challenges faced by the students, but it will show them negotiating obstacles from daily life, including a lack of funds, personal rivalries, immigration requirements, physical ills and family problems. In addition to the Wentzville team, the documentary will profile an all-girls team from Baltimore ; a team from Idaho headed by a young man with Muscular Dystrophy; a team from a youth corrections facility in Colorado ; and a first generation Chinese student on a team from Seattle who must battle his non-English-speaking parents to let him participate.
“Through our production of FIRST Robotics Competition: 2008, KETC is bringing recognition of our region’s expertise in science and technology to a national audience and at the same time highlighting the Saint Louis Science Center, the competition’s local sponsoring organization, and many community-minded corporate supporters,” said KETC President and CEO Jack Galmiche . “This cooperative effort across so many platforms—educational, cultural, scientific, engineering and technological organizations—demonstrates St. Louis ’ continuing role in innovation, and Channel 9’s role in showing the world that innovative spirit.”
