The battles are intense. Thousands of students decked in team colors cheer in the stands. On the field, metal machines engage in epic competition. There is truly nothing like it.
This scene is ripped from FIRST® Robotics competitions, where high school students from around the world create robots that can play a game—from football to 2018’s arcade games come to life. Every year, Kohler associates in Wisconsin mentor teams from local high schools.
“It’s more than building a robot,” said Kohler Staff Engineer Awadhesh Thakur, who has volunteered a team mentor. “These students not only gain real-world science and engineering experience, but build a network of industry professionals to help them navigate their future careers.”
Students learn to create budgets, build marketing and sales plans, and gain sponsors, in addition to learning science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. Our associates help them along the way—hopefully all the way to the battleground finale.
Across the ocean at the Kohler Engines facility in Reggio Emilia, Italy, young minds build structures of LEGO® pieces brick by brick, that attempt to solve one of the world's toughest challenges: how we find, transport, use or dispose of the world's water. Quite a big order for teams of 9- to 16-year-olds.
As part of northeastern Italy’s regional FIRST LEGO League finals, 30 teams of students tackled hydrodynamics. It was the second year Kohler hosted and sponsored this two-day national STEM event.
Kohler application engineer Federico Baldisserri, served as a mentor for one Kohler-hosted competition. ”It's a great opportunity for the students, not only from a technical point of view, but also because they have to work as a team, present their projects and their robots in front of technical juries, they have to organize themselves, respect timetables, deal with different problems and fulfill their responsibilities. I think that at their young age, all of this is very useful.”
Maybe in a few years, we’ll see these very same kids inventing the next KOHLER® product!