On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Fluor employees C.J. Salvadore and Kyle McGarrity joined Harney Elementary robotics teams in Lebanon, Indiana to strategize, design and test robots for an upcoming regional robotics competition.
The event was arranged by Harney STEM teacher and Robotics instructor Matt Farrell. Harney Elementary has a Robotics program called VEX IQ, which is a global competition program that changes every year. The students, ages 11 to 13 compete at the regional, state, national and world level, but have to qualify to gain entry at each level.
After Harney’s successful outing at a Pittsboro, Indiana winter event, Farrell looked for a different way to motivate and challenge his students to improve their robots for the next round of competition. He contacted Fluor asking if engineers were interested in helping. Of course, the answer was yes.
Salvadore and McGarrity joined the after-school club to try their hands at building a VEX IQ robot drive shaft using the same materials provided to students for competition. While building, the Fluor engineers walked students through how they go about approaching project plans in their day-to-day work life. Throughout the activity, students were asked to focus on the interaction between the two builders, how they staged their material and how they followed instructions.
“These two Fluor professionals provided an experience to the students at Harney that will have a lasting impact on them as they take on challenges throughout their lives.” Farrell said. “It was a chance to watch engineers take on a real-life complex challenge. It sped up my students’ thinking on how to approach problem-solving, which was evident in how they immediately went to redesigning their robots for their team competition event.”
