For Robert Kronschnabel, the real draw to his students was the challenge. They weren't getting an easy formula that told them how to solve problems. They weren't told what would and wouldn't work. And they knew from the beginning that expectations were high. "This competition is important because it says 'Do whatever you need to do to make it happen,'" said Kronschnabel, a math teacher at Irondale High School in New Brighton. "Instead, it says, 'Here's a box of motors and some aluminum parts and a footprint.' The students aren't used to that. They're used to the recipe, the formula, and they're not getting that."
As educators statewide push for better science and math education, the popularity of an international robotics competition has grown drastically among Minnesota high schools. The FIRST Robotics competition, where high school students build complicated robots to push a ball along and do other tasks, has 54 Minnesota teams this year, up from just two in 2006.
Area educators attribute the growth to dramatic fundraising by Minnesota technology companies desperate to encourage future engineers and a statewide push to improve science and technology education.
"It's a long-term investment," said Dr. Stephen Oesterle, senior vice president of medicine and technology for Medtronic, who pushed other companies to donate.
Later this month, more than 50 teams will meet for the first Minnesota regional at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.
"Even the football players and the popular kids at our school are like, 'Oh my gosh, how did you do this?'" said Callie Krummel, an Irondale junior. "Yeah, I built a robot in six weeks with the help of 10 other people. It's pretty darn cool."
Needing engineers
On a February afternoon, the robotics team from Minneapolis' Patrick Henry High School -- the "Herobotics" -- toiled in a work room at the Bakken Museum, a science education museum named after one of Medtronic's founders, Earl Bakken. After a pizza break, the team started figuring out how to attach an arm to the robot to control a 7-pound, 40-inch diameter inflatable ball.
