Three Pine-Richland students have recently secured a spot at the FIRST Robotics World Championship, set to take place in Houston, Texas from April 17-20. Senior Ryan Scott and eighth graders Piya Dargan and Keerthana Visveish will be representing their team, the BrainSTEM Learning Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team. Named after a part of the human brain, this team is dedicated to outreach and operates under the mission Robots Without Borders.
Over the years, the team has organized over 100 events with a goal of breaking systemic barriers that hinder children’s potential. These initiatives have aimed to overcome obstacles such as geography, health, or socioeconomic status. The team has created STEM activity kits for the Ronald McDonald House, fundraised for humanitarian efforts in Haiti, established robotics teams in Central America and created a STEM career pathway for students in Allegheny Public Housing.
Their commitment to outreach has not gone unnoticed as they won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional event in March. This award came with a sponsorship from NASA and recognized them as a team that inspired the most students through engineering and STEM. The success continued at the Miami Valley Regional event in Cincinnati where they earned the Regional FIRST Impact Award, securing their spot at the World Championship.
At the World Championship, Ryan Scott, who leads business and outreach for the team shared how his role has evolved over time to focus more on business and outreach rather than programming or engineering. He was proud of what his team had achieved so far and was excited about what was yet to come for them on this global stage.
The FIRST Robotics World Championship is an international youth organization called For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) which oversees various competitions aimed at promoting STEM education and innovation among students.
