HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Space and Missile Defense Symposium is underway at the Von Braun Center. One of the vendors on site is the Browncoats Robot Team. The squad is made up of 7th - 12th graders. But these kids don't just play with robots all day. They build them up for competitions.
"We compete with this robot and grow our technical skills by competition so that way we can one day go into engineering jobs and things like that," said Lead Programmer Joel Holder. Holder is going into his 6th and final year with the team. "Learning those things were what I had in mind when I first joined the team and I've been able to accomplish that and I'm very proud of that," said Holder.
Members learn how to build and program robots to compete against other teams in Alabama and around the world. "You have all these competitions and the Browncoats is just our way of helping kids get into that," says Holder.
This is the 12th year the Browncoats will be entering competition "It's just been a really fun time for everyone who's ever been on the team," says Main Driver MJ Schaffer, "when I graduate, it'll be someone else and the legacy will just keep going."
This is where these teens are getting their start in the industry. Members surround themselves with others who have very similar goals and aspirations. "It's great to have other people around, adults, mentors included, who also have the same passion for robotics and just having fun as we do," said Schaffer.
For any team to work well, a level of chemistry is needed. For the Browncoats, it's through the roof. "Some places you're just like, I don't want to work for that guy. That's not the case here," said Holder, "this has really given me a social outlet and a community to kind of look to."