【ZENSHIN】Challlenging a global robot competition!!

◆ Japanese High-School students are competing in a US Robotics competition!!

We are ZENSHIN Robotics, a robotics team of middle and high school students.

This spring, we will be competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), a global robotics competition for secondary school students in which approximately 4000 teams will participate.

 

Our team's mission is to provide today's teenagers with an exciting opportunity to challenge themselves in science + global activities and appeal to the wonderful aspects of STEM education and international exchange.

 

We believe that FRC can accomplish these missions by honing four key strengths: robot building skills, organizational management skills, and world-class English and communication skills.

We also believe that by inviting young people to participate in the FRC, we can help them grow into future leaders of the world by telling them the importance of global vision and leadership through this competition.

 

This year, we will be competing in the qualifying competition in Hawaii. In order to challenge this competition, we need to raise a huge amount of funds, about ￥2 million(US$13,500) for robot manufacturing, travel, and accommodation expenses, which amount to about ￥7 million(US$47,300).

 

Please support our activities!!

◆ What is ZENSHIN?

ZENSHIN Robotics is a robotics team of high school students, with the support of professional engineers, companies, and other adults. Our goal is to be the world champion in the FRC and to become a new bridge to support the growth of future youth and the evolution of industry.

The FRC is not only for students who are interested in robotics, but also for students who want to challenge themselves against the world or who want to try something but cannot take the first step, etc. We established the team because we wanted to share a place to challenge ourselves on the world stage, making the most of each talent.

The first hurdle for the team members to challenge the FRC was that they had to raise funds for the operation by themselves, while the team consisted of high-school students. With some of the team members having never participated in a robotics competition before, we knew that it would be difficult to make this dream a reality without the support of many people, including mentors and sponsors.

Therefore, with the support of the Ikubunkan Institute of Education, we set up a general incorporated association and began preparations to make the steps to the competition go more smoothly.

Based at Ikubunkan, we have been active since 2023, and this is the first time we have participated in the FRC. The group currently has about 20 members, with a wide variety of members ranging from junior high school 1 to senior high school 2.

Currently, there are concerns about the "shortage of English-speaking people" and "shortage of science-related people" as social issues in Japan. With the increase in cross-border corporate activities, what is needed is not "English language skills that can be scored on exams" but "English language skills that enable rich communication” for modern Japan.

The FRC, an international competition, where teams from different countries communicate with each other while advancing through the league, is a true chance for the development of human resources needed by industries. In addition, the experience of being able to repeat trial and error and realize what you have in mind through the creation of a robot will provide an opportunity to explore science and technology.

Being a member of "general incorporated association," which is different from class or club activities, would be a good opportunity for teenagers to experience the joy of taking on challenges, the difficulty of managing an organization, and the difficulty of building human relationships. Through this process, we will learn, grow together, and be a man/woman who can thrive in a global society.

◆ FRC(FIRST Robotics Competition) is ,,,,,,

FRC is the world's largest robotics competition organized by FIRST, an American non-profit organization.

 

Approximately 100,000 secondary school students from around the world, 4,000 teams, gather to compete for the title of world champion. FRC is sponsored by Boeing, Google, Amazon, and NASA, making it a competition of a scale that sets it apart from other robot competitions.

 

The interesting thing about FRC is that it is not only about the technical skills of the robots, but also about teamwork and strategy would be crucial. 

Teams compete in a three-on-three format, which means they have to work together with two other teams. This requires teams to work with their partner team, develop tactics, and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses in order to win.

 

In the preliminary rounds, the teams will work with randomly selected partners and cooperate with each other to win. They must discuss opinions in English and understand each other's robot features. In the final tournament, the team with the highest ranking will choose a partner. Hence, the ability to appeal and share the strength of the team would also be important.

 

In other words, it is not necessary for one team to do everything to win. The most important thing is to complement each other and work together to improve.

 

The robot will be built in only six weeks, in accordance with the competition rules. Within this time frame, we need to consider the tactics of the other teams as we build our robots.

 

Teams competing in the FRC are not limited to building a robot. All the work involved in the team is conducted by the students.

For example, the team will need to raise its own funds for robot building, travel, accommodation, etc. Of course, the team will also need to manage the money it receives. 

 

In addition to the activities involved in the FRC itself, the team is also required to perform community service activities as outreach activities, making this a robotics contest that literally tests a wide range of abilities.

 

◆ How the collected funds are used

The funds raised will be used to build a robot that will participate in the competition.

The size of this robot is 120 inches (length and width) and 4 feet (height). The metal and electronic equipment needed to assemble this robot, as well as the processing of these components, will cost a tremendous amount of money. Your donations will be used to cover these expenses.

We would also like to use the funds to cover travel expenses so that as many mentors and members as possible can travel to the site to reduce the burden on them. The reason we want to cover the travel expenses as a corporation is that we do not want students to give up on their challenges because of money. Therefore, we would like to use the funds not used for technology to support travel fee so that all members can go as equally as possible.

 

◆ Goals for the Year

First, we aim to be the champion of the Hawaii Regional event, and gain experiences!

Then, we will train our junior members to acquire the technical skills needed to compete at the world championships, and recruit new members within the school to make ZENSHIN a larger, high-level and better team.

We will continue to work hard to achieve our ultimate goal of winning the World Championships!

We look forward to your support!

 In the case that the event cannot be held due to natural disasters or other unavoidable circumstances (including the declaration of a state of emergency and other effects of the coronavirus) after the project has been achieved, the funds received will be used to participate in next year's FRC.