Last updated on June 10th, 2025 at 11:54 am
Starting a robotics team isn’t cheap. Schools that invest in starter kits and teams that compete regionally should be prepared to spend thousands of dollars.
But when compared with what’s spent on some school athletic programs, it’s an investment that pays dividends, says Scott Cox, an area manager for Georgia Power who is deeply dedicated to robotics programs across Middle Georgia. “This is an expensive sport, but we say, what would you invest in a football team if every player went pro? Because that’s what’s going to happen with our robotics competitors,” he said.
Cox supports the Middle Georgia robotics community as a volunteer and cheerleader, but he works alongside a dedicated group of professionals with the 21st Century Partnership to support and grow K-12 robotics programs across the region. With Robins Air Force Base as a key employer, the 21st Century Partnership works to connect the base with the community, and developing the workforce for the future is key.
Georgia AIM provides key funding to the 21st Century Partnership and its mission to build a stronger future for Middle Georgia. This includes providing training to teachers who want to start a school robotics program, coding workshops for students, and funding for schools to purchase their first robotics kits.
Getting Started
Robotics competitions in Middle Georgia were once focused on high school-age students. But the launch of Georgia AIM supported more options, and now students can learn throughout their K-12 experience.
For starters, LEGO challenges allow students as early as kindergarten to build robots and navigate them through a course. The opportunities continue in middle school thanks to Georgia AIM’s partnership with Starbase Robins at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins. Each year the museum hosts middle schoolers competing in the FIRST LEGO League, and in the past two years, the number of teams has more than tripled.
High school teams compete in FIRST Robotics competitions. These are larger events involving a customized wheeled robot that requires special skills to design, build, program, and control. With Georgia AIM’s support, now more Middle Georgia high schools compete at this level.
Robotics competitions at this scale are an asset for any school, but involving the region’s rural counties can make a huge difference, said Bob Herrmann, executive director of the 21st Century Partnership.
“We’ve seen where the rural communities don’t have the same resources,” he said. “If we can help them buy kits to compete in LEGO League, or sponsor a team at a rural school, it’s huge.”
More Than a Competition
But the thrill of robotics isn’t just the competitions — even though, yes, the fast-paced games and arena settings make for an exciting event. Rather, it’s the skills students learn through the coding, designing, and building that pay dividends when it’s time to think of career moves after high school. There’s also soft skills honed at a FIRST Robotics competition, such as problem-solving, teamwork, and decision-making under pressure that opens doors for these students.
“I personally like the soft skills that our team teaches,” said Rebecca Winters, a senior at Veterans High School in Warner Robins. “There’s not only the technical skills but how to work with other people, how to work as a team and collaborate — not just with our little team but with other teams on the field. And it’s very interesting to learn how to cooperate.”
Winters’ teammate Andrew Gallagher, a junior, said he applies some of his technical knowledge learned through robotics to other school activities.
“I like taking what I learned in robotics and using it in other configurations. For example, I do marching band, and we have instruments break, or other things break” he said. “And because of robotics, I’ve been able to come up with quick fixes or quick solutions and incorporate them into other things that aren’t just robotics.”
These are skills applicable to any career field. And, yes, Cox and Herrmann said, the coding, 3D printing, and building skills are practical, technical needs in today’s job market. “There will never be no jobs,” Herrmann added. And many career paths, such as electrical engineering, are so broad that students can find a niche where they can lean into their interests and thrive.
But robotics is more than technical skill, stressed Nick Jenkins, a 2017 graduate of Houston County High School. He is now a mentor to the team’s FIRST Robotics team, offering advice or serving as a sounding board if the team runs into trouble.
“Robotics has really encouraged me to expand my horizons and what I want to try; it’s enabled me to try new things,” said Jenkins, who attended Georgia Southern University after high school and stayed connected with the high school team. He also received a master’s in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
On the robotics team, he said, he helped build the robot and then drove it in competitions.
“That helped me with teambuilding a lot. In fact, my leadership skills have stemmed from FIRST Robotics,” he said. “It helped me learn to delegate, and if I’m able to identify what people like to do, it’s a lot easier to delegate duties. And I still do that today.”
This is where the team investment comes into play, said Cox. Competing at a statewide level can cost as much as $20,000. But when you look at the team as a whole, knowing each team member is developing essential career skills, it’s an investment that quickly pays off.
“And even if they don’t get a college scholarship when they graduate, they have the knowledge and they are way ahead” of their peers, Cox said. “Because they know how to work in teams, they know how to collaborate, and they have work ethic.”