STMS Maker Lab needs community votes to win national robot contest

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Maker Lab at South Tahoe Middle School is a finalist to win ten new Sphero RVR Robots and it will take votes from the community to bring them to the school.

Fifteen schools were selected by SparkFun® Electronics to be finalists in their national contest to assist middle and high school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) initiatives and education with the RVR (pronounced "Rover").

The five schools with the most votes will win a set of ten robots. People can vote once per device until 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12, 2019. The vote is taking place now on Survey Monkey - bit.ly/STMSvote2019. Select @stmsmakerlab for South Tahoe Middle School (STMS). One vote per device is allowed, so try on phone, laptop, pad and computer.

The STMS maker lab is a mix of old school hands-on skills along with super high tech skills including 3D printing and computer coding, according to instruction Jackie Tan. If winners, the students will use the robots for mail delivery, search and destroy missions, and checking the weather when it's too cold outside. They'll learn to code with superpowers to take on expansion port communication.

Earlier this year, SparkFun backed the Sphero Kickstarter for RVR with a “Get a Bot, Give a Bot” initiative - pledging to match the first 50 RVRs purchased with a donation of 50 RVRs to schools. This giveaway is the outcome of that pledge. The RVR (pronounced "Rover")

“We are committed to supporting engineering and technology education in schools - our partnership with Sphero supports this commitment, “ said Jahnell Pereira, Chief Business Development Officer at SparkFun, “The importance of experiential STEM learning can not be overstated...and the RVR Robot provides endless opportunities for problem-solving, creativity, and innovation.”

The Sphero RVR brings robotics to the classroom. Fully capable out of the box, RVR can easily be expanded upon using popular development systems such as Arduino, micro:bit, Raspberry Pi and more to create a more advanced robot. With tank treads and powerful, durable motors, the RVR can travel over most surfaces and can communicate with other Sphero products through IR sensors.