Fredericksburg Parent Magazine had a fun and successful STEAM summer camp fair with the help of many volunteers and sponsors this April.

"Our Summer Camp Fair theme this year was robotics and STEAM science,” says publisher Leigh Anne Van Doren, noting how it would not have been possible without the help of the Fahrenheit First Robotics Team and HDT Global Engineering.

“We brought in amazing real robots from HDT Global, Fahrenheit Robotics prize-winning robot from 2018, and a traveling children’s science museum featuring 10 science-experiment stations. Fahrenheit Robotics team staffed all ten stations for us, interacting with all the area children who attended the event.”

HDT Global’s Battle Lab and Advanced Development Engineering (BLADE) Center, located in Spotsylvania County, showed its support for children’s STEAM education by bringing an HDT Hunter WOLF vehicle to the STEAM fair, along with several remotely operated robotic arms. A team of more than 10 engineers showed off the robots to attendees. Many thanks to all the HDT employees who gave their Saturday to encourage children to enter STEAM fields.

The Fahrenheit team was motivated to help by the need to raise money to attend the First Robotics Chesapeake District Competition in Richmond after a successful local-level competition win. The team went to districts and this year’s overall ranking of 39 was five ranks higher than last year (44).

Now entering its third year, Fahrenheit Robotics is now recruiting new members to build a bigger team for next year’s competition. The goal is to make it all the way to the global competition.

Fahrenheit Robotics team in the Fredericksburg Maker Lab at Fredericksburg Academy, preparing for District Competition.

Any area student is welcome to join, and many skill sets are needed. In addition to solving the robotics challenges, teams need marketing expertise, social media skills, business skills and the ability to work in groups. “It’s a terrific experience to be on a team,” says coach John Luvvera. “Similar to being on a sports team, but for academic types.”

Fahrenheit Robotics meets in the Fredericksburg Works Maker Lab, housed at Fredericksburg Academy. To learn more about First Robotics, go to https://youtu.be/wSA6InzFAZE