Building Community
One Robot at a Time Michael Schuh
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s soon as he pulled out his laptop at the high school robotics competition this September, Michael Schuh was on the move. He flitted from team to team, helping them with their robots. When he was satisfied, he made his way to the field where teams were practicing. There he darted in his hiking boots from driver station to driver station, mouse swinging from the laptop under his arm. Every time he stopped, he would spot a new problem. Then he would
[By: Morgan McLain-Smith]
They plugged it in, it find himself kneeling down, debugging and reconnecting worked, and the match started. robots and driver stations, with When the team went to restudents, mentors and event volunteers crowded around him. turn Michael’s laptop, they had to leave it on the table beside Once, a driver station laptop the field – Michael was already refused to connect. The queue off across the field, helping someone else. for the field was growing longer; Field Admin were growing ver the years, Michael impatient. The laptop would has coached over two not work. dozen elementary and middle “Here,” Michael said, hand- school robotics teams, helped ing over his own laptop. “Just many more, and become an use mine.” integral part of Mountain View High School’s robotics team.
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These robotics programs give kids the chance to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), which are vital to our continued technological success. STEM opportunities are constantly being created, yet many companies report a dearth of qualified applicants. This holds true with what Michael has experienced: while enough people might understand the basics, there are not enough who understand concepts deeply. The problem with US education however, is not just a lack of STEM classes, but also a lack of creativity. In our rapidly changing world, one of the most valued qualities in workers in high paying jobs is their ability to innovate. Other skills in shortage are the ability to work in three dimensions and with your
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hands, which many technical jobs also require. STEM, design, creative problem solving, hands on learning– these are all things that are commonplace in the robotics programs Michael helps out with.
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ichael grew up outside of Dallas, Texas. His high school offered a few AP courses, but nothing that interested him. His interest in engineering, however, was obvious from a young age. One of his early passions was control line airplanes, which could be made to do tricks by pulling on the lines which would move them up or down as they flew in circles. After high school, Michael attended UT Austin. He then made the trek to UC
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Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, and met his wife. Michael eventually came to work for NASA doing fluid dynamics. He and his wife had three sons, who would end up sparking Michael’s involvement in various robotics programs.
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n 1998, he volunteered with his oldest son, then in 4th grade, to help out at a high school robotics competition at NASA. At the competition, a new program was announced: FIRST LEGO League (FLL) aimed at late elementary and middle schoolers. Michael turned to his son. “Would you like to do this?” His son said yes. The next year, Michael helped to put together a local FLL team.
Looking at the FRC robot When he discovered that there were no nearby tournaments, he got together with other local teams and they put on their own. Within the next few years, FLL began to spread until there were teams in most of the schools in Los Altos. Michael had also started to run FLL scrimmages, and become active in another robotics program: Botball.
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hen his eldest son reached Mountain View High School in 2004, Michael started to become involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), the original sister program to FLL aimed at high schoolers. Michael’s involvement had finally come full circle – It was at an FRC event in 1998 where he had first heard about FLL.
During all this time, Michael stayed involved with FLL and Botball. He organized FLL parent information sessions and competitions, and ran Botball training from his dining room table. A parent eventually noticed all he was doing and decided to create Los Altos Robotics, an organization that would manage running FLL tournaments.
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n addition to robotics, Michael is an avid hiker and backpacker. Hiking, he says, provides a sense of peace and perspective in his life. His passion for robotics and hiking have not always existed in harmony. “[He was] running around like a chicken with his head cut off,” Edmond Macaluso recounts about the first time he
met Michael at an FLL tournament. Michael’s life was so filled up by robots that he did not have time for his second great love. To get the tournament running, Michael recruited friends and neighbors to serve as volunteers and judges. He sat with his wife for hours, surrounded by pieces of paper trying to schedule the event so teams were simultaneously supposed to be playing and speaking with judges. He even built the playing tables, which had to be made out of wood and electrical tape according to directions from the game designers. One
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year, after having to make a large volcano by bending scored wood, he talked to the game designers. The next year they switched to LEGO pieces and predesigned mats. Michael wanted to spend his time differently. After the competition, he and Macaluso talked, and began to organize Los Altos Robotics. They recruited interested parents, and the organization grew. “We put together a board of 10 people to divide the work up,” Macaluso explained. “That’ll give you an idea of how much he was doing.” In August of Los Altos Robotic’s inaugural year, Michael took advantage of his lighter load and planned a big backpacking trip. “He was really excited about that,” said Macaluso, grinning. “It took me awhile to learn [that a lot of people will help out]” Michael reflects, “And that helps more kids get reached when that’s done...I think we do that now.”
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ven on the MVHS FRC team, Michael does a lot of organizational work. In his own words, his role is to “create space where things can happen.” He does this by maintaining the lab and computers, helping to clean up the lab, and packing for competitions. On a less physical note, he strives to involve more people, motivate those who are already involved,
Tools at FRC Lab
We had to put together a “board of 10 people to divide
the work up. That’ll give you an idea of how much he was doing.”
-Edmond Macaluso
and set a professional but friendly environment for the team to work in.
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n 2009, the FRC team almost fell apart. Two factions had developed within the team, disagreeing about which robot to use at competition: the robot being designed
or the “prototype” robot. Some of the students were rejecting help from mentors. The teacher mentor quit multiple times. At this point, Michael was only peripherally involved through his youngest son who was still on the team. When he found out what was happening, he stepped in.
He contacted the captain and the teacher and explained to them, “You are in charge, you can make this decision.” Encouraged, they announced they would be using the robot being designed, no matter what. Some members left. Together, the rest of the team managed to finish the robot just ahead of the deadline, after which they were not allowed to touch the robot. After the deadline for working had passed, the team was left with the “prototype” and some time before the competition. So what can we do we do now? Michael asked himself, Well, we can make the most of it. So he took the remaining
students and the drivers to the practice field at NASA, where they practiced and practiced and practiced. The two robots were similar enough that the practice paid off. That year the team was the 3rd team on the alliance that went on to win the world championship.
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ichael has two things going for him as a mentor: his willingness to chip in, and his depth of experience. As a returning mentor, he provides continuity. He also knows the paths the teams have walked before, and he know their likely outcomes. The
end result is that whenever you need help, there is Michael in his hiking boots, read to go the extra mile to lead you down the right path. Staying involved with the robotics programs, even in a small way, allows him to make teams more successful, and to use that success to reach out and spread the importance of STEM education. Recently, he has been trying to involve more teams in NASA drive practices, which help improve driver ability and make teams more competitive.
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“[ We] gotta get our act together,” Michael explains, “so we can help others.”
It took me awhile to learn [that a lot of people will help out] and that helps more kids get reached when that’s done”
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-Michael Schuh
Michael with team member at NASA
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