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Community Corner

Jaden Barney Leads Girls of Steel to World Robot Competition

Local teen discovers the "awesome side of science" as she and a group of girls construct robots for a world robotics competition.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5:02 p.m. Saturday, May 7.

When you think of women and robots, Maria from Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film “Metropolis” may come to mind. Local teen Jaden Barney, of Venetia, wants to change all of that.

Barney, 16, led a rookie team, the Girls of Steel, 20 teen women who assembled, programmed and tested two robots, a large one, Crush, and a smaller unit, Squirt (Squirt was later renamed Nemo, after being rebuilt), at Carnegie Mellon University. Then, Barney and her co-creators took their robots to two regional competitions and the world championship in St. Louis.

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A big win—the Rookie All-Star Award—in both Pittsburgh and D.C. took them to St. Louis. They won the highest award given to a first-year team.

The competitions were part of Dean Kamen’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization that inspires young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills. Also, that inspire innovation and foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.

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The Girls of Steel had 45 days to design, create and build the robots. Then, the robots had to perform a series of tasks while competing against other robots on a field. The bigger robot, Crush, had to pick up shaped inner tubes, a square, a circle and a triangle, and place them on pegs in a particular sequence while blocking oponents attempting to do the same thing. Nemo had to shimmy up a pole at lightning speed.

Barney said, “We were a rookie team and we had to learn everything from the very beginning.”

Her mother, Mary Fasnacht, added, “Some of these girls didn’t know the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver when they started. Now, they can build robots from scratch.”

The girls spent long hours at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute learning under systems Scientist George A. Kantor and a group of mentors.

"Mentors," Barney insists,"who were extremely helpful, but very hands off. The time commitment was huge, but it was definitely worth it.”

Not only did they learn about robotics, but they learned about time management, marketing and fundraising.

“I even had to learn about PowerPoint and Photoshop," she said. "I helped design our logo (Rosie the Riveter showing off an android arm).”  She and her teammates also had to write a business plan as well.  

“One of the highlights was speaking to Cady Coleman while she was in space,” Barney said. 

She and the other Girls of Steel  had a teleconference with astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman while she was onboard the International Space Station.

“It was really cool," Barney said. "She was flipping around in zero gravity and showing us all sorts of cool things like the Robonaut (an android prototype NASA is developing with Dextrous Robotics Laboratory). It was really amazing."

Barney said Coleman spoke about the spirit of cooperation. She hopes to go into outer space someday.

Among her talents, Barney also teaches classical piano to students ranging from four years old to adults. The two subjects intertwined in St. Louis when will.i.am performed a special concert for the competitors in the FIRST championship. The Black Eyed Peas front man is an eager robot enthusiast and his team from Folsom, CA, the Dirty Bots, competed in the World Championship.

"It's a sport for the mind," Barney said. "We wore a team uniform (striped shirts, polka dot bandanas and Rosie the Riveter buttons). We handed out our own version of the Terrible Towel. People were cheering for us. A lot of people were rooting for us. Our buttons were a hot commodity."

Barney recommends reading “The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts” by Neal Bascomb, a non-fiction book about a robotics team and their journey.

"It's an amazing book," she said.

The young robot enthusiast also made a pitch to other Peters Township girls, “We’re looking for some more girls to join. They don’t have to know anything about robotics. We need girls to help with marketing, fundraising, journalism or anyone who can take really good photographs. I really want to find some other girls to have the same amazing experience that I had."

If you’re interested, check out their website http://girlsofsteelrobotics.blogspot.com.

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