Attendees of the Smart Farming Event

McAllen – IDEA Public Schools, Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center ( TMAC ) and several University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley ( UTRGV ) student organizations got together last week to host its annual entrepreneur summer camp. This camp focuses mostly on business and marketing added a very special component this year…. robotics.

FIRST-RGV was asked about integrating it’s FIRST Tech Challenge ( FTC ) program into their smart farming entrepreneurial curriculum and it all came to life.

More than 100 students from IDEA Public Schools had an opportunity to create a plan for smart farming, develop a business model and to forecast growth / impact. The students focused on keeping costs down while ensuring their

productivity remained at peak potential. Once the students completed that portion of the camp, the students then switched over to the building and programming of a FTC robot. Students had the opportunity to compete against each other to pick as much simulated corn and lettuce as possible to have fun, but to also illustrate the importance of robotic farming equipment.

This is the first time that FIRST-RGV has participated in a entrepreneurial summer camp, but the executive team said based on the feedback, they will be involved again next year since it is a great fit. Business, marketing, science, technology, engineering and math ( STEM ) work well together and is the future.