Pine-Richland students Ryan Scott, Piya Dargan and Keerthana Visveish recently secured a spot at the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston, Texas. As part of the BrainSTEM Learning Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team, they will be competing from April 17-20.
The team, named after a part of the human brain, is dedicated to outreach and goes by the mission Robots Without Borders. They have organized over 100 events aimed at breaking systemic barriers that hinder children’s potential. These initiatives include creating STEM activity kits for the Ronald McDonald House, fundraising for humanitarian efforts in Haiti, establishing robotics teams in Central America, and creating a STEM career pathway for students in Allegheny Public Housing.
Their commitment to outreach has been recognized with awards such as the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional event in March and the Regional FIRST Impact Award at the Miami Valley Regional event in Cincinnati in April. Their success has solidified their spot at the World Championship where they competed for both awards on a global stage and made it to the second round of judging for Engineering Inspiration, placing them among the top four teams.
Ryan Scott, who serves as business and outreach lead for