On September 27th, Trial and Error Robotics had the opportunity to participate in ERDC’s 25th Anniversary Open House. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s Engineer Research and Development Center, or ERDC, opened its doors in Vicksburg in 1998 and is known for being one of the world’s most diverse scientific and engineering research centers. The anniversary event allowed retired former employees and guests to tour the ERDC Headquarters and its many laboratories to see how ERDC has advanced.

The event also provided visitors with many educational opportunities in ERDC’s current research areas such as large-scale 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and robotics, to name a few. Our team, alongside fellow FIRST robotics team Siege Robotics (FRC 456), had the opportunity to inform guests about our program and its mission. FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, aims to excite students about STEAM. The FIRST program helps grow future engineers that could one day benefit ERDC.

Our team brought along a few robots to demonstrate our knowledge and skills. Several of our team members had the opportunity to speak with visitors interested in what our group does and discuss our goals for the new competition season. Overall, it was a very educational experience for the team, and we hope to have an opportunity to do more events like this in the future.