DELAFIELD, Wis. — A group of teenagers playing on a baseball diamond is a pretty typical summer scene. What's not typical about the group of teens on a Thursday afternoon in Delafield is that their pitcher is a robot.
"It's a pretty simple design," explained Knack Robotics team member Jessica Heckenkamp. "It just uses tension force to launch up an arm that launches the baseball out."
The robot's name is Stitch and the masterminds behind it are a group of Arrowhead High School students. Together, they're The Knack Robotics team.
"Our team is here kind of just to promote STEM in our communities and we go to different schools, libraries and do all sorts of outreach events," The Knack team member Manasi Karthikeyan said.
Stitch was created as part of their outreach efforts.
"We just wanted to find a new, fun way to interact with our community and find people of all different ages and like skill abilities," said team member Jessica Becker.
While none of the team members actually play baseball, a knack for the game isn't necessary to join The Knack. What is required to get on the team is curiosity and creativity.
"I think that Stitch just really shows that robotics is more than just staying in a room and building with things. It's about getting out there and showing off what your robots can actually do, which I think inspires more people," Heckenkamp said.
On Friday night Stitch, and his creators, will have the opportunity to inspire a whole stadium full of people.
"The Milwaukee Brewers are pretty cool and they came and we had this opportunity to throw out the first pitch. It's a great way to meet a ton of different people and show them our robot," Becker said.
The team is part of the FIRST Global Robotics Community. FIRST is an acronym for: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
The Knack won a state competition earlier this year and also competed in a global competition in Texas.
Now, the team is working to get more women interested in STEM.
"Our team is super dedicated to getting girls of all different backgrounds into the FIRST program," Becker said. "We all have different ideas and we wanna bring all that to the table and see how they combine."
You can see Stitch at American Family Field when the Brewers take on the Pirates Friday night. First Pitch is at 7:10 p.m.
Stitch and The Knack team will be on the concourse during the Brewers game to answer questions. If you're interested in STEM and/or Robotics you can learn more about The Knack by clicking here.
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