(children playing)
- So we're here today from this
all-girls robotics team
called the Missfits.
And we build robots.
- Do you guys know what robots are?
- [Children] Yeah.
- Good.
Your guys' mission:
so you are stranded on the moon.
How are you going to breathe, and
get food, and get water?
(children chatter)
- A robot that can fly,
then flies up to the moon.
- [Ryann] When there's a lot of sun,
it gets really hot.
What about when it gets super hot?
What are we gonna do?
- [Child] Oh! Tank tops!
- If you want the water, you'll
suck the water into a remote.
- What's it gonna plug into?
- This sends another
electricity that makes it.
- No, I like mine...
- But not like every second.
- Like every one minute.
- Maybe every five.
(upbeat music)
- [Photographer] Three, two, one. Cheese!
All right. Perfect.
(Team chats)
- [Ryann Voiceover]
Every year we compete in
a competition called First
Robotics Competition,
and they give us a challenge.
We have six weeks to build a robot
to complete these challenges.
(video plays)
We're actually the only all-girls team in
San Francisco. We're not
affiliated with a high school.
We have Maddie.
If you ever have a
question about anything,
ask Maddie.
She know's what's going on.
(Maddie laughs)
Emma: she codes so quickly.
Honestly. Insane.
She codes for fun.
Karina: the best mechanic on our team.
If you give her dimensions, she can do it.
Emily is phenomenal at mechanics
and electrical.
So versatile. Everyone needs an Emily.
Erika: the fact that one girl can do
electronics is completely insane.
And then there's me, Ryann.
Whoever needs help, I got you.
Any questions?
(video playing)
- Have you ever seen those roller
backpacks that can go up stairs?
- What?
- A roller backpack that can go up stairs.
So--
- The wheels are like--
- The wheels are stacked like this.
So when you pull, it's not just like
a lifting motion. The
wheels roll up the stairs.
- Okay, so our first one. Cable elevator.
- [Gray Sweater] Yeah.
- Is it fast?
- Yeah. It was fast the last time.
- Yes!
- It can be fast.
- It could be.
- Yes.
- Oh, this is a good
idea. Like I'm a lamp.
You turn it on then (dinging noise).
That's a good idea.
(laughter)
- New Halloween costume.
- Yeah, new Halloween costume.
- Could we actually do Polycord
like that, and run it like that?
- That would be really strange.
- Oh, wait. No.
That would be weird. Okay.
So we could do two things.
One would be like that to here,
and then the other one like...
(marker squeaks)
- So then you want to
- Why?
- Multiply it by two.
- Wait, wait, wait.
- Well you want to find how many
teeth that is.
And then you want to multiply that by two
and add 24.
(silverware scraping dishes)
- [Emily's Dad] Do you guys have more
team members this year, or do you not
recruit yet for new people?
- [Emily] We have more, but we don't
have freshmen.
- [Emily's Mom] You haven't tried
recruiting, have you?
- I did a tiny bit.
But that person doesn't
seem very interested.
- [Emily's Mom] Okay.
- 'Cause I only really
know freshmen through
cross-country, and I'm not just
going to go around asking random freshmen,
"Hey. Are you interested in robotics?".
- [Emily's Dad] You could put a poster up.
- Yeah. Or I could make an announcement.
But that's scary.
(Emily's Mom laughs)
(dishes scraping)
- We can talk about health
and wellness class.
That's your favorite.
- The documentary we
watched was interesting.
- [Emily's Dad] What was it on?
- Masks.
- [Emily's Parents] Masks?
- The mask you live in.
It was actually about masculinity.
But then afterwards, we had to talk about
what resonated with us.
I'm like, "Nothing really.
'Cause I'm a girl."
(parents laughing)
- You couldn't draw parallels
with femininity or anything?
(dog paws stepping)
- But it's different.
(Emily's Mom chuckles)
The only parallel is that people
are expected to behave in certain ways.
(xylophone chiming)
- Where am I?
(tranquil music)
- There we go.
I think in freshman year it was shorter.
So it was like here-ish.
When I was really little, it was like
down to here.
My parents would say,
"Why do you have long hair
if you're never gonna
do anything with it?"
And I'm like, "Oh, I don't
wanna do anything with it."
I just like it long.
And then there's this
thing called Girl Talk
at my school where it's basically a night
where a bunch of people who can speak to
female experience write monologues.
And then other people
present them anonymously.
And one of the things
was about a buzz cut.
And I don't want to get
a buzz cut, but how even
cutting your hair short
defies gender codes.
I thought that was really interesting.
Yeah, I like it like this, 'cause
I mean I barely have to brush it.
(indistinct chatter)
- Why does it lag this
computer up so much?
- Maybe we shouldn't have
prep group on this computer.
- I mean this 16 gigs
of RAM should be able
to handle it.
- Yeah, 16 gigs of RAM? Damn.
(laughter)
- That rhymed.
- And I did not intend to.
- 16 gigs of RAM?
- Damn.
- So that's curved that way.
- So basically what it's doing
is if we want it to go right, it makes
the left side of the robot do .5 times,
and then one plus the offset
- I guess.
Okay.
And enabling.
(robot rolling)
He's turning.
- [Girl at Right] Oh, yeah. He is turning.
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- That looks a lot better.
(gasps)
- Dude.
(clapping)
(Emma squeals)
(laughter)
(clapping)
- So good.
(typing)
- Oh my God.
(soft music)
I have not used this computer in so long.
This is one of my birthday parties,
I guess my eighth birthday party.
And we're all wearing a lot of pink.
'Cause I always really
liked pink as a kid,
but then I would have friends that
would be like, "I don't like pink!"
And there's one time I
remember really vividly,
my friend announced that
she didn't like pink.
And then we went to her house
and we took everything that was pink
or had Disney princesses on it,
and put it in her mom's room.
Little girls go through this phase where
you're just rejecting all
things that are girly.
And I don't know if that's just
a San Francisco thing, 'cause it's like
maybe when you're a little kid,
you're getting all these messages like,
"Don't be girly!" Blah blah blah.
"You're powerful." Whatever.
And those are good messages to be getting,
but maybe you do take
those too far when you're
little and you don't understand
that you can be girly and be cool.
(doors swing open)
- Around here in front of it
into the belly fence.
- That makes sense.
- Yeah.
- And just have it--
- So that it would just...
- Yes.
(machines whirring and scraping)
- [Girl at Right] Does it go in? Yeah?
- Yeah. Look at that. Aye.
Do you do extracurriculars?
Have you done none no extracurriculars?
- [Ryann's Mom] Oh, that's so cool.
Is this in the college
class you're taking?
- Yeah. Ms. Moonda.
- [Ryann's Mom] Yes. She
introduced herself to us.
- I like her. I hope it'll work out.
But then there was one
scenario, where it's like,
"If your last name is
Bush, Clinton, or Gates,
"move to the front."
And we're all like, "Shoot."
- [Ryann's Mom] Yeah,
well. That's not you.
You have to go on your merits.
- [Ryann] I know.
- But think about it,
this "MITE" application
didn't it ask you about--
- M-I-T, yes.
- Your dad and I don't
understand half of what
you do with robotics and technology.
And I'm sure that that helps you, 'cause
you've learned all this on your own.
- [Teacher] Of the sum of FI, that is
the corresponding frequency.
(students chatter)
(girl cries)
- And she's gonna get even more mad at me,
and then it's just gonna be this--
(sobbing)
- You know a few weeks ago when I was
in the bathroom crying,
you were there for me.
Now I'm gonna be here for you.
(feet shuffling)
(bedspread ruffling)
Well, at school, I feel like I'm-
try to be very high-achieving.
I'm in the IB program,
International Baccalaureate.
I'm also involved in
the club called POCSU,
which is People of Color Student Union,
'cause I'm at a
predominantly white school,
and there aren't that many kids of color.
We were gonna have a Black Student Union,
but there weren't enough of us.
When I got into high school, I got
into everywhere I applied to.
And that was because I
was a science student,
I was in Mathletes, I had a 4.0.
I worked hard for that.
But one girl came up
to me and she was like,
"Oh, really using your skin
tone to your advantage."
And I was like, "Actually no.
"Using my brain to my advantage.
"But thank you very much."
People think, "Oh, you'll have
"an easy time getting into college.
"You're African-American,
and you're a female."
And I'm like, "No, I'm
gonna get into college
"because I work hard at school,
"I'm taking rigorous courses,
"I have extracurriculars."
People just don't understand that,
or they think that life is easier
because of it, but actually it's harder.
'Cause I have to deal
with people like them
coming up to me and saying that.
Or, yes, we live in the
bubble of San Francisco,
but I'm not supposed to
apply to college below
the Mason-Dixon line, my
parents don't want me to.
I like that I can say, "Today,
I'm going to build this,"
and just do it.
It's just nice to have a place where
it's not about the way you look.
It's not about your identity.
It's just about using math and science.
(marker writing)
- Do you guys think the wired robot
has been complete?
The electronics board is on it.
- [Emily] Oh, it is?
- It is.
(students talk over one another)
- [Maddie] Wait, Erika, is
the wired robot complete?
- Well of course not.
(Emily laughing over Erika)
- If you smash it really
hard, will it fit?
(laughter)
- No.
- Maybe. Maybe.
- It will not fit.
- If you hit it like this.
- But we might break it, so I don't think
we should risk it.
- Yeah.
(soft music)
- Yeah, these are not screwed
together very flush, guys.
I say fix the shaft and then attach the
brackets to put the wingnuts on.
(tools tinkering and revving)
- You can do it!
(upbeat music)
- Oh, man!
- This should be good.
I'm just gonna make sure that this works.
Now all of them.
Look good!
I have to do my victory dance.
(feet pattering)
(teammates chatter)
- Oh my God, I just realized that
we literally have one week.
- Yeah, one week.
- [Missfit] It is the end of week five.
- It's been built.
- [Missfit] Yes.
- Yes! One.
(robots revving)
(teammates laughing and talking)
- [Adult] You've got 30 minutes.
30 minutes.
And you gotta test that new
elevator with everything new.
We've gotta get the wires tightened up.
- It's not turning on at all.
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- Is this the right--
- Actually, is the PDP on?
(plastic crumpling)
(tools drilling) 10 minutes, 10 minutes.
- [Adult] Where do we stand
electronics-wise for testing?
- Oh, wait. It doesn't have a...
Okay. Can you stick that in?
But shouldn't there still
be lights on the RIO?
(plastic crumpling)
(team cheering and clapping)
(crowd talking)
- Smart people, start your engines.
- [Announcer] Good morning, San Jose!
(crowd cheering)
- [Ryann voiceover] I
wanna stick it to all those
teams who are like, "The Missfits?
"You don't know what you're doing."
We keep improving every year.
And I think winning is
just so important to that
to show them we're all
girls, you underestimated
us, and you shouldn't have done that.
- [Announcer] As always, the referees
confirm scores.
What you see on the screens is not final
until the referees give
us their confirmation.
- Ready? Where are we going?
Three, two, one. Go.
- [Karina] We're going level two.
- Which side?
- [Karina] Our side.
- [Announcer] Joining them, 6418.
(crowd cheers)
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- [Announcer] It's the Missfits.
- Blue Alliance! Blue Blue Alliance!
(race horn blows)
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- We have to get out of their way.
(laughter)
- [Emily] Okay. Shoot.
(crowd cheers)
Oh, no. Oh, no.
Oh my god. Okay, bring it up, bring it up.
- [Announcer] Iron Claw makes it with
another piece of cargo stored.
(gasps)
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- Park it in front of us.
Park in front of us in the middle.
In the middle.
(horn blares)
- Did we come out of the frame perimeter?
- What?
- Did we come out of perimeter?
- I don't know.
- We're gonna have to see.
- Nobody was waving a flag at us, though.
- I couldn't see that ref.
- Oh my God, it is so close.
No! We lost.
We were one point behind,
and then they climbed.
(dramatic music plays)
- I want to succeed more, especially
because we're an all-girls team.
It's really sad if all the all-girls
teams do really badly, 'cause that's
just demoralizing.
(Rubiks Cube shuffling)
I mean, we're all girls,
but we're not beginners.
I mean, a lot of people are beginners,
but we're not bad or unambitious.
And I think we're actually really good,
especially for where we are.
(announcer over speaker)
(upbeat music)
- [Emma] Winning is important to me, and
I'm not going to say it's not.
I mean, it feels good to win,
just 'cause it feels like
I've validated myself.
(whistle blows)
- [Missfit 1] Wow, we won by a lot.
- [Missfit 2] We did?
- Yeah.
(clapping)
- That's good. That's good.
(Missfits chattering)
(horn blares)
- [Missfit] I think we lost.
- [Announcer] In the official score,
it will be the Blue Alliance.
(crowd cheers)
(Missfits talking and laughing)
- In the traditional
first show of gracious
professionalism, I would
like to invite the teams
to come forward, and shake hands, and wish
each other the best
finals they all can play,
and we all can see.
Let's begin.
(crowd applauding)
- [Referee] Go!
(announcer talks over speaker)
- [Missfit] Come back.
Actually get out of their way.
Stay there. We're good.
Okay, come back to our side.
Come back to our side. Come back.
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
(robotic ticking)
- [Announcer] Here come
those official scores.
It's going to be the Blue Alliance!
(crowd cheers)
Will be the winners of the
Silicon Valley Regional.
(Missfits exclaim excitedly)
- Oh my God, we did it.
- Congratulations.
- [Ryann] I joined the team for me.
But now I'm staying on
it for everyone else,
because I don't have
many female role models.
There are a few, but you don't really
hear about them often.
But if girls are hearing about us now,
that just makes me so happy.
(team cheering)
- Okay.
(children talking)
- [Emily] I've never done
this before, but I think
if you turn that back,
then it'll spin on its own.
So this is something we
do called troubleshooting
like with our robot.
So like when we find
problems, we have to fix them.
- So when it spins, it pulls it back,
but then the rubber band
pulls it the other way.
- [Emily] Exactly.
- Is that like finding bugs in coding?
- [Emily] Yeah, it is.
How do you know about that?
- I'm a coder.
- [Emily] Oh, really? That's really cool.
I'm a coder too.
What do you do when you code?
Like what do you make?
- [Coder Girl] I kind
of make games and stuff.
- Oh, that's so cool.
I didn't know about coding when
I was in first grade.
That's really cool.
- Yeah.
- It's turning something. It spins!
- Yes!
(jazzy music)
