Pittsburgh's Girls of Steel preparing for world robotics event in Houston

Ava Miller may be a member of a robotics team, but she’s learning about a lot more than just robotics.

Miller, 16, is a sophomore at Plum High School and one of about 40 girls from 17 schools in the Pittsburgh region who are members of the Girls of Steel FIRST Robotics Competition team. She has been involved in the program, which has multiple teams over different age groups, since sixth grade.

“More than just about anything I’ve done so far in high school, I’ve found Girls of Steel to be rewarding. It’s completely captivated my attention and kept me interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) even when it feels like it’s hard to be interested in STEM as a girl,” she said. “It’s made me brave in a way I don’t think I would have done by myself.”

Miller and her teammates will be among 50,000 people from around the world who will be in Houston from April 17 to 20 for the world championship competition hosted by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, an international organization that holds competitions to engage students in robotics.

Carnegie Mellon University sponsors Girls of Steel. Laura Alford, an administrative coordinator for the CMU School of Computer Science, is one of 15 mentors.

While Girls of Steel started in the fall of 2010, Alford is in her second year of working with the team.

“It’s a wonderful program for the kids,” she said. “It helps them to develop their confidence and the skills that will be useful in their future careers.”

The competition features a new game each year, and the teams build a robot, from scratch, specific to that year’s game, Alford said.

For this year, Girls of Steel built a 150-pound robot named Dolly, after Dolly Parton. It’s designed to pick up game pieces while operating on its own or while being remotely operated.

The team qualified for worlds by being on a winning alliance during the Greater Pittsburgh regional competition at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in February, where they ranked 20th out of 50 teams. They also competed with Dolly at a regional event in March in Cleveland, where they ranked 16th out of 53 teams.

Dolly is the result of a lot of hard work by the team’s 40 members over the past two and a half months, Miller said.

“I think it came out well. It was a great combination of effort from every single girl,” she said. “Any time we’ve faced a challenge, we’ve come back stronger and we’ve come back better. I’m very confident our robot is in tip-top shape and ready to go.”

Miller is the daughter of Robert Miller and Melissa Snyder. Her older brother, Alex, 18, graduated from Plum in 2023 and is attending Temple University.

Robert Miller is coach of the Plum High School robotics team. He called Girls of Steel an amazing program.

“I’ve seen a team with both boys and girls. I think sometimes the boys are more naturally assertive, and so I think that a team that is all young women is a fantastic thing,” he said. “It’s a safe place for these young women to develop their leadership skills. There’s so many leadership opportunities for them. It’s business-oriented. It’s outreach-oriented. The program they run down there is fantastic.

“These are high school kids. They’re building 150- to 200-pound robots that can function autonomously and perform complex tasks. It’s crazy.”

Alford is hopeful the team will do well in Houston.

“Beyond the competition, there are many schools there. Whether they win or lose, I hope they get to see some of the schools that are there,” she said. “I just want them to have a good time and be a great learning experience for them.”

Ava Miller hasn’t yet decided on a career.

“I know I’m going to do something in STEM because I love it,” she said. And, “I want to help people.”

Miller says she has learned a lot from being part of Girls of Steel, and not just things like using machines or computer-aided design or wiring.

“It’s really a team environment. You can’t build the robot all by yourself. It’s taught me a lot about interpersonal relationships,” she said. “I also really like Girls of Steel in particular because it provides me the opportunity to do things like speak to you today, because the team cares so much about outreach and trying to get our message out there that we want to make a way for everybody to get into STEM.”

Girls of Steel programs are co-ed through eighth grade. To learn more about Girls of Steel, visit girlsofsteelrobotics.com.