Girls of Steel Showcase Projects for U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle

It's two weeks until the competition, and 17-year-old Ella Maier is ecstatic her robot can finally do a pull-up. "Oh, that's so exciting," the Girls of Steel member said, as her robot latched on to a bar at the team's practice facility and hoisted itself to the second rung. "I'm in charge of that subsystem, and I'm really pleased it works. There's always a fear that it might not perform. There are no guarantees on this stuff, ever." Maier's drive to troubleshoot and celebrate when an adjustment works out is exactly what Congressman Mike Doyle said he's most proud of when he sees the growth and talent of the competitive teen robotics group. "I grew up in an era when Pittsburgh was just a steel town, when nobody worked in these fields and few people were imagining a future like we live in today," Doyle said during a visit to Girls of Steel's practice field at Carnegie Mellon University's Bakery Square facility. "I'm just blown away by all the incredible projects these young women are working on." A longtime supporter of the Girls of Steel and STEM education, Doyle toured the team's practice area for the first time on Saturday, March 5.