Robotics Talks ‘Trash Trek’ at Competition
Fifty-eight elementary and middle school teams competed at the 2017 LEGO Robotics Championship junior division April 8 at the College of Southern Maryland La Plata Campus.
This year’s challenge theme was “Trash Trek.” Teams were asked to use LEGO Mindstorm/EV3 robotics systems to build robots that could complete a laundry list of trash-related tasks, like bumping into a LEGO composter and turning it on and using the robot to initiate a recycling process. The teams earned points for each task successfully completed by their robot, with up to approximately 1,000 points possible.
“I think it gets the kids to learn how to handle challenges and learn a step-by-step process,” said Ann Stine, coach for the GLS Lions Gold team of Grace Lutheran School. “Also, they learn how to work together.”
Parent helper Anita Scott of Hollywood was among the crowd of anxious onlookers as her daughter Gabbi, 9, and her team, the Trashtalkers of The King’s Christian Academy, competed in one of the early heats. “I think it’s been great,” Ms. Scott said. “It’s taught her team-building. And as a mother of a daughter, I like that she’s getting involved in a STEM program.”
Patti Edwards, a teacher from Our Lady Star of the Sea, worked with the team from her school, the Robohawks, as they prepared for their next match. Ms. Edwards noted that events like the LEGO championship at CSM allow the students with technical and engineering skills to apply their strengths and shine outside of the classroom. “These are our problem-solvers for the future,” Ms. Edwards said.
In the elementary team competition, top overall awards went to the Beach Brainiacs of Beach Elementary School for Project, and Brick Girls of Barstow Elementary School won for Robot Performance.
In the middle school team competition, the Tiny Boxes of Plum Point Middle School won the Champion’s Award. The top overall awards of Project went to Husky Robotics of Matthew Henson Middle School, Core Values went to the Trashformers of Piccowaxen Middle School, Tiny Boxes won Robot Design, Loading… from Plum Point Middle School won Robot Performance and Reckless Robots from the Purple Boot Mentoring Program won Robot Champion.
MD Volt Inc., a Maryland-based nonprofit that promotes electric transport, is a regular guest at the annual LEGO championship. The group set up cars in the CSM parking lot during the competition. Spectators and students had the chance to stop by and check out the latest electric vehicles and learn about electric vehicle technology.
CSM hosts the LEGO competition with funding provided by STEM sponsors through the CSM Foundation. For information about the championship and a list of all the awards and team scores, visit here and here.
For photos from the event, click here.
Elementary School Awards
Volunteer of the Year
Jean Nelson
Ronda Jacobs
Runner-Ups, Robot Performance
10th — Educational Candy, Piney Point Elementary School
Ninth — TiRecycle, Piney Point Elementary School
Eighth — Techno-phins 3.0, Matula Elementary School
Seventh — Radioactive Bots, Piney Point Elementary School
Sixth — Crash Bots, Piney Point
Fifth — Robo Trash Busters, Mudd Elementary School
Fourth — Trash Masters, Beach Elementary School
Third — Sunderland Elementary, Sunderland Elementary School
Second — Trash Talking Robots, Piney Point Elementary School
Core Awards
Research — Sunderland Elementary Ninjaneers, Sunderland Elementary School
Innovative Solution — Trash Nados, Barstow Elementary School
Presentation — Educational Candy, Piney Point Elementary School
Top Overall Awards
Project — Beach Brainiacs, Beach Elementary School
Robot Performance — Brick Girls, Barstow Elementary School
Middle School Awards
Volunteer of the Year
Jimmy Moore, Our Lady Star of the Sea
Dan Stine, Grace Lutheran School
Judges Awards
Against All Odds — Mattawoman Robotics Magic, Mattawoman Middle School
Rising Star — Husky Robotics, Matthew Henson Middle School
Core Awards
Inspiration — Lego Robotics Team, Mill Creek Middle School
Teamwork — Robohawks, Our Lady Star of the Sea
Gracious Professionalism — Loading…, Plum Point Middle School
Research — GLS Lions Gold, Grace Lutheran School
Innovative Solution — Lucky Charms, Calvert Middle School
Presentation — No award given.
Mechanical Design — Zerobots, Northern Middle School
Programming — Trashtalkers, The King’s Christian Academy
Strategy & Innovation — Green Machine, Piccowaxen Middle School
Top Overall Awards
Project — Husky Robotics, Matthew Henson Middle School
Core Values — Trashformers, Piccowaxen Middle School
Robot Design — Tiny Boxes, Plum Point Middle School
Robot Performance — Loading…, Plum Point Middle School
Robot Champion — Reckless Robots, Purple Boot Mentoring Program
Top All-Around
Champion’s Award — Tiny Boxes, Plum Point Middle School
For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.
