BY KARISSA MILLER

Iredell-Statesville Schools recently hosted its annual robotics competition for elementary and middle school students over two days at the Unity Center in Statesville.

Teams of students have been working most of the school year to program a kit robot to perform a variety of tasks in order to collect points. Some schools had more than one team in the competition.

The competition involves engineering, technology and creativity while teaching students how to collaborate and the importance of teamwork.

The FIRST Lego League is an international competition for elementary and middle school students. Each year the contest focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences. Each challenge within the competition revolves around that theme.

Teams use Lego Mindstorms kits to build their robots which will then negotiate a playing field or table. Each robot is only allowed to use a certain number of sensors and motors.

There are four main sections of the competition: robot table performance, research presentation award, robot design award and teamwork award.

The Champions were the Robo Owls from Harmony Elementary and The Brawley Team from The Brawley (Middle) School. These students will be recognized at the May 13 school board meeting.

Awards

The 2024 Robotics Competition Awards:

Core Values Awards

Gracious Professionalism Awards
Elementary: Intergalactic Grovers, Union Grove
Middle: Chicken Fried Rice, East Middle

Inspiration Awards
Elementary: Quantum Questmaker, Cloverleaf
Middle: Lil’ Waganda, West Middle

Teamwork Awards
Elementary: Tech Tinkerers, Cloverleaf
Middle: The Dinosaurs, East Middle

Project Awards

Research Awards
Elementary: Legendary Robots, Union Grove
Middle-Blue Smurf Cats, The Brawley School

Innovative Solution Awards
Elementary: Robo Builders, Lake Norman
Middle: Geek Squad, West Middle

Presentation Awards
Elementary: Cobratics Fantastic Six, East
Middle: The Brawley Bots, The Brawley School

Robot Awards

Mechanical Design Awards
Elementary: Lightning Bots, Celeste
Middle: Timmy Turner, The Egg and Combat Dwarf, East Middle

Programming Awards
Elementary: Space Innovators, Lakeshore
Middle: Banana Brothers, West Middle

Strategy and Innovation Awards
Elementary: The Grateful Bread, Cool Spring
Middle: Tech Titans, East Middle

Robot Performance Awards
Elementary: Robo Owls, Harmony
Middle: Blue Smurf Cats, The Brawley School

Judges Awards

Against All Odds Awards
Elementary: Fire Masters, Celeste
Middle: The Tech Titans, North Middle

Rising Star Awards
Elementary: Spring Chicken, Cool Spring
Middle: Jake From State Farm, West Middle

Champions Awards
Elementary: Robo Owls, Harmony
Middle: The Brawley Team, The Brawley School

Photos