This weekend our Woodland Hawk Bots Challenge Team competed in the East Tennessee State First Lego League™ Competition at Tennessee Tech University. During the competitions we are judged on our Robot, Coding, Innovation Project, as well as the FLL Core Values.
In December, our team competed in the Marble City Qualifier at Hardin Valley Academy. We were able to bring home the judge’s “Rising Star Award.” Because this competition is for students in grades 4th -8th, as a team of 4th grade students, we compete against many teams with older students. Qualifying for state was an amazing feat and made us so proud!
Woodland Hawk Bots with the Judge’s “Rising Stars” award at the Marble City Qualifier
Saturday we began with an early morning judging session where our students presented their innovation project and robot. Over the past several months our team members have identified, researched, talked to experts, and worked to resolve a #CargoConnect problem: Porch Piracy. They had to present their problem, how they worked through the problem and identified a solution, as well as a prototype of their solution, “The Hideaway Planter,” to the judges. Then they presented their robot. They explained their robot design: its features and coding, changes they have made to it over the season, and how they worked through any difficulties in programming.
Woodland Hawk Bots virtually presenting their Innovation Project and Robot at Tennessee Tech University
Then it was time to show off what our robot can do. For the Robot Game, we get 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete as many missions as possible. All missions must be programmed into the robot prior to coming to the table, so it’s all about being precise in setting up your robot before each run, and making sure your programming is consistently completing the challenges. Our team put a LOT of effort into making sure the robot was successful 8 of 10 times before moving on to more programming, which has proven to be very helpful in competition. At the Marble City Qualifier in December, our highest score was 150 points on the table. This weekend we were able to score 210 points on our best table run, which is a great improvement!
Woodland Hawk Bots preparing for the Robot Game
Our team did an amazing job. They have worked hard all season to push through challenges and celebrate their successes! We are so proud of all they were able to accomplish this season!
