Robotics Competition

The St. James robotics team competed in the First Lego League competition held at Hillsborough High School. In the First Lego League, the students design and program a robot using Lego pieces. They also research and propose a solution to a real-life problem. They are also judged on their teamwork. 

This year, the students picked the team name "Wild Catfish." Mia did a great job designing the logo for our t-shirts!

Here is the robot with the "white wall" attachment. This allows the robot to push items around the board. It has a hook on one end to push a lever needed to complete one of the Lego tasks.

Mia and Tamia are checking that the robot is running smoothly and is ready to compete. Josh and Michael are on the other end of the table helping to troubleshoot. In between judging sessions, the students can visit the other teams and compare robots. That helps us get design ideas for next year.

Paul and Kayla are using the iPad to check one of the programs. The students use a program on the iPad to give the robot instructions. These programs are copied to the robot's memory. During the competition, the students are only allowed to use programs that are already stored on the robot.

Josh and Paul are waiting for our team's turn to run the robot.

 Thomas and Josh are ready to start the robot game! All of the tasks the robot completes are built using Legos. The robot drops items in specific locations, retrieves objects, and interacts with levers or handles. We are awarded points for completing each task. The robot only has 2.5 minutes so the students need to work quickly.

In addition to designing a robot, the students research real-life problems and propose an original solution. This year the topic was the human water cycle. Our display board helps explain the problem and solution to the judges and the other teams. The students proposed an original idea for saving water. A hydroponics greenhouse could use its waste water to grow algae for biofuel. The judges were impressed with the team's knowledge of the topic and the variety of sources they used to gather information. We won the research award for the competition.

Here is the team with our trophy for the research award. Some of the students had to leave before the picture to be on time for the SJS basketball game. Congratulations to the team!!