Robotics teams qualify to move on to the state competitions
Fox Valley Robotics/Batavia Robotics continues to be busy this winter as teams prepare for state competitions. The right mix of students, mentors, coaches, dedication, and time has taken this organization into a successful season again with multiple teams advancing on to state competitions.
When the season began and team formations were determined back in August last year, Fox Valley Robotics found itself with over 200 kids in their programs.
LegoWolves Division of first- to third-graders consisted of 12 teams, LegoDogs Division of fourth- to eighth-graders consisted of 16 teams, and the Coyotes Division of eighth- to 12th-graders consisted of eight teams.
As December rolled along, the LegoDogs Division of 16 teams competed at nine qualifying tournaments.
Fox Valley Robotics teams won awards in areas of Core Values, Robot Design, Project, Table Performance, Rookie Award, and overall Champions Awards.
Eight teams moved on to two different state competitions in mid-January. At the state competitions, Professor Tsunami Bots won first place in Robot Performance and overall second-place Tournament Champion's Award, Fuzzi Pi won the Excellence in Project Award and also the Global Innovation Award, Apollo 7 won the Robot Design - Programming Award, Galactic Axolotis won the Core Values - Teamwork Award, and HexaForce won the Robot Design - Programming Award.
Professor Tsunami Bots has been invited to the West Virginia Open and Fuzzi Pi has been invited to the Australian FIRST Lego League Championship.
On Feb. 2, the 12 LegoWolves teams joined 12 other teams from around the state and moved on to the Fermilab Open House. Each of the Fox Valley Robotics teams were presented with awards based on their robot model accomplishments. These future young engineers were on Fox Valley Robotics teams Star Wars Masters, Wave Walkers, Star Walkers, The Moon Star Alien Sprinkles Cupcake Pug House, Galaxy Explorers, pizza, Astro Craters, Grizzly-nauts, Spacebusters, Moon Rays, Space Maniacs, and Rocket Riders.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, seven of the Fox Valley Robotics high school teams have qualified and will be moving on to two different state competitions.
In the Coyotes Division in Vex Robotics, Eagle Robotics, Formal Oranges, Ghost in the Machine, Kiwi, Kestrel, and OverDrive will be going to Niles to compete against 50 other teams for the opportunity to move on to the Vex World Competition to be held in April.
In the Coyotes Division in FTC, qualifying team Unknown Element will compete in Elgin against 41 other teams for a chance to move on to the FIRST FTC World Championship in April.
FIRST ("For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology") is an international organization which creates robotics programs for kids of all ages. Visit www.usfirst.org.
Batavia Robotics is a nonprofit organization which has been around the area since 2002. In 2007 to offer the program and incorporate kids from multiple communities, the name of Fox Valley Robotics was added. Today over two hundred kids participate in three divisions of robotics. The LegoWolves Division is for the first- to third-graders, the LegoDogs Division is for fourth to eighth grades, and the Coyotes Division is for eighth- to 12th-graders. For more information about the organization or the summer programs, visit us at either www.bataviarobotics.com or www.foxvalleyrobotics.com.