Arlington Heights Hosts State Robotics Championship

Seventeen middle school teams from around Illinois gathered at Ivy Hill Elementary School in Arlington Heights to test their robots and show off their driving skills at the VEX IQ Robotics Illinois State Championship on Feb. 18.

Special guests included Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes, Instructional Assistant Professor from Illinois State University Troy Blunier, Music for Youth Arlington Heights performed the national anthem and Girl Scout Troop 45105 conducted the Presentation of the Colors.

This year's challenge," Slapshot," is played on a 6- by 8-foot field where robots work to empty discs from three different types of dispensers and shoot the discs into a goal zone. Bonus points are available if a robot is able to reach over into the goal zone fence and touch the contact zone.

The event started with each team competing in nine qualifying matches and testing their driving and programming abilities in the Robot Skills Challenge. The top 10 teams then paired off and competed in the tournament finals.

Three of these teams then qualified for positions at the VEX IQ World Championship taking place in Dallas, Texas, later this spring. Teams were also eligible for additional awards that were handed out based on their robot design, engineering notebook, programming skills and interviews that took place with a panel of judges.

The Create Award went to Team 5011A Alpha-Z from the Science Academy of Chicago in Mount Prospect.

The Judges Award went to Team 5566C RoboCrazers from CodeCraz LLC in Batavia.

And 34092B Team BAA from Wood Oaks Junior High in Northbrook took home the Design Award.

The Teamwork Champions, which are the top two teams winning the alliance in the challenge matches, were Team 60004Z Marshmallow Menagerie, unaffiliated, from Arlington Heights and Team 60004A Space Turtles, also unaffiliated, from Arlington Heights.

Team 60004A Space Turtles also took home the Skills Award, having achieved the highest combined programming and driving skills score and the Excellence Award which is the highest award presented in the VEX IQ Challenge.

This award goes to the team that best exemplifies overall excellence in creating a high quality VEX robotics program and is a strong contender in numerous award categories. An additional criterion for this award is the team must have an Engineering Notebook.

Moving on to the World Championship in Dallas, Texas, will be Team 60004A Space Turtles, Team 60004Z Marshmallow Menagerie and Team SRS 44222F out of Sunset Ridge Elementary School in Northfield.

Space Turtles summed it up best when asked what they thought about the VEX IQ Robotics Challenge, "It's fun. Challenging. And uses lots of brainpower."

Best of luck to all the teams.

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