Local competitors earn robotics championship
Two Siloam Springs robotics teams won awards at the regional tournament and are headed to the state competition.
Two Siloam Springs First Lego League (FLL) Robotics teams are headed to the state championship after winning several awards at the FLL Arkansas Regional South Qualifier Tournament on Dec. 17.
The Dragon Bots took first place in robotics performance and were named overall tournament champions. The Seagulls also scored well enough to qualify for the state tournament and received the robot design award.
The regional tournament included 18 teams from Northwest Arkansas and was held at the Don Tyson School of Technology. The state competition is planned for Jan. 20-21 at the University of Arkansas.
“I was pretty amazed they basically swept the tournament as far as awards and competitions go,” said Ben Trout, a John Brown University engineering student who organized the local FLL program and helped mentor both teams.
Trout said the two Siloam Springs teams didn’t have very high expectations for their first competition. He and the other JBU students who helped mentor the two teams were unable to attend the regional tournament because it occurred after JBU
I was pretty amazed they basically swept the tournament as far as awards and competitions go.
Ben Trout
JBU engineering student and local FFL program organizer
let out for Christmas break, but Trout said he was “ecstatic” as he received texts throughout the day updating him on the their performance. The mentors will be back in time to attend the state competition later this month.
Members of the two competitive teams got involved in robotics through the Siloam Springs Lego League, a non-competitive club formed last year through a partnership between Friends of the Siloam Springs Public Library and engineering students from JBU, Trout said.
First Lego League is an international organization that teaches students in fourth through eighth grade to practice imaginative thinking and teamwork, while learning about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), according to the organization’s website, www.firstlegoleague.org. In addition to designing, building and programming their own robot, students must also research real-world problems such as food safety, recycling or energy and are challenged to develop a solution.
The local club met for 10 weeks last spring at the library, where kids learned to use Lego Mindstorms software to program
robots they built from Legos. The robots are designed to complete a series of tasks in an obstacle course.
Trout said that club members who were interested in taking the next step formed the two competitive teams. The competitive teams met in members homes and were coached by parents, but also received mentoring from JBU engineering students, according to Laura Rodgers, Dragon Bots coach and parent.
This year’s competitive challenge dealt with hydrology, said Caleb Rodgers, Dragon Bots team member. The robotics portion of the competition included a table-top playing field with water-related obstacles. Each team used their creative skills to design and program a unique robot, which was given two and a half minutes to complete the obstacles.
“Every robot looked completely different” said April Graney, parent.
The Dragon Bots team excelled at the robotics portion of the competition, and their robot completed all but one of the obstacles on the playing field, according to team member Sage Keeler.
Dragon Bots team members worked with Larry Bland, chair of JBU’s division of engineering and
A huge mission of FLL is to have every kid have the opportunity to experience robotics. We don’t want money to hinder a kid from experiencing engineering.
Ben Trout
JBU engineering student and local FFL program organizer
construction management, to create a project about purifying water using hydrodynamics. As part of the competition, the teams were required to give a verbal presentation about robots and their project to the judges. They also completed a mystery challenge that tested their ingenuity.
Dragon Bots team members agreed that teamwork was the most important lesson they learned from being involved in the competition. Before FLL, they were just acquaintances but now they communicate and work together with ease. They also got plenty of practice with troubleshooting technology and learned perseverance — to laugh off their mistakes and keep going, they said.
The Dragon Bots and Seagulls team members plan to come full circle and begin mentoring students at the library robotics program this spring. Trout explained that First Lego League Siloam Springs is organized so kids can get their feet wet and try robotics through the robotics program. Those that are interested can then go on to competitive teams, then come back and mentor a new group of students the following year at the library program.
Trout said that 32 kids have already signed up for the library program, which is scheduled to start in February.
The program is completely funded by sponsors so that after a small fee to join the organization, families don’t face any barriers to getting involved. Trout said the club is seeking local businesses interested in sponsoring the local program.
“A huge mission of FLL is to have every kid have the opportunity to experience robotics,” Trout said. “We don’t want money to hinder a kid from experiencing engineering.”
For more information about the spring robotics program or Siloam Springs FLL, contact Ben Trout at troutb@jbu.edu. More information about Arkansas First Lego League is available at arkansasfll.org.