Photo provided The CSA Lincoln’s robotics team is heading to state, including front, left-right, Charlie Munn, Sam Seaborne and McKenna Biehle, and back row, left-right, Coach Brittany Mahoney, Maira Marta, Alan Espinoza, Kreigh Keffaber, Liam Babb, Pato Amuchastegui, Will Andress and Ian Hernandez.
A local elementary school robotics team is headed to the state championships.
CSA Lincoln’s “Robuskies” will compete at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) LEGO League Challenge State Championship on Saturday at the University of Indianapolis.
The team competed at the Indy South Qualifying Tournament on Nov. 12 and earned not only a state bid, but also the competition’s Core Values Award. Per the award description, “This team displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit, knows they can accomplish more together than they could as individuals, and shows each other and other teams respect at all times.”
Team coach and Lincoln STEM teacher Brittany Mahoney said that she was “super impressed” by the team’s presentation skills and added that they interacted well with their competitors.
“They did a really good job of going up to other teams, asking them what they did, what they learned from their projects so that they can learn from other people,” she said. “But they also did a great job sharing with the judges, like what they had learned, what problems we’ve overcome and how they’ve worked well to include everyone in the team.”
She added that there’s more to FIRST LEGO League Challenge competitions than just robotics. There are four main components: an innovation project, demonstrating core values, robot design (which includes coming up with LEGO parts from scratch to build their bot), and coding the bot to complete missions.
The innovation project involves researching a specific field. Since this year’s theme for FIRST Robotics is sustainable energy, the Robuskies researched four different types of energy. They then decided to focus their presentation on the idea of repurposing plane propellers to create wind turbines.
In regards to the robotic components, this year teams are playing a game called “SUPERPOWERED.” According to FIRST, the LEGO League Challenge game revolves around programming robots to accomplish tasks that simulate aspects of the energy industry, such as moving LEGO “energy units” to a “hydrogen plant” area on the playing field. Teams are also evaluated on the extent to which they demonstrate “gracious professionalism.”
Mahoney said that the Robuskies are “super excited” about going to state and have been talking about it all season, though competitions also bring a sense of pressure, and there’s a lot to be done.
“It’s a lot more to it than meets the eye,” she said. “And my kids have gone really above and beyond.”
The Robuskies have created a stop-motion video in which LEGO people discuss the team’s idea of repurposing plane parts to help build wind turbines. They’re also working on a song about their robot as a way to have fun and stand out.
Furthermore, the team has reached out to professionals in different fields to learn about aspects of their project, including a design engineer with C4, a mechanical engineer, and a Cummins engineer who works in energy efficiency.
“It really builds their skills, I think, just as future employees,” said Mahoney. “Because they’re learning to multitask, they’re learning to really cooperate and work with different personalities and be inclusive with each other. I think it’s a good glimpse into how they will be able to interact with coworkers when they get older, because they really do work as a team.”
