Smith’s Sonic Cyborgs hoping to compete at robotics nationals, looking for community support

The Smith team, front, Jayden Roberts, Owen Whitlock, Lily Gagneur, Gears the Robot, Dawson Payne, and back, Sam Schneider, Isaac Qureshi, Colin Swartzbaugh, Hannah Weidner and Michal Isaacs, hope to compete in nationals in May.

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Students from a local elementary school are headed to the VEX Robotics World Championship if they can raise $17,000 by mid-April.

Smith Elementary’s Sonic Cyborgs, a VEX IQ Elementary team, competed in the Indiana State Robotics Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday. The team’s performance in Indianapolis qualified them for world competition three times over, said STEM teacher and coach Lisa Haines. The Sonic Cyborgs had a qualifying skills score, won the Create Award and came in third place for the Teamwork Challenge Award.

“They have done the unthinkable,” said Haines. “My goal was just not to be embarrassed at regular competitions. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that we would have been going to state, much less getting a world invite, within our first year of participating in the robotics league.”

The 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship will be held in Dallas, Texas, with the VEX IQ Elementary competition taking place from May 2 to May 4.

Haines estimated the total cost of attending the world championship to be about $17,000, which she would want to raise by April 15 in order to secure flights.

As of Monday afternoon, the team had already received donations totaling $6,700. This includes a $1,200 donation from Techpoint Foundation for Youth to cover their competition entry fee, $5,000 from Grammer Industries, and $500 from other donations.

“Any help that we could get from the community we would be greatly appreciative of,” said Haines. “And it’s a payoff that’s going to inspire the kids to continue on in this, in STEM careers.”

For the complete story and more photos, see Thursday’s Republic.