Robots are no longer something from the future. They are real. From what started as very expensive machines in the manufacturing industry to improve product quality and reduce costs, they have evolved into ubiquitous machines surrounding us. From there, it is evolving into being an integral part of everyday life — Roomba vacuums and Google’s self driving cars. It is evident that we cannot have a STEM program without adequate exposure to robots.
Moorestown Robotics Club’s mission is to help Moorestown students get past the mystery of robots and help them learn the basics of robots through fun and competitive programs in conjunction with First Lego League. Children learn
about mechanical designs, programming, error correction, game strategy and team work. This year the club had a record six teams participate in the FLL 2015–2016 Trash Trek Challenge. The competition includes not only robot design and robot runs, but also has equal weighting for solving a real world problem and core values.
The teams participated in two different regional qualifiers, four of the teams won Segment Awards at the Regional Qualifiers and three of the teams moved on to two distinct Regional Championships. The teams went on to win two Segment Awards at the Regional Championships.
In the Qualifiers, the Dragon Ninja Warriors, coached by Frank Pippel and Yinan Yang scored the most points out of any team and received the first place award for Robot Strategy and Innovation as well as first place for most point scored on robot runs. The RoboLearners, coached by Chris Schaffer and James Mumma received second place for Robot Design. The Sour Patch Kids, coached by Amit Garg and Fred Colon received first place for Innovative Solution. JaberBlockies coached by Dan Ladik and Tim Regovich also qualified for the Regional Championship. Moorestown Robotics Club had an amazing showing with a total of three teams moving on to Regional Championships — Sour Patch Kids, RoboLearners and JaberBlockies.
At the Regional Championships, all three teams did astoundingly well and came back with two awards. The Sour Patch won a first place Inspiration Award at the Delaware Championship. The RoboLearners received the first place award for Programming at the Pennsylvania Championship.
The best part about these programs is that it goes beyond the competition. Sour Patch Kids had presented their idea for a healthier planet at their schools and are actively engaged with the Moorestown Public School District Staff to implement this idea at their school. The team says that this is just a first step and they hope to roll this to other schools in the country.
This just goes to show how Moorestown Robotics Club enabled the students to get past the curiosity of robots to believing they can be creators and change agents for the community. However, without dedicated coaches and students’ willingness to set aside time for this and all the hard work they put in, none of this would be possible. The camaraderie and willingness to help each other is what sets the Moorestown Robotics Club apart, and have such a respectable showing at the competitions.
Anyone interested in coaching a team please visit Moorestown Robotics Club at www.moorestownrobotics.com/home/coach-s-signup.
