Robotics is an exciting after school, co-curricular program for our 4th-6th grade students. Participation on a robotics team will allow your child to be part of the invaluable engineering and problem-solving process as they work towards two goals with the team: 1) Build and code a Lego Spike Prime robot capable of successfully interacting with various Lego mission models within a 2.5-minute time window. 2) Develop an Innovation Project (like a science fair project) to solve a problem. Each year a specific theme is generated for the F.I.R.S.T. Lego League and a theme related challenge is issued for the Innovation Project.
Teams will work from August to approximately November to set up their table elements (competition course) design and code their robot to successfully complete missions and develop an Innovation Project and presentation. Teams compete their “Bots” against other Robots in an area qualifier meet. Teams will also go before a panel of judges for a 30-minute presentation to share their Innovation Project, robot design, code, and mission strategies. Combined highest scores (Robot games and presentation) will then get invited to participate in the Central Valley Robotics Championships.
Robotics is a parent-facilitated co-curricular event. Any students who are interested in Robotics can create a team if parents are willing to facilitate the practices and competitions. You should have a minimum of 6 students (if using a Fugman robot) and recommended maximum of 8 students, along with two coaches. Fugman does not assign students to a team. This is because practices are not at school, they happen in homes. Therefore, it is typical that a group of friends/neighbors who know and trust each other participate as a team.
The timeline for robotics is as follows; begin holding practices in late August or September with qualifying tournaments in late October and November, and a culminating tournament in December.
There will be a meeting in the fall on August 27th to assist teams that have an assigned coach. If you have questions, we can answer them at that meeting.