Monthly Archives: March 2017

MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Military, police forces, and other government agencies have used unmanned ground robots for many years to go into harsh environments that may be unsafe for humans. Unfortunately, many of these robots, while essential, have proven to be expensive and to have long-term reliability issues. To address this challenge, Realion Robotics was formed to deliver proven, reliable technology with greater value than has been offered by others to address evolving threats and the needs of military operators.

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Realion Robotics is a joint venture that combines the expertise of Alion Science and Technology, a U.S.-based engineering and technology firm with an 80-year history supporting warfighters, and Reamda, Ltd. of Ireland, which brings decades of experience delivering unmanned ground robotic systems for use in the most difficult conditions.

Used to investigate threats, find and disarm explosive ordnance or perform lifting and carrying tasks, robots extend the reach of ground forces, explained Doug King, Program Manager, of Realion Robotics. While no one disputes the usefulness of military robots, the DoD has traditionally bought many more than they need, because they expect to see a lot of breakdowns in the field. So the cost of ownership can be very high. Realion Robotics is changing that value equation, King said. Out robots have been proven to be more reliable and capable than what many users have come to expect, and we can deliver them more affordably, as well.

Realion Robotics will be showcasing its robotics solutions at the NDIA Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference, March 21-23, 2017 in Springfield, Virginia, booth 307.

About Realion Robotics

Realion Robotics unites the extensive capabilities of two companies at the vanguard of defense engineering: Alion Science and Technology and Reamda, Ltd. of Ireland.

Alions agile engineering, systems integration and operational support expertise stems from an 80-year history supporting the most intensive needs of warfighters. Reamda has decades of robotics engineering and development experience, producing robotic systems used daily by EOD teams in Ireland and by other customers worldwide. For details about Realion Robotics extensive line of robotic systems, visit http://www.realionrobotics.com.

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Realion Robotics Introduces Reliable, Capable, High Value Robots for Military Use - Yahoo Finance

Operation PEACCE Robotics

Operation PEACCE Robotics, of Bristol, with their robot Hailstorm.

Posted: Monday, March 20, 2017 10:41 pm | Updated: 10:53 pm, Mon Mar 20, 2017.

Robotics team awarded for community outreach

BRISTOL Operation PEACCE Robotics recently won the Engineering Inspiration Award when they brought their robot, Hailstorm, to a First Robotics competition in Massachusetts.

The award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a teams school and community.

In order to win this award, a team had to make significant strides in getting the First Robotics message out to the community by developing and running youth teams, engaging in community events and reaching out to the public, explained Elaine Pelizzari, team mentor. Our aggressive recruiting efforts and growth as a team seemed to win the judges over and our kids are enormously proud of their accomplishment. They are wearing their medals all over town.

Winning this award was overwhelming to be honest, said Carol Pelizzari, chief of sponsor relations and Elaine Pelizzaris daughter. It was the first time our team won an award related to something other than the robot.

The team reached out to the community at a variety of events last year in Hartford and Litchfield Counties, including the Northwest CT Chamber of Commerce Family Festival at Goshen Fair Grounds, the Rockwell Park Summer Festival Aug. 20 in Bristol, the Watertown Fall Festival at Veterans Memorial Park in Watertown Sept. 17, the Bristol Mum Festival Sept. 23 and 24 on Memorial Boulevard, the Harwinton Fair Sept. 30 through Oct. 20 and finally the Wild About Animals program at Imagine Nation Museum Oct. 29.

Operation PEACCEs robot for this years competition is named Hailstorm because it can rapidly fire balls that it picks up into a hopper as part of this years Steampunk (a retro-future science fiction genre and clothing style) themed robotics competition. The robot was also designed to be versatile, able to climb into a mock airship as another way to score points.

It is interesting to see the issues that teams faced at the competition, said Johnny Chea, another team member. It was a chance to see the importance of completing one task to get points over another. We actually found that shooting balls into the hopper wasnt as important so we had to scrap our aiming system to make the robot better at picking up gears. We will be given six hours to make adjustments to our robot before the next competition. With that, we will design a better climber.

The team, which includes 37 students from Bristol and the surrounding community, about 40 percent of which are home schooled, also redesigned their teams logo to include gears and a top hat with goggles to fit the Steampunk theme. Some of the students wear Steampunk themed costumes at the events, some of which include hand-made robot angel wings.

Its all about showing our team spirit, said Chea.

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.

Posted in Bristol Press, News, Bristol on Monday, March 20, 2017 10:41 pm. Updated: 10:53 pm.

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Robotics team awarded for community outreach - Bristol Press

Over 800 leading scientists, companies, and policymakers working in robotics will convene at the European Robotics Forum(#ERF2017) in Edinburgh, 22-24 March. This years theme is Living and Working With Robots with a focus on applications in manufacturing, disaster relief, agriculture, healthcare, assistive living, education, and mining.

The 3-day programme features keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, and plenty of robots roaming the exhibit floor. Visitors may encounter a humanoid from Pal Robotics, a bartender robot from KUKA, Shadows human-like hands, or the latest state-of-the-art robots from European research. Success stories from Horizon 2020, the European Unions framework programme for research and innovation, and FP7 European projects will be on display.

DrCcile Huet Deputy Head of European Commission Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Unit, said, A set of EU projects will demonstrate the broad impact of the EU funding programme in robotics: from progress in foundational research in robot learning, to in touch sensing for a new dimension in intuitive Human-Robot cooperation, to inspection in theoil-and-gas industry, security, care, manufacturing for SMEs, or the vast applications enabled by the progress in drones autonomous navigation.

Reinhard Lafrenz, Secretary General of euRobotics said, A rise in sales in robotics is driving the industry forward, and its not just benefiting companies who sell robots, but also SMEs and larger industries that use robots to increase their productivity and adopt new ways of thinking about their business. Around 80 robotics start-ups were created last year in Europe, which is truly remarkable. At euRobotics, we nurture the robotics industry ecosystem in Europe; keep an eye out for the Tech Transfer award and the Entrepreneurship award well be giving out at ERF.

Projects presented will include:

The increased use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in robotics will be highlighted in two keynote presentations. Raia Hadsell, Senior Research Scientist at DeepMind will focus on deep learning, and strategies to make robots that can continuously learn and improve over time. Stan Boland, CEO of FiveAI, will talk about his companys aim to accelerate the arrival of fully autonomous vehicles.

Professor David Lane, ERF2017 General Chair and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, said, Were delighted this year to have two invited keynotes of outstanding quality and relevance from the UK, representing both research and disruptive industrial application of robotics and artificial intelligence. EURobotics and its members are committed to the innovation that translates technology from research to new products and services. New industries are being created, with robotics providing the essential arms, legs and sensors that bring big data and artificial intelligence out of the laboratory and into the real world.

Throughout ERF2017, emphasis will be given to the impact of robots on society and the economy. Keith BrownMSP, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work,will open the event, said, The European Robotics Forum provides an opportunity for Scotland to showcase our world-leading research and expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence and human-robot interaction. This event will shine a light on some of the outstanding developments being pioneered and demonstrates Scotlands vital role in this globally significant area.

In discussing robots and society, Dr Patricia A. Vargas, ERF2017 General Chair and Director of the Robotics Laboratory at Heriot-Watt University, said, As robots gradually move to our homes and workplace, we must make sure they are fully ethical. A potential morality code for robots should include human responsibilities, and take into account how humans can interact with robots in a safe way. The European Robotics Forum is the ideal place to drive these discussions.

Ultimately, the forum aims to understand how robots can benefit small and medium-sized businesses, and how links between industry and academia can be improved to better exploit the strength of European robotics and AI research.As robots start leaving the lab to enter our home and work environments, it becomes increasingly important to understand how they will best work alongside human co-workers and users. Issues of policy, the law, and ethics will be debated during dedicated workshops.

Dr Katrin Lohan, General Chair and Deputy Director of the Robotics Laboratory at Heriot-Watt University said, It is important how to integrate robotics into the workflow so that it support and not disrupt the human workers. The potential of natural interaction interfaces and non-verbal communication cues needs to be further explored. The synergies of robots and human workers could make all the difference for small and medium-sized businesses to discuss this the European Robotics Forum is the ideal place as it joins industry and academia community.

______________________

Confirmed keynote speakers include: Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, Member of the Scottish Parliament Raia Hadsell, Senior Research Scientist at DeepMind Stan Boland, CEO of FiveAI

The full programme can be found here.

Dates: 22 24 March Venue: EICC, The Exchange, 150 Morrison St., EH3 8EE Edinburgh, Scotland Participants: 800+ participants expected Website: http://www.erf2017.eu/

Press Passes: Journalists may request free press badges, or support with interviews, by emailing publicity.chairs@erf2017.eu. Please see the website for additional information.

OrganisersThe European Robotics Forum is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe. This years conference is hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

About euRobotics and SPARC euRobotics is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels with the objective to make robotics beneficial for Europes economy and society. With more than 250 member organisations, euRobotics also provides the European Robotics Community with a legal entity to engage in a public/private partnership with the European Commission, named SPARC.

SPARC, the public-private partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and euRobotics, is a European initiative to maintain and extend Europes leadership in civilian robotics. Its aim is to strategically position European robotics in the world thereby securing major benefits for the European economy and the society at large.

SPARC is the largest research and innovation programme in civilian robotics in the world, with 700 million euro in funding from the European Commission between 2014 to 2020, which is tripled by European industry to yield a total investment of 2.1 billion euro. SPARC will stimulate an ever more vibrant and effective robotics community that collaborates in the successful development of technical transfer and commercial exploitation.

http://www.eu-robotics.net http://www.eu-robotics.net/sparc

Press contact details:

Sabine Hauert, Robohub President Sabine.Hauert@robohub.org

OR

Kassie Perlongo, Managing Editor Kassie.Perlongo@robohub.org

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Living and working with robots: European Robotics Forum to focus on robotics markets and future of work - Robohub

If Chesna Kern had to describe her robotics team in one word it would be unique. Out of seven team members, five of them are girls.

And that is so rare here, Kern said.

The 17-year-old team captain navigated her team, Team 4495 or Haywire, through the weekend of FIRST Robotics Pacific Northwest Competition at Central Washington University. The Kittitas County team, and more than 1,000 high school students from Portland to Spokane, participated in qualifying rounds where robots performed tasks to gain points over the weekend.

Story continues below video

While Haywire did not advance past a quarterfinal round, the teams season was unforgettable. The local students left the competition ranked 15th out of 145 teams in the Pacific Northwest District.

The team also brought home the Engineering Inspiration Award, advancing them to a regional competition next month in Cheney. The award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a teams school and community.

The award was given to the team because of Parker and Greta Mayers work with Nerdy Girls, a robotics nonprofit aimed at getting more girls into tech, and because of the teams work on setting up an after-school robotics program for middle schoolers at Thorp Schools.

The steampunk theme of the competition required robots to deliver gears to an airship for its rotors, picking up and shooting wiffle balls for fuel, and as a finishing move the robots had to pull themselves up on a rope for liftoff. Teams were in sets of threes, called alliances, allowing different teams and their robots to specialize in a specific task.

Breakthrough season

The team was unique for its composition of girls, but also because of its small size and its limited access to resources and funding.

The difference was obvious in the pits, where teams set up pop-up shops to work on their robots. Teams surrounding Haywire easily had more than 30 team members, all equipped with state-of-the-art tools and mentors fresh out of the technology sectors on the West Side.

Haywire is still growing in size; last year they only had four members. They began expanding the business side and community outreach aspect of their team this season with the help of retired Boeing project manager Synneva Wang.

This has seriously been the year of breakthroughs for our team, said Parker Mayer, the teams programmer.

Before Wangs arrival, the team spent most of its time working on the robot. Since then, the team has introduced a middle school coding class and after school robotics program at Thorp Schools, a summer robotics program where they recruit from, and Mayer has broken ground on a nonprofit called Nerdy Girls aimed at getting more girls into robotics.

Wang came in, Mayer said, got the team organized with a plan on how they would offer robotics to other kids in the area. She even brought over a programming mentor from the Issaquah Robotics Society, her previous team, to teach them new coding. And its worked.

Were really proud of ourselves, last year being a defensive bot we had to get pulled along by other people, but this year were scoring ourselves, and weve just made really big strides, Kern said.

Their new mentor, who spent 30 years working for Boeing, met the team last season while mentoring for the Issaquah team. Wang said the Haywire team was humble and eager to learn. She drives over from Bellevue at least once a week for the teams meet ups.

Its a beautiful drive across the mountains, its just 90 minutes, and theyre a great team that really want to learn and thats what its all about, being a mentor and helping kids learn, she said.

Wang hopes the team receives the recognition it deserves in the community and eventually grows to a sustainable level.

New members

Faith Cooper, 12, is a new member and a product of a successful robotics summer program. Cooper, who is also part of Mayers Nerdy Girls program, was helping on the field as a human player. She was on the airship in charge of gathering gears.

Its amazing, I love it so much, she said about her first season.

A pair of siblings also joined the team for the season. Sophomore Taliesin Tenerelli, 14, fed gears to the robots via a chute. He had previous experience in a younger league called the FIRST LEGO League.

The competition, he said, was a lot more casual than he thought itd be.

Its really fun, he said.

His older sister, Raine, was in charge of putting together an engineering handbook that outlines the rules of the game and explains what their robot can do. She had joined the team as a freshman, and took a break to focus on Running Start classes at Central, and then rejoined for her junior year.

This season is the last one for Kern, who will be graduating and hopefully heading off to Gonzaga University for mechanical engineering, something she said she would have never been interested in without the FIRST program.

Its kind of bittersweet because Im going to be going to college and thats going to be a whole new experience, and Im not going to have the stress of this but then at the same time Im going to really miss talking to the other teams, she said. Theres nothing like this, so Ill probably end up volunteering.

Kern has been on the team for four years, volunteering when she was in the eighth grade.

I think people dont realize just how many opportunities there are in this program. It looks like its just building and designing a robot, but its really not. Theres so much more to it, she said.

Team members are involved in design, programming, public speaking, business plans and community outreach. And with a team as small as Haywire, everyone gets their hands on a little piece of the process, which is good news for Mayer.

Whats really cool about this year is that were really small so everybody is getting a ton of experience, which is going to help us next year with training newbies and getting a bunch of more kids on the team, Mayer said. I just think next year is going to be bigger and better. Im super excited.

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Local robotics team advances to regional competition - Daily Record-News

A group of schoolchildren who won a robotics competitionwere subjected to a barrage of racist abuse from some rival pupils and their parents who shouted: Go back to Mexico.

It was the first time that pupils from Pleasant Run Elementary School had entered the robotics challenge. Their victory over the youngsters from other Indianapolis schools, put them a step closer to the state championship.

Yet as the children, aged nine and ten, left the event and walked out to the parking area, some of the children they had just beaten, along with their parents, unleashed racist comments.

They were pointing at us and saying that Oh my God, they are champions of the city all because they are Mexican. They are Mexican and they are ruining our country, Diocelina Herrera, the mother of student Angel Herrera-Sanchez, told the Indianapolis Star.

The incident in the parking area had reportedly been preceded by racist comments that were being whispered inside the gymnasium at Plainfield High School.

The team from Pleasant Run Elementary School, Indiana, included three youngsters who are Latino and two who are African American. The children in the other 20 teams taking part in February contest were largely white.

John Oliver makes fun of Donald Trump refusing to shake Angela Merkel's hand

For the most part, the robotics world is kind of a white world, said Lisa Hopper, the teams coach. Theyre just not used to seeing a team like our kids. And they see us and they think were not going to be competition. Then were in first place the whole day and they cant take it.

In the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, teachers from schools across the country reported an increase in incidents of racist abuse. They said they children from immigrant families were often told to 'go home'.

Sabrina Kapp, director of communications for Plainfield Community School Corporation, said: We dont condone that behaviour; we dont tolerate it in our schools. We talk a lot about community values here. That is simply not something that anybody associated with Plainfield schools would put up with.

The newspaper reported that the children Pleasant Run Elementary School responded in the best way possible - by going on to win the prize for best robot design and engineering at the state championships. Their win means they are going to participate in the Vex IQ World Championship next month in Louisville, Kentucky.

They yelled out rude comments, and I think that they can talk all they want because at the end were still going to worlds, 10-year-old team leader Elijah Goodwin, told the newspaper.

Its not going to affect us at all. Im not surprised because Im used to this kind of behaviour. When you have a really good team, people will treat you this way. And we do have a pretty good team.

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'Go back to Mexico': Children who won elementary school robotics ... - The Independent

BEAST Robotics' robot will soon take to the field at the FIRST Robotics Wisconsin Regional competition this weekend.(Photo: Submitted)

Soon, 76 Elmbrook high school students will see the lights come on and the engine rev up on a six-week long project.

BEAST Robotics is set to be one of approximately 60 teams competing at the FIRST Robotics Wisconsin Regional Competition at the UWM Panther Arena this weekend.

The robotics season sees teams from around the world tasked with spending six weeks building a robot. That part of the process wrapped up in February and now the collaborationbetween Brookfield Central and Brookfield East high schools is in the midst of competition season.

"Every team starts the same day with the same challenge and at the end of six weeks you have to bag your robot, lock it up and you can't touch it," team adviser Richard Oakes said. "Competitions run from March into early April and then if you qualify at one of the regionals you get to go to the world championships in St. Louis."

BEAST has won its regional and been able to attend worlds two of the last three years.

FIRST Robotics' challenge for teams varies every year. This year, six robots from six different teams will take part in a 3 versus 3 team competition.

"The game completely changes, but it's always about manipulating a game piece. This year there's two airships that are supposed to be getting ready for flight and your robot delivers gears to the airships to get their motors running," Oakes said. "At the end your robot has to climb up a rope."

Oakes is one of 20 mentors involved with BEAST Robotics.

Interest in the robotics team has spiked in recent years. The program first started 11 years ago as a Brookfield East team, but also was opened up to students from Brookfield Central five years ago.

"When we first started we were probably 15 to 20 kids, but in the last few years we've seen some pretty significant growth," Oakes said.

While approximately two-thirds of students involved in BEAST help to either build the robot or program its software, the team is about much more.

"We have a business team that takes care of things like sponsorships, we've got social media people," Oakes said. "It's like a business in that sense. There's a marketing part, a business part and of course the building part."

Oakes, who works in computers, said he's constantly impressed with the students he gets to work with.

"It's kind of humbling because of what the students bring to the table, how hard they work, how much they know and how much they pour into it," Oakes said. "It's really cool to watch the students grow. A lot of them I have for four years and they go on to have amazing careers."

For more information on the team go tohttps://www.beastrobotics.com/.

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Brookfield robotics team prepares for regional competition - Brookfield-Elm Grove Now

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The Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School robotics team was District Event Champion at Waterford Mott

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Times Herald 7:31 a.m. ET March 21, 2017

Electrical and software mentor Phil Peloso, with the Cardinal Mooney RoboSapiens, works on the robot with team members in preparation for the 2016 FIRST Robotics District event at Marysville High School.(Photo: JEFFREY M. SMITH, JEFFREY M. SMITH, TIMES HERALD)Buy Photo

The Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School robotics team, the RoboSapiens, was District Event Champion at the FIRSTRobotics Waterford Mott District Event, March 16-18.

The team earned 42 points toward the FIRST Robotics state championship, April 12-15 at Saginaw Valley State University, according to a news release from the Blue Water Area Robotics Alliance.

The RoboSapiens were part of an alliance that finished with two wins in the semifinals and finals.

St. Clair High School's Flurb team and the Richmond Blue Devils were members of the same alliance during Saturday's elimination round.They were knocked out of the quarterfinals with two losses.

Flurb received the Excellence in Engineering Ward sponsored by Delphi. The award goes to the team whose robot "features an elegant and advantageous machine feature." Flurb's robot received the award for its rope-climbing mechanism. The team earned 26 points toward a berth at the state championship.

The Blue Devils received the Judges' Award, which goes to the team whose "unique efforts, performance or dynamics" aredeemed to merit recognition, according to the news release. The Blue Devils earned 22 points toward the state championship.

The Yale High School Jiggawattz and the Algonac Full Metal Muskrats also competed in Saturday's elimination round. Yale received the Highest Rookie Seed and Rookie Inspiration awards. The team finished with 30 points.

Algonac finished with 29 points.

The second annual FIRST Robotics Marysville District Event will be April 6-8 at Marysville High School.

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Mooney robotics team is event champion - Port Huron Times Herald

Fresh off a victory at a tournament in Worcester, members of the Terror Bots pose in front of their robot, Nugget. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / AMANDA BURKE

LEOMINSTER -- A 76-pound robot is quick on its "feet" and excels at climbing ropes.

The robot, called "Nugget," was nimble enough to net a team of teenage engineers two first-place wins at a Worcester regional robotics tournament earlier this month.

If the robot's winning streak continues, its human makers plan to gild its moniker and call it something new: "Golden Nugget."

"We're in a very good position to advance to the regional championships," said Jacob Janssens, a mentor to 15 teenagers on the robotics team at the Boys & Girls Club of Leominster and Fitchburg.

The team, known as Terror Bots, is participating in its sixth district championship tournament sponsored by FIRST Robotics, an organization founded in 1989 by medical-device inventor and Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate Dean Kamen.

Under this year's Steam Punk theme, teams who enter the competition pay $5,000 and must conceive, design, and build a robot that is capable of shuffling large yellow gears across the playing field before climbing up and hanging on a three-foot tall velcro rope, a move that wins the team precious bonus points.

Terror Bots synched the number-one spot at the tournament's finale at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute on March 10, when it scored the highest number of points out of 40 competing teams from across New England.

Comprised of students from seven area middle and high schools, Terror Bots also won the tournament's "Chairman's Award," a title given by the judges to the team that demonstrates the highest degree of "gracious professionalism" over the course of the three-day event.

Funded through grants and donors including Boston Scientific and Comcast, Terror Bots is one of only a few robotics teams in the nation that is associated with a Boys & Girls club, said Jon Blodgett, the teen-center director of the B & G Club of Leominster and Fitchburg.

"We focus on presenting kids with opportunities they never would have had otherwise," said Blodgett.

Terror Bots is the first-seeded team heading into its next competition beginning on March 31 at Hartford Public High School in New Hampshire, which is also a qualifying match for the New England District Championship in April.

Fitchburg State University applied mathematics student and Terror Bots mentor Paul Lefebvre, 27, said years ago, when he was in high school, membership on his West Springfield school's robotics team was the sole source of motivation propelling him towards graduation.

"I was a lost child," said Lefebvre. "The only reason I got the grades I needed to stay in school is because I was on the robotics team."

One of Terror Bots' youngest members, J.C. Oquendo, 14, joined the team last October, when, as an aspiring paramedic, he knew nothing about engineering.

"I had no clue what I was doing," said Oquendo, who said he now hopes to become a plane pilot. "It was like that weird feeling when you don't know what to do. Then all of the sudden, it clicks."

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Local robotics team is racking up the wins - Sentinel & Enterprise

>(L-R: Ryan Colby, Sampson Lee, Zaid Bezzaz interviewubg with judges at 2017 Washington State VEX IQ Challenge Championships)

Robotics students from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 in North Delridge are going to the VEX IQ Challenge World Championships next month! This is just the second year for the robotics program at the school, launched by technology teacher Julie Schmick last year, and the STEM students are the only team from a Seattle school to make it to worlds. Heres the announcement:

A team of fifth-grade students from Louisa Boren STEM K-8 is headed to Louisville, Kentucky to represent the school at the VEX Robotics World Championship.Four robots from STEM competed in the Washington State VEX IQ Challenge Championships in Ellensburg, Washington on March 11th. Two robots made it to the final matches, and a third took home the competitions top honor, qualifying the team for the world championships April 23-25, 2017.

The Excellence Award, the highest honor at a VEX robotics competition, was presented to the drivers of Robot 10966C, Zaid Bezzaz, Ryan Colby, and Sampson Lee. The award goes to a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a high-quality VEX robotics program, taking into consideration a teams behavior, sportsmanship, and professionalism at the event, in addition to robot design, driving skills, and performance in tournament matches. The approach demonstrated by the STEM K-8 teams in working on their robots and participating in competitions is representative of the schools project-based learning curriculum, as is the student engineers ability to clearly articulate the work they put into designing and building their robots.

In VEX competitions, teams of students are tasked with designing and building a robot to play against other teams in game-based engineering challenges.The VEX IQ Crossover Challenge provides elementary and middle school students with exciting, open-ended robotics and research projects that enhance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills through hands-on, student-centered learning. Two robots compete as an alliance in 60-second teamwork matches, working collaboratively to score points.Additional points are earned through skill tests, documentation reviews, and team member interviews.

Thanks to parent Lisa Dawson for first word on this, and for the photos, including this one of all the students who competed at the state championships:

In all, more than a thousand teams from around the world will be competing at worlds but the STEM students are the only ones at elementary level from a Seattle school. Robotics is a before-/after-school enrichment program at STEM, whose PTA is covering the event-registration fees for the students, while their families must cover the cost of traveling to Louisville. Theyre crowdfunding for help with that if youre interested in helping, heres the YouCaring page.

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CONGRATULATIONS! Louisa Boren STEM K-8 robotics team headed to world championships - West Seattle Blog (blog)