Robotics competition events help teens express creativity – Monroe Evening News

VEX Robotics and VEXIQ teams competed Saturday at Monroe County Community College.

Tessa Garlepied and her teammates steadied their robot, then drove the machine toward the middle of the ring before throwing the orange cube.

The teenagers then used their controllers to pick up several yellow stars and do the same.

Tessa, 16, is a member of Monroe Countys Team Virus VEX robotics team, which was among more than 70 teams that competed Saturday in either the VEX or VEXIQ contest held at Monroe County Community College.

This is a difficult challenge, the homeschooler said. We havent done as well as we did at our last tournament but we are up against some really good teams.

Still, Tessa and her teammates were optimistic about their remaining matches Saturday afternoon and won their next one.

Tessa, who is in her fourth season of robotics, said she really enjoys the competitions. The team participates in about six contests a year.

Even though the competitions stress me out, I love the competitions, Tessa said. I also really like the building process.

Each season offers a different challenge. This year in the Starstruck contest, the student-constructed robots earned points for tossing stars and cubes across a large white fence. Teams could also earn points for having one robot hanging at the end of the match from their hanging bar.

This is a difficult challenge because you are constantly doing something all the time, Tessa said.

Matthew Nelson, 15 and a student at Monroe County Community College, is also a member of Team Virus, which had four groups competing Saturday.

In his group of four, Matthew agreed the competition was tough but he still enjoys participating.

I really like the camaraderie, he said. And I like that you really have to work as a team and depend on each other.

Teams from around the state participated in the event, which featured students from third grade through seniors in high school.

Sebastian Vanadia, 12, is a seventh-grader at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Pontiac. He and his three other teammates enjoy participating in the VEXIQ division, which is for younger teams.

Its fun to build the robot, Sebastian said. It took us a couple of hours.

The younger groups challenge Crossover was similar to their older counterparts having to get Hexballs across the other side of the match area. Points could also be scored when robots were parked or balanced on a bridge in the middle of the course.

Teammate Joshua Lyijynen, 12, said robotics is another way for him to use his hands to construct objects, which he has enjoyed for a while.

I love to build Legos and now with the robot I can help build something with a motor, Joshua said.

Robotics also gives participants the ability to think outside of the box, Joshua said.

I like it because you can be very creative, he said. We didnt like our first robot, so we built another one.

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Robotics competition events help teens express creativity - Monroe Evening News