The Tampa Bay area
just keeps producing some excellent robotic programs. Earlier last month, the Tampa Bay area played host to three
championship robotics tournaments. Over 300 students from Central West Florida
and the Grand Cayman Islands competed at Hillsborough Community College’s
inaugural FIRST LEGO League Regional Robotics Championship last month. Winning
teams qualify for the State Championship to be held May 7.
The VEX Statewide Championship was
held at the Florida fairgrounds. Congratulations
to our area VEX winners moving on to VEX Worlds. They include students at
Coleman Middle School in Tampa who took home the VEX IQ Teamwork Champion's
Award and a homeschool team from Pasco County, Trinity Robotics, which advanced
to Worlds as part of the Winning Alliance as well as receiving the Skills Award
in both categories. If you haven't checked out the new VEX platform, put that
on your off season list this summer!
On the same day, the FIRST Tech
Challenge (FTC) robotics program held its Florida State
Championship at St. Leo
University in Pasco County. Congratulations to
FTC Masquerade from Middleton High School for once again winning the Florida
State Championship and setting a new World Record Score. In addition to proving
to be the best performing team in the state, the Middleton High School teams
also mentored other teams by making an early season video about their robot
build, literally helping many rookie teams get a robot on the field this
season. FIRST prides itself on having teams that not only strive for success,
but also inspire other teams to be successful as well. FTC Masquerade as well
as FTC Maelstrom, from Middleton High School, both qualified to compete at the
FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, MO in April.
Additionally, the
Central West Florida FIRST LEGO League region held its championship robotics
tournament at Hillsborough Community College, Plant City campus. The
winning team, LEGO Masterz, a community team from Tampa, will represent the
Central West Florida region at the International FIRST LEGO League Invitational
in Carlsbad, California at Lego Land.
A regional
qualifier for FIRST Robotics Challenge was held in Myrtle Beach Florida on
February 27-28th
for FRC teams hoping to qualify for the World Championship!
FRC Team 1369 from Middleton High School was captain of the winning
alliance qualifying their team to compete in St. Louis, MO at the FIRST World
Festival. If you are reading closely, you understand that three robotics
teams from Middleton High School will be traveling to the largest robotics
championship in the world in April. Middleton Magnet High School is also now the first public high
school in Hillsborough County, FL, to offer its students the opportunity to
earn a Varsity Letter
in Robotics. Congratulations
to Principal, Kim Moore and her outstanding staff for providing quality
mentoring and robotics engineering education to students at Middleton.
Robotics season is
not quite over in the Tampa Bay Area. Thanks to sponsors like the Suncoast
Credit Union Foundation and the Florida High Tech Corridor, the FIRST LEGO
League Statewide Championship will be held on May 7, 2016 at HCC’s Dale Mabry
Campus. Statewide teams will compete for the State Championship title.
“Robotics is a
sport for the 21st century. The skills students can learn, including
teamwork, collaboration
and problem solving, are the same as those learned in
other sports, but unlike most sports, robotics provides all students – no
matter their background, or physical ability – the opportunity to become a STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and math) professional,” said FIRST President
Donald E. Bossi. “That’s why FIRST believes all states should
recognize the hard work of students, coaches and mentors with statewide
support.” For more information about robotics in education and the FIRST
robotics programs, contact Desh Bagley, FLL Affiliate Partner at HCC at dbagley5@hccfl.edu.
For information on FLATE’s local and statewide robotics camps this summer visit
fl-ate.org/programs/summer-camps,
or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org.
(This article was contributed by Desh
Bagley, FLL Affiliate Partner at HCC)
No comments :
Post a Comment