The New Sweden School students in grades 3-8 participated weekly in a robotics class as part of the school’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiatives. They ended the year with an exciting and energetic all-student exhibition entitled “Pentathlon+1” on May 19, 2015.
Grade 5-8 teacher Ernie Easter introduced the competition by describing the six events: Drag Race, Oval Track Race, Robot Pull, Hill Climb, Seek & Find, and Speed Build. He explained each student was part of a four-person team, but worked with only one partner on three of the six total events. As a team, the four students covered all six events. The 40 students designed, built and programmed their Lego NXT robots for several weeks in preparation for the competition.
Easter made the connection to Aroostook County agriculture by citing a University of Illinois publication, Impact Illinois 2015, in which a county Extension robotics program there was explained by saying, “Modern agriculture — from the dairy industry to the cultivation of fruit trees, grains, corn, and soybeans — uses robotic technology every day.”
The competition began with the Drag Race and Robot Pull (similar to a tractor pull) events being run simultaneously. Judges Susan Plissey and Brian Jenkins presided. Ariel Plucker’s robot won the Drag Race, and Walker Clark’s won the Robot Pull.
Next up were the Hill Climb and Oval Track Race. Four teams had robots that made it up a 50-degree slope; no teams were able to program their robot to drive all the way around the oval track (possibly because they had been designed to run on a tile floor, not the wooden gymnasium floor).
Finally, the Seek & Find and Speed Build events were held. No robots were able to complete the Seek & Find (finding and pushing bottles off a table without the robot falling off itself); Silas McNeally and Evan Margeson had the fastest time in the Speed Build.
The students were able to watch the progress of the competition as scores were tallied in a spreadsheet being displayed on the school’s Tandberg System screen. The overall winners were the three members of the Grade 5-8 team of Silas McNeally, Evan Margeson and Reid Margeson.
Each young man received a “medal” designed by Principal Laurie Spooner and made on the school’s new 3D-printer, a grant purchase made possible by the Perloff Family Foundation. Spooner demonstrated the printer throughout the evening.
At the end of the evening, Spooner said, “I had hesitated to call this the First Annual Robotics Competition, but with the response from the both the students and their parents, I know there will be many more.”
