FLORENCE-North Alabama hosted the 2018 UNA Robotics Competition on Saturday, February 24. This was the the first time UNA has hosted an event like this, which will feature more than 200 students on 45 teams from more than 20 schools and three states.
“Coding is the language of our world,” said Lee Brownell, AMSTI specialist and event coordinator. “Nearly everything you interact with on a daily basis is computer controlled. We all need to know more about how and why they work. Also, the skills students learn while coding can improve their learning in other areas,” he said.
To compete, teams must bring their own robots, which have to fit in a 13x13x13 inch cube. Teams will then compete in three fields, each with a different puzzle. Teams are unaware of the puzzles until the actual competition.
Each team has three hours to score as many points as possible, with 90 seconds on each station. Students can retry any field as many times as they want, within the three-hour time limit. Additionally, the robot must be autonomous.
The teams in grades K-second, third through fifth, sixth through eighth, and ninth through 12th had to solve the same timed problems using robots they made.
K-2 – 1 – Tharptown Elementary Little Wildbots; 2 – GW Trenholm GWT Miracle Workers; 3 – Riverhill School, Team 1.
3-5 – 1 – Barkley Ridge Elementary BBE, Girbots; 2 – Russellville Elementary RES Steam Team 5; 3 – Russellville Elementary RES Team 1.
6-8 – 1 — Muscle Shoals Middle School Trojan Robotics; 2 – Lauderdale 4-H Advanced Robotics; 3 – Fort Payne Middle School Robocats.
9-12 – 1 – Central High School, Team 1; 2 – Muscle Shoals Career Academy Muscle Shoals Robotics; 3 – Creekside Academy Creekside Technology.
The Grand Champion — Central High School K–2
