SWEDESBORO — Congratulations to the ROBOTECS, one of the teams from the South Jersey Robotics Club, who took home first place in Robotics Programming on Saturday, Jan. 11 at Salem Community College for the FLL Competition (FIRST=For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
These students have met twice a week at the Trinity Episcopal Church Parish Hall for over six months in preparation for the competition. They learned how to work with a new robot command program, (the EV3), designed a robust robot using basic engineering principals and spent extensive time on devising a solution for the Nature’s Fury competition and Core Values.
The 10 boys on the team each had an important role.
They combined research efforts, interviews with hurricane experts, and a love for technology, to brew up some ingenious real life solutions for natural disasters and the robot challenge. They also learned about 3dCAD modeling and created a terrific video demonstration that was presented to Mayor Tom Fromm and the Swedesboro Woolwich Environmental Commission. The support and questions from Fromm and the Environmental Commission were valuable to the team and incorporated into their final presentation for the “H.E.L.P” (Hurricane Energy Life Plant).
The process was designed to capture the severe wind and water energy from a hurricane and convert it to useful energy and clean water while providing shelter for people and pets.
The team had a community outreach table at the Swedesboro Woolwich Day and SW Health Care event last year which demonstrated a line following robot that provided gifts to visitors.
The FLL competition allows children grades 4-8 to compete. There were only a few trophies to take home and 21 teams competing in this competition.
Congratulations to the dedicated coaches Brian Blair and Michael Glanfield and the ROBOTECS team members including Jacob Blair, Andrew Christine, Johnathan Friedrich, David Glanfield, Michael Glanfield, Matthew Hasenauer, Pratik Jacobs, Nick Kalfas, Jake MacNamee, and Gavin Sidhu. The team would also like to offer a very special thanks to South Jersey Robotics, Rosanne Danner and Michelle Crivella who dedicated so much time and made this event possible for these terrific kids.
