HOB teams shine in robotics competition
H.O. Brittingham Elementary robotics teams rocketed to success Jan. 18 at the Bots at the Beach Vex IQ Challenge.
HOB teacher Mark Morey said four of the school’s five teams finished in the top eight among 17 elementary teams.
“Two teams were ranked first and second after the 10 qualifying matches,” Morey said. “Elena Booth and Maranda Pittman were partnered with Ace Crandall and Alex Gonzalez-Ramirez for the final match of the day. They fell just a bit short, allowing the team from Epworth Christian School to pull out the tournament win.”
Morey said two teams - Daniel Emerson and Hannah Wells, and Ashley Preston and Amelia Blevins - had a strong finals run, jumping from seventh and eight places to finish second overall.
A team comprising former HOB students Mason Trench, Isabella Windsor, Madison Lubinieki and Ava Webb won the Teamwork Challenge in the middle school division. Former HOB student Matthew Morey and partner Jenna Thompson took the Middle School Skills Challenge award for the day.
The former HOB students attend middle schools where robotics is not offered, so Morey agreed to coach them.
This year’s challenge, called Squared Away, required two drivers per team to take turns operating robots on a 4-by-8-foot rectangular field. The object of the 60-second challenge is to use robots to place cubes on top of towers for points, and to place orange spheres on top of or inside cubes for additional points.
Other participating schools included teams from Indian River, Parkside in Salisbury, and Georgetown elementary and middle schools.
Morey said his teams used the tournament as a practice round to learn how to score more points in advance of regional competition.
“It gives us the opportunity to look at what we need to be competitive,” he said. “It gives us a full day to practice and engineer any improvements.”
Coaches must be as hands-off as possible regarding the robots, which are designed and built by students.
“If the adults are touching the robots, they’re doing it wrong,” Morey said.
After last year’s success and interest, HOB now has a new, dedicated robotics room with movable carts for building robots, charging stations, a tall storage bin and practice playing fields.
When the club originated, Morey said, organizers required the club have at least as many girls as boys.
“We have more girls on the team than boys this year,” Morey said. “We’re really pushing the STEM field as a career for girls.”
Teams will next compete at Delmarva Regionals March 7 at Sussex Central High School for a chance to move on to the World competition in Louisville, Ky., in April.
