The phrase “3 – 2 – 1 Go!” rang out 318 times in the Springer Middle School on Saturday March 23 as 163 Roboteers played “Next Level” with their VEXIQ robots. The event is the largest robotics event in the Delmarva area. Teams came from the nine elementary schools in the Brandywine School District, New Castle County Libraries Robotics programs, Charter School of New Castle and a home schooled team.
The event started at 9AM with Foster Schucker, Chief Roboteer of STEM Robotics welcoming everyone to the event. Kristin Haroldsdottir, William Savage, Zoe Rawheiser, all sophomore clarinetist at Mt Pleasant High School played the Star Spangled Banner. Josh Lesser the Science Division announcer introduced State Representatives Debra Heffernan and Krista Giffith along with State Senator Laura Sturgeon, who all gave short remarks about the importance of STEM programs.
In honor of Women’s History Month, all 8 of the fields were named after famous women in Science (see below).
Promptly at 9:30 AM dual “3 – 2 – 1 Go” started off the qualification rounds in the Science and Math divisions. Each team would play 14 qualification matches across the day. Teams are paired randomly and with 14 matches robots get to play with a wide variety of teams.
Mid-morning, Delaware Governor John Carney arrived and spent the next two hours talking to roboteers and parents. He watched quite a few teams play and said he was impressed with the skills on display.
Throughout the day John Penrod from the Delaware State police demoed their Bomb Robot. It’s very agile, it was able to reach up and stack hubs on the field. Very deft handling. The roboteers were enthralled with the demos that he did on moving around and picking things up.
Roboteers were not the only people showing their best, the Springer Family Association served up an amazing variety of foods from hotdogs, mac & cheese, cheese fries, pizza with a huge selection of drinks, snacks and candy.
After lunch the roboteers played another 74 total matches as they battled to become the best teams in their divisions. Repairs were made, improvements were added and driving skills got better as the day continued.
Senator Tom Carper arrived to kick off the finals rounds at 2:30 PM. The top 20 teams representing both Math and Science Divisions were paired off with a final chance to prove they were the best.
Tournament Teamwork Awards — Final Standings
- Teamwork Champions: Claymont Tesla, Claymont Boeing – 23 Points
- Teamwork Second Place: Lombardy Tesla, Hanby Beetles – 16 Points
- Teamwork Third Place: Claymont Kaloke, Lombardy Google – 15 Points
- Teamwork Fourth Place: Rt 9 Libary Savage,Lanashire Gazelles – 13 Points
- Teamwork Fifth Place: Lancashire Big Termites, Forwood Octopus – 12 Points
- Teamwork Sixth Place: Lombardy Amazon, Carrcroft Tiny Turtles, Claymont MIT, Claymont Pixar, Maple Lane Rocky, Rt 9 Library Newton
- Teamwork Ninth Place: Forwood Sharks, Mt Pleasant Bomb Squad
- Teamwork Tenth Place: Mt Pleasant Slim Shady, Mt Pleasant Fluffy Unicorns
(A note, Claymont Kaloke and Lancashire Google robots were ranked in ninth place before their amazing leap to third place!)
At the end of the finals, Senator Carper got a driving lesson from the two Delaware Teams that are going to the VEXIQ World Championship in April 2019. He drove with Noah, Ellington, Anthony and Aarush. He managed to score the all important 4 point High Hang! Good luck to Claymont Boeing and Claymont Tesla at Worlds!
Other Awards that were given out at the Extravaganza:
- Amaze Award: The all girl Hanby Hornets showcased their unique lift linkage and 3 motor H-Drive. The H-drive gives “Hornet” the ability to move left and right without turning
- Build Award: Claymont Lenovo caught the judges eye with their 4 bar arm that was coupled with a scoop that would wrangle two of the Hubs
- Volunteer of the Year: Stacy Karpinski – Stacy has been a key person in planning for smaller events like PS DuPont VIQ, the dual High School and Middle School VRC event, along with planning and execution of the showcase Delmarva Extravaganza!
This is the second year for the Delmarva Extravaganza, the event keeps getting better and better. Lot of people helped:
- Event Planning: Stacy Karpinski, Michelle Kutch, Jackie Chesworth, Omar Reid and Foster Schucker
- Division Management: John Kain, Steve Rhoads – Math Division, Heather Handler, Foster Schucker – Science Division
- Event Announcers: Josh Lesser – Science and Finals, Paul Kutch – Math
- Springer Middle School: Tracy Woodson and Omar Reid
- Friday night setup: Will Elmore, Louis Mays, Khawja Ahmed, Abu Shaeed, Linc Hohler
- Saturday support and cleanup: Will Elmore, Ted Marakowski, Khawja Ahmed, Armuda Armuda, Linc Hohler
- Queue managers: Honor Society Students from Mt Pleasant, Concord, and PS DuPont
- Volunteer food: Brandywine High Culinary Arts Students (Note from the author, this is the first event where the food was amazing. Bagels with smears, and juice for breakfast, lunch of three kinds of cold cuts, cheeses, amazing rolls, chips, cookies and drinks!!)
- Scorekeepers and Referees: Jason Heller, Chris Lake, Donna Janicki, Marissa Janicki, Becky Glenn, Zack Flowers, Matt Janicki, Ruthanne Dion, Daniel dePersia, Mairi Moore
- Event Support Team: Kay Hossler, Patty Staker, Greg Xenakes, Joni Ciolko, Dana Geisenbeger, Jen Xenakes, Kay Hossler, John DeSilva, Ann Hall Netferdorf, Michelle Hossler
- VIP escorts: Mark Holodick- Superintendent, Cora Scott, Director of Elementary Education and Cary Riches, Director of Curriculum
- Scoring, event management hardware and computers: STEM Robotics
- Last moment Assembly and fixing stuff we forgot: Linc Hohler
Thanks to all the parents, teachers and librarians that mentored teams this year, it’s a very long 6 month season. You are making a huge difference to the roboteers.
A super thanks for all the parent that came to the event and got your roboteer from build sessions and to the many events. (Each team played at 3 events, some played at 4). Without your support there would not be a robotics program.
Field names:
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler — First African American Female to Earn an MD
- Katherine Johnson — Math wizard NASA Apollo Mission, was key in figuring out the orbital dynamics
- Mae Carol Jemison — American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she served as an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
- Rosalind Franklin — English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, and viruses
- Ada Lovelace — English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
- Chien-Shinug Wu — Chinese-American experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the field of nuclear physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium metal into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion.
- Dian Fossey — American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups starting in 1966. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda.
- Grace Hopper — American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first languages COBOL.
