Author: Foster

The Brandywine School District will host the largest VEX IQ robotics tournament on the Delmarva Peninsula this weekend, bringing together teams from school districts in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania as well as Delaware Library Maker Space teams. Of the 49 teams that are scheduled to participate, 38 are from BSD’s nine elementary schools.

The VEXIQ Extravaganza tournament will be held at Springer Middle School, 2220 Shipley Road in Wilmington, on Saturday, March 23. The first match will begin at 9 a.m., and the finals should be held at approximately 2:45-3:00 p.m., with awards following at 3:30 p.m. Approximately 200 students, most in grades 4 and 5, will compete.

Two very special guests will join the roboteers on Saturday. Governor John Carney is scheduled to visit at 11 a.m. to mingle with the students during competition and offer words of encouragement. At 2:45 p.m., U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester will pay a visit. Prior to the final match of the tournament, she and Cora Scott, BSD Executive Director of Elementary Education, will pair up to play a Teamwork Challenge match against the top-scoring student team as a way to encourage more young women to pursue studies, hobbies, and careers in STEM-related fields. As neither the Congresswoman nor Ms. Scott have any VEX robotics experience, they will receive a short tutorial from students prior to their match.

VEX IQ is the elementary arm of VEX Robotics. Teams of students build robots using the engineering design process: Ask (identify and research a problem), Imagine (develop possible solutions), Plan (select a promising solution), Create (build and test a prototype), and Improve (redesign as needed). The student-built robots are then put to the test in competition. This year’s challenge is called Next Level and involves alliances of teams working together to move and stack pieces on a large playing board to earn points, as well as a timed robot skills challenge.

The Brandywine School District introduced VEX IQ programming in 2017. Students that participated benefited from improved mathematics performance, increased classroom focus, and positive behavior. The following year, the program doubled in size. All Brandywine School District elementary buildings have a robotics program that is supported by teachers, parents, and administrators. BSD’s program is now the largest VEX IQ program in the State of Delaware. Three BSD teams have qualified for the VEX World Championships this spring – two from Claymont Elementary School and one from Springer Middle School.

High School Division
Going to the World Championship

• Excellence Award – 9020A Cape Henlopen Cape Henlopen High School
• Tournament Champions – 3389E Tec-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Tournament Champions – 3389C TEC-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club

Other Awards

• Tournament Finalists – 9020A Cape Henlopen Cape Henlopen High School
• Tournament Finalists – 28724X WNA Maroon West Nottingham Academy
• Design Award – 3348B Indians Indian River High School
• Judges Award – 17258B Brandywine Brandywine High School
• Robot Skills Champion – 3389E Tec-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Volunteer of the Year – John Kain – Mount Pleasant High School



Middle School Division
Going to the World Championship

• Excellence Award – 90967F Springer F – Mickey Bean Springer Middle School

Other Awards

• Tournament Champions – 8475C Caspian Tigers Talley Middle School
• Tournament Champions – 8475A Asian Tigers Talley Middle School
• Tournament Finalists – 8890C IronRAMS C John Dickinson Middle School
• Tournament Finalists – 8890D IronRAMS D John Dickinson Middle School
• Design Award – 9296B Rocketeers Selbyville Middle School
• Judges Award – 4333A Dopple P.S. duPont Middle School
• Robot Skills Champion – 9296B Rocketeers Selbyville Middle School
• Mentor of the Year – Jason Heller – Talley Middle School

A great article with a video can be found here

This is from the letter that went out to all the participants

We would like to thank all coaches/teams/parents for making the 2018-19 Superbot Saturday / Delmarva Regional Vex IQ Elementary & Middle School Championships a success. A great deal of time and effort went into the planning and preparation of the event, but without the enthusiasm, sportsmanship and cooperation of all the participants, it would not have been the success it was. Thanks again!

A total of 310 matches (whew!) were completed at Superbot Saturday. All 171 scheduled Alliance matches (132 elementary/39 middle) were completed. Additionally, teams participated in 139(105 elementary/34 middle) driver skills matches. A noteworthy trend is the yearly increase in the number of autonomous skills matches. From the first year with 1 or 2 attempts, to approximately 3 or 4 last year, autonomous matches soared to 44 matches this year. All coaches should be congratulated for promoting programming with their teams.

Congratulations to these teams going to the VIQ Elementary School Worlds

• Excellence Award 19968E HOB Vikings Robotics
• Teamwork Champion Award 23B Claymont Boeing
• Teamwork Champion Award 23T Claymont Tesla

Congratulations to the Excellence Award winner 50100A Dark Side Robotics, they are going to the VIQ Middle School Worlds.

Link to full event info on Robotevents

Several media outlets were covering the event. The links below are to two of the local television stations broadcasted stories:

• News article from WRDE
• Superbots teach school children life lessons as well as STEM

Our goal is for the tournament to continue to expand and develop in future years. Robotics is proving to be an awesome opportunity for students, and events like this generate even greater student excitement and involvement. Please communicate with us any comments, suggestions, and ideas; positive and constructive, to help us continue to improve the Superbot Saturday experience.

A quick shout-out to all the wonderful volunteers that helped run SBS. About 35 students from Sussex Central High School, Indian River High School, and SAS helped referee and man the fields. We could not have done it without them. They were encouraging and enjoyed working with our students! We also had a terrific group of Judges and parents that volunteered their time.

Coaches also need to be congratulated for the sportsmanship displayed throughout the tournament. From teams sharing parts and giving a helping hand to other teams, to the way the students worked together with other students they had never met before, cooperation and sportsmanship was evident throughout the event. It is our hope that robotics programs help to develop sportsmanship as a core trait of our students, and coaches need to be commended on the way the students behaved at Superbot Saturday.

Finally, congratulations to all teams that competed in the Superbot Saturday/Delmarva Regional Championships. It was a wonderful event because of you and hopefully your teams had an enjoyable experience. We hope to see you at the event again next year when it will be bigger and better. Best of luck to the 4 teams that qualified for the Vex IQ World Championship next month in Kentucky, we know you will represent Delmarva well!

These robots have a cool stinger on the back of the robot to capture another playing piece.

Lots and lots of driver skill going on there!

The results and awards for the 2019 CR Robotics Roundup

• Tournament Champions – 8890B IronRAMS B John Dickinson High School
• Tournament Champions – 8890A IronRAMS A John Dickinson High School
• Tournament Finalist – 3348A Indians Indian River High School
• Tournament Finalist – 3348B Indians Indian River High School
• Judges Award – 3348C Indians Indian River High School

16 Teams attended

High School Results

• Excellence Award – 3389C TEC-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Tournament Champions – 3389E Tec-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Tournament Champions – 3389C TEC-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Tournament Finalist – 28724X West Nottingham Academy Maroon
• Tournament Finalist – 8890A IronRAMS A John Dickinson High School
• Design Award – 3389A TEC-Tigers Wicomico County Robotics Club
• Judges Award – 8890A IronRAMS A John Dickinson High School
• Robot Skills Champion – 28724X West Nottingham Academy Maroon

Middle School Results

• Excellence Award – 90967F Springer F – Mickey Bean Springer Middle School
• Tournament Champions – 8890C IronRAMS C John Dickinson Middle School
• Tournament Champions – 90967F Springer F – Mickey Bean Springer Middle School
• Tournament Finalist – 90967D Springer D – French Fries Springer Middle School
• Tournament Finalist – 90967C Springer C – Zebra Springer Middle School
• Design Award – 90967A Springer A – Crikey Springer Middle School
• Judges Award – 4333B Gänger P.S. duPont Middle School
• Robot Skills Champion – 90967C Springer C – Zebra Springer Middle School

We are all pretty excited about our robots and how many points they can score.

Here is a video of a robot doing 22 points (stacking both yellow bonus hubs and a high hang).

Something to think about and work on as we enter the last month of competition!

22 Point Next Level video

Mt Pleasant Elementary was host of the largest event this season with 22 teams in attendance.

Roboteers have a few events of experience so there were more high scores and some new modifications that are starting to appear.

Overall averages were up this week. Today’s high score was 18, with hangs and scoring both bonus hubs stacked! At the end of the qualifications the standings were:

Ranking	Team Name	Average Score
1	Lombardy Google	13
2	Claymont Boeing	12.67
3	Lombardy Tesla	11.89
4	Maple Lane Rocky	11.0
5	Hanby Beetles	10.89

In the finals the 9th alliance of Claymont Lenovo and Pixar surprised the crowd with their 14 point showing. (Their prior averages were 7 and 8 points). Their lead held for 4 more finals when the third alliance of Hanby Beetles and Claymont Tesla tied them. In the tie breaker Tesla and the Beetles had three more points.

The Tournament Winners were Claymont Boeing and Lombardy Google with a high of 19.

Second place teams were Hanby Beetles and Claymont Tesla.

On the judged award side, the Claymont Lenovo robot took the design award with their fork with gears supporting the inside edge. They were able to make some last minute parks with the setup. They are also working on a motor driven hook that shows promise.

The build award went to the Hanby Hornets for their combo H drive and four bar linkage. The judges chose Maple Lane Shadow Knights for their unique scoop along the front.

Thanks to Mary Flowers and Jackie Chesworth our lead mentors and the staff of Mt Pleasant Elementary for pulling off such a great event. Thanks to the five parents that pitched in to be score keepers. And to Michell Kutch and Jason Heller for being our announcer and making sure the event ran smoothly.

Thanks to Steve and Foster from STEM Robotics keeping all the electronics and scoring running smoothly. And a special thanks to all the teams that brought fields to the event.

Our next IQ events are the first weekend in March with 1 March being the Claymont Friday night event and 2 March at Georgetown Elementary.

The Rt 9 Library and Innovation Center was the venue for their annual event “Innobots”. This years event almost doubled in size with 14 teams in attendance. We ran two fields in the Blackbox theater so each team got a chance to play with all the other teams.

About a third of the teams had been to prior events, Saturday was the debut of all the Lancashire teams, Team Orion, Prometheus and our host robots from Rt 9 Library, Savage and Newton.

Today’s high score was 18, with hangs and scoring both bonus hubs stacked! At the end of the qualifications the standings were:

Ranking	Team Name	Average Score
1	Claymont Boeing	10.56
2	Claymont Tesla	9.11
3	Hanby Beetles	8.44
4	Team Orion	7.67
5	Hanby Hornets	7.67
6	Lancashire Gazels	7.56

The 7 finals runs went very fast. The second seed of Hanby Hornets and the Lancashire Gazelles showcased the Hornets ability to high hang to score a 12., The Claymont duo of Tesla and Boeing in the last finals racked up a 12 to TIE! A tie breaker had Gazelles / Hornets scoring 10 for a total of 22. Tesla and Boeing came back with a strong 12 to take the event with 24 points.

Team Orion took the build award with the unique drive base and arm, the robot can push two and carry one hub at a time. The judges award went to Rt 9 Savage for their simplistic arm and scoop. The extended arm and pointer was able to flip both bonus hubs off in most matches.

Thanks to Pam Stevens for running the event!

Our Referees: Jessi Glassco & Shuntea Langley

Staff support from: Yumarys Polanco-Miller, Albert Grant, Robin Kondzielawa and Shante Watson

Thanks to STEM Robotics: Steve and Foster for producing the event.

See you at the next event on Saturday 9 February at Mt Pleasant Elementary School from 8:30 until 3 PM

On Friday 25 January 22 robot teams from six schools gathered at the Forwood Elementary School Cafeteria. We set up four fields for this event to give each team 9 matches of play.

Teams played 99 qualification matches and ate over 18 pizzas.

The Forwood Sharks were on top of the heap, followed closely by the Carrcroft Slithering Snakes at. Maple Lane’s Shadow Knights continued from last week’s event showing off their hanging skills. In the table below you can see how close the top 6 teams were.

Ranking	Team Name	Average Score
1	Forwood Sharks	10.14
2	Carrcroft Slitherig Snakes	9.86
3	Maple Lane Shadow Knights	9.71
4	Lombardy Telsa	9.43
5	Hanby Beetle	9.0
6	Lombardy Google	9.0

After the finals run it was the Lombardy Mac and Lombardy Amazon teams coming from way behind as the 9th and 10th ranked teams taking the event with a 12 point score!

Second place went to the Hanby Beetles and Lombardy Google with a score of 9.

The build award went to the Hanby Hornets for their amazing design with the four bar linkage.

Judges award was to the Carrcroft Slithering Snakes for their very interesting design that let them quickly knock the Bonus Hubs off

For their first outing the Lonbardy teams had a great day with all four teams placing in the top 10. The Harlan Ravens made a great showing at 12th place. They had finished their robot a week ago and came in to the event with just a few minutes of drive time.

Thanks to Melissa Miller and the Forwood staff for holding such a great event. Thanks for all the parents that helped out during the event. Special thanks to Alyssia and Will for score-keeping and Jason (a Brandywine School Board member) for keeping the matches flowing. Thanks to Warren for helping out teams that were having build issues.

Thanks to STEM Robotics: Steve and Foster for producing the event.

See you at the next event on Saturday 2 February at the Rt 9 Library and Innovation Center for “Innobots 2019”