Robotics Competition 2002
Volcanic Panic!

All students in Mrs. Pettiford’s, Mrs. Jensen’s and Mr. Trumbull’s rooms participated in the Volcanic Panic Robotic Competition in March. The competition was designed around the Lego League Competitions held nationwide.  Students worked with Lego Mindstorms  to create and program robots that could accomplish various tasks:

1. Deliver a magma sensor to the volcano.

2. Save a scientist from certain doom.

3. Gather data crates from the base of the volcano.

4. Move a gate and knock down a bridge to save a village from lava flow and

5. set off a controlled volcanic eruption! 

Accomplishing each task gave teams points based on the difficulty of the challenge. Students worked on their designs and programs in teams of 5 or 6 students.  Each team had construction engineers, design specialists, programmers, and a project manager. 

Twelve teams competed in the MLS competition.  Three local volunteers judged this event.  Our thanks go out to Dan Rudolf, Jim Grote and Jim Mayer.

 Awards where given in seven different categories.

• Creativity – The creativity students used to solve the various challenges and construct their robot.

• Teamwork – The effectiveness of the group to work together toward their common goal.

• Spirit – The spirit teams show for their robot as well as other competitors.

• High Point – The team that has the highest single round points.

• Bronze Medal – The team with the third highest combined rounds points.

• Silver Medal – The team with the second highest combined rounds points.

• Gold Medal – The team with the highest combined rounds points.

Congratulations to all of the participants in this year’s event!  Every team accomplished multiple tasks!  Great job!