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Although relatively new to DASD, the Robotics Teams at all grade
levels are growing, both in numbers and in the awards they win.
The youngest Robotics Team was formed this summer. The Downingtown FIRST Lego League team can
be found at Lionville Elementary School. Teacher
Gail Soneson and parent Scott Featherman have been instrumental in putting
this new team into competitive mode.
Students from several elementary schools make up the team.
Before the winter break, the team placed 14th out
of 48 competing teams. Although many
things went wrong - robot lockups, cables not plugged in, parts coming off,
missed mission pieces, knocking down unexpected field pieces, etc. – the team
had an incredible time.
At the secondary level, eight VEX robot teams traveled to
Christopher Dock High School in Lansdale for Dockbots'10. This is the largest VEX event in
Pennsylvania, it is sponsored by Christopher Dock Mennonite High School
and STEMRobotics. There were 36 teams from three states,
representing both middle and high school teams. This is the second year that
Downingtown has attended the Dockbots competition.
“Our teams did very well,” said advisor Foster Schucker, “with two teams placing in the top ten. Team 81, Longshot
placed fourth with a 5-1 record. Our
all girls team, Pegasus, Team 80 also had a 5-1 record.”
In the tournament, the top 8 teams created alliances. Six of DASD’s eight teams were selected to
in the eliminations! Two DASD teams, Longshot and the Iron Tacos, made it into the
semi-finals. This was the best showing
by the team this season.
One middle school team, Team 81, won an Excellence Award. The award was given based on their robot
design, explanation of their design process by showing drawings of other
ideas that they had tested and discarded and for their great teamwork. They have qualified to go to the World
Championships in Dallas Texas in April.
“Not only did the roboteers do a
great job, but we also had a super turnout by our parents”, said Mr. Schucker. “Many
continued acting as mentors for the teams, others pitched in and helped queue
the robots for matches, perform match scoring, doing crystal management and
helping with the inspection process.
Without their efforts the event would not have been so successful.”
The secondary robotics will have their next match on Saturday,
27 February in Maryland followed by our home event on 13 March at DEC.
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