Sewickley Academy Welcomes Over 700 Students to the FIRST LEGO Robotics Championship

Over 700 students from around the region formed 70 plus teams that participated in the event. This year’s challenge, City Shaper, focused on community spaces such as buildings, parks, and other public structures.

Students from the Middle School Robopanthers robotics teams competed alongside 50 other teams in their division on the first day of the competition. Students tried to solve a problem related to community spaces as well as design, build, and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 technology to complete missions.

For the Robot Design presentation, students demonstrated how their robot worked with the various attachments they created and showed their programming to the judges. For the Project Presentation, Robopanthers Red presented on the impacts of environmental issues such as air quality, radiation, and decibel levels. Robopathers Black presented on abandoned buildings and how to transform or repurpose these spaces. The FIRST Core Values, which consist of discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun, were evaluated by a teamwork activity followed by questions about how the team worked together throughout the season to complete the challenges.

Both Sewickley Academy teams were able to improve their robot game scores throughout the day and placed 13th and 41st out of 52 teams in the scholastic division. The Grand Championship marked the conclusion of the season and our students look forward to competing again next year.

Way to go, Robopanthers!