Prairieland Explorers go to State!

January 14, 2006:
After capturing 3rd place at the Regional Tournament in Peoria, the Prairieland Explorers robotics club moved on to the State Competition in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Up against over 100 teams, the Explorers pulled out a 3rd place State victory and also won the Spirit award for team enthusiasm.

Below are some photos that chronicle this adventure. You can also view video of the robot in action at the tournament by clicking here, or here. There is also video of the 3rd Place Award Presentation, and the Spirit Award Presentation.

Enjoy!

The Explorers iron out their strategy in the school library.

The competition floor. Loved the giant flat panel viewing screens.

The Explorers posing with their Coaches.

Each of the Explorers got a cougars paw painted on their face.

An Explorer carries the team placard. The mention of a middle school is a misprint, the Explorers are in Elementary school. The team consists of 4th and 5th grade students.

The Explorers getting in some practice on the practice table.

Another view of the practice table.

The Explorers robot is positioned for first run.

The Explorers cheer as their robot completes another maneuver flawlessly.

The Explorers grabbed 3rd place on their first run, and held that spot throughout the competition. They are listed as team 1528. The score of 305 for the first round was later raised to 335 due to a scoring error by the judges. To see a listing of all the teams final scores, click
here.

The Explorers accept the 3rd place trophy.

Alex poses with the two trophies brought back from State.

Prairieland Elementary Principal (Kurt Swearingen) is presented with the two trophies awarded at the State tournament.

The Prairieland Explorers at Regional Competition

In September of 2005, Prairieland Elementary formed a Robotics club so that interested students could experience firsthand the design and programming of a robot. Once completed, the students could then enter into competition with other schools.

This competition is made possible by A multi National organization called F.I.R.S.T (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) formed in 1989 and aspires to make "science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today." FIRST was started by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter.

F.I.R.S.T has different types of robotic challenges based on age of participants. The Prairieland Explorers entered into the FIRST Lego League which is designed for kids from 9 to 14 years of age. Each year a new challenge is put forth, and the one for 2005 was the Ocean Odyssey. The goal was to complete missions with an Ocean theme.

The scoring at the competition is not only based on robot performance, the kids also have to do some research on a topic and put on a presentation for the judges based on that research. Since the theme for 2005 was the Ocean, the research had to be about a problem we face with the Oceans, and a proposed solution to that problem.

A few members of the Explorers smile for the camera.

A scrimmage before the Regional tournament.

The Explorers practice before the start of the Regional competition.

The explorers pose between runs.

Preparing to Compete.

The Explorers ham it up after capturing 3rd place in Regionals.

There is a video that shows the announcement of the Prairieland Explorers 3rd place victory, that can be viewed by clicking here.