Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Wildbots competing in FIRST Robotics Competition, watch online

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Secret-City-Wildbots-Logo

The Secret City Wildbots are competing in the Palmetto Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this weekend, and you can watch the competition online.

The competition is an intense three-day event showcasing robots developed and operated by dozens of high school teams from all over the world. (See the Palmetto Regional website here for more information.)

You can watch the competition online here: http://www.htcinc.net/portal/streams/robotics/.

The Wildbots’ first match was at 9:35 a.m. Friday. They will compete again at 10:20 a.m., 1:08 p.m., 2:38 p.m., 3:27 p.m., and 5:11 p.m. Friday. Then, they will compete at 9:31 a.m. and 11:19 a.m. Saturday to qualify for the elimination rounds Saturday afternoon. [Read more…]

Jefferson’s Master Builders St. Louis-bound as LEGO champions

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Jefferson-Middle-School-Master-Builders-Feb-2016

Members of Jefferson Middle School’s Master Builders are, from left, Amelia Thomson, Iliana Spence, Henry Scott, Jessica Mohr, and Thora Spence. Not pictured is Andrew Brady. (Submitted photo)

 

Jefferson Middle School’s Master Builders are bound for St. Louis in April after they won the Champions Award as the overall winner of the FIRST LEGO League Tournament held February 13 at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville.

By virtue of their victory, the Master Builders have qualified to travel to St. Louis in April representing East Tennessee in the FIRST LEGO League World Championships, a press release said.

The Master Builders are the second team from Jefferson during the past two years to win the Champions Award. The Atomic Eagles were Champions Award winners a year ago. [Read more…]

Roane State students awarded NASA scholarships; more available for summer, fall

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Jeffrey Burks

Jeffrey Burks

Roane State Community College student Jeffrey Burks earned his GED six months before he started college. He’s on his way to a mechanical engineering degree.

A typical workday for Blake Stewart lasts 15 hours—job in the morning, classes at night.

Corey Stafford works to pay for school. Any help with costs, he said, is a relief.

Burks, Stewart, and Stafford are all receiving extra financial assistance with their college education. They are the first recipients of $1,250 NASA scholarships awarded to Roane State students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields. More NASA scholarships are available for summer semester and for fall semester. Students in STEM majors are encouraged to apply. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots win Engineering Award, prepare for World Championship

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Secret City Wildbots Compete at Smoky Mountain Regionals

The Secret City Wildbots (Team 4265) compete at the Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville on Saturday. (Photos by Angi Agle)

 

KNOXVILLE—Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, finished the qualifying rounds ranked Number 10 and successfully negotiated the three-round quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.

The team suffered a disappointing loss in the semifinals, but at the end of the awards ceremony, members were presented with the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by NASA. The award qualifies them to compete at the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 21-25, with the entry fee paid by NASA.

This is the Secret City Wildbots’ fourth year, and the team has earned the right to compete in the World Championship each of those four years. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots ranked No. 9 in Smoky Mountain Regionals

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Smoky Mountain Regionals Team 4265

Photos by Angi Agle

 

By Angi Agle and University of Tennessee

With the first day of competition complete, the Secret City Wildbots are ranked Number 9 in the Smoky Mountain Regionals competition held at the Knoxville Convention Center. Continuing competition Saturday morning will determine final standings for the elimination rounds Saturday afternoon.

Team selection for the elimination rounds are based partly on standing (the top eight teams are automatically entered and choose two other schools for their teammates), but partly on individual capabilities and other factors.

At the end of the elimination rounds, the winning team of three robots earns the right to enter the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 22-25. [Read more…]

Smoky Mountain Regional robot competition kicked off Thursday with practice

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Smoky Mountain Regionals Team 4265

Photos by Angi Agle

 

By Angi Agle

The Smoky Mountain Regional robotics competition kicked off Thursday with practice rounds, and qualification matches began Friday morning.

The theme of this year’s game is “Recycle Rush.” Robots are to pick up recycle bins, put foam noodles in trash cans, and stack all of them in the center of the field. Additional points are gained for the number of containers stacked.

Human players feed foam noodles into the trash cans as the robots hold them up to a hole in the plexiglas, as well as feeding gray recycle bins into the field for the robots to stack.

Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, experienced some technical challenges, which were expected to be resolved Friday morning. [Read more…]

Education Foundation grants support robotics, Lego learning projects

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Jefferson Middle School Master Builders

Two members of the Jefferson Middle School Master Builders team are preparing their robot to solve missions at a FIRST Lego League mission table. (Photo by Yvonne Dalschen)

 

At Linden Elementary School, Lisa Buckner’s third-graders are building robots and Lego floats representing continents in a months-long project aimed at engaging them in learning, problem solving, and creative and critical thinking.

The 38 members of Oak Ridge High School’s Secret City Robotics team are solving real-world problems as they build and program a 120-pound robot to enter FIRST Robotics Competitions as an extra-curricular activity.

Teachers view robots and Lego sets as tools giving Oak Ridge students opportunities to collaborate, design, build, and solve problems as they learn engineering, science, and technology skills, both inside and outside the classroom.

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation supported these activities with $18,700 in grants last year to teachers at the Oak Ridge High School, Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools, and Linden Elementary School. The grants included a UT-Battelle donation of $10,000 directed to FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Lego League teams, all extra-curricular programs at the high school and middle schools. [Read more…]

UT College of Engineering helps kick off robot season; Secret City Wildbots take part

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Oak Ridge Secret City Wildcats

From left to right, Eli Charles, Olivia Mahathy, Steven Charles. and Moire Gabor, part of the Secret City Wildbots from Oak Ridge High School, work on the initial stages of their robot. (Photos courtesy UT)

 

KNOXVILLE—For many, the end of football season usually means attention turns to basketball, but for more than 400 budding scientists and engineers who came to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday it marks the start of something else: robot season.

FIRST Robotics kicked off its 2015 game, Recycle Rush, with a live reveal broadcast online to teams around the world, including 29 teams who gathered at Cox Auditorium on the UT campus.

“Saturday marks the first time that any of the teams get to see the challenge of this year’s game,” said L.J. Robinson, Tennessee’s regional director of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). “The kickoff event is a big deal in its own right, with gatherings held around the world to watch the announcement.

“Certainly, it’s an exciting moment for those new to the competition.” [Read more…]

ORNL helps kick off 2013 FIRST robotics season

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First Robotics Competition

Students try their hand at manipulating a Remotec robotic system at a kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday. (Submitted photo)

Students from dozens of area high schools piled into Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday to get a sense of the obstacles they will be battling over the next six weeks. Hundreds of students, parents, and mentors attended the kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST robotics competition, a nationwide event in which students design and build complex robots that can tackle the challenges of a specially designed game.

This year’s challenge, which involves robots that can throw discs and climb pyramids, was revealed via simulcast on Saturday morning. Teams were then able to view a full-scale version of the competition field and hold mock games on it. The field, sponsored by Tech 2020 and assembled by the Hardin Valley Academy FIRST Alumni Club at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, is available for all local teams to use during the build season.

[Read more…]