Fox Valley Robotics and Batavia Robotics (FVR/BR) will open registration for their 17th season this year with new robotics challenges for kids in first through 12th grades.
The LegoWolves Division for first through third graders will take on space in the new challenge “Mission Moon”.
These young kids will work with LEGO® pieces to construct a robotics model which relates to their current challenge, which involves transporting to the Moon to build a lunar base, where they make the rules, learn to thrive in the new environment, and explore all that is around them. The kids will culminate their season in February 2019 in an event which celebrates their hard work and fun they had displaying their robotic models and poster boards.
The fourth through eighth grades LegoDogs Division will be working on FIRST’s® “Into Orbit”. Teams will explore how humans can endure physically and socially long-term space exploration. In the Into Orbit Challenge, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3/NXT to solve a set of missions as well as research, develop, and share their innovative space solutions.
In the eighth through 12th grades Coyotes Division, there are two competitions in which kids can participate. The VEX® Turning Point Game is played on a 12-foot-by-12-foot square field. Two alliances, one red and one blue, composed of two teams each, compete in matches that will consist of a 15-second autonomous period followed by 105 seconds of driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance by scoring balls, aligning flags, and controlling platforms. The other challenge for the Coyotes Division will be presented from FIRST® and will be released in early September.
The goals of the above programs are to have the kids “think beyond the box” and to have FUN. The programs allow the kids to go beyond simple box instructions and to formulate the why and how on their own with guidance from instructors and mentors.
Registration is open. For more information, please visit www.foxvalleyrobotics.com.
—Fox Valley Robotics and Batavia Robotics
