The halls of Athens Academy were abuzz with activity over the weekend as students from across the state gathered to compete in the 2020 Georgia FIRST LEGO League State Championship in conjunction with Georgia Tech.
FLL is an international competition for students in elementary and middle school, in which they use robots they have constructed to complete challenges, solve real-world problems and learn to work as a team with other students.
On Saturday, in the Harrison Center Auditorium, state Rep. Houston Gaines gave the opening address to kick-off the FLL State Championship. After his address, 32 teams made up of students in grades 4-8 began the progression through different sections of the tournament. Teams received scores for four overall sections: robot design, robot performance, a team project and how well their team exemplified the core values of FIRST.
“It is impressive, it is comprehensive and it’s not just building LEGO robots and putting them on a game board,” said Mat Lockwood, a teacher of science and social studies at Athens Academy. “It is a whole lot more than that.”
The theme for this year’s tournament was “City Shaper.” Teams created projects that showcased innovative solutions for city-related issues such as potholes, flooding and parking. Volunteers made up of students from Athens Academy, University of Georgia and Kennesaw State judged projects and designs, ran scores and refereed the table competitions.
Dylan Seyler, 12, and Udaya Maddi, 13, competed with the Robo Tigers, a community team from Roswell, Georgia. Seyler was competing for his fourth year in a row, while Maddi was competing for the second time. Seyler designed a robot out of LEGOs, multiple motors and light sensors, enabling it to autonomously perform the designated tasks.
Students are not allowed to touch their robots when they’re in the middle of completing the tasks, which can present challenges. According to Seyler, malfunctions happen often, no matter how much practice has taken place.
“It happens practically every time. Every time you’re at competitions, something’s different, something’s going to mess up,” said Seyler.
Both Seyler and Maddi have learned to expect this and stress the importance of not quitting even when the robots don’t perform.
“We just keep going,” said Maddi.
Mike Callinan, the Robotics and Media Production Coordinator, expressed how impressed he continues to be with the performance of the students that compete every year. Seeing them display Gracious Professionalism, a principle of FIRST that employs the value of competition while treating others with respect, conveys to him that what they do is more than simply competing.
“The important part of these competitions is really the learning that goes on,” said Callinan. “You can see the kids’ enthusiasm, how hard they worked, what they’re learning.”
Callinan is passionate about the value of STEM programs and has taught at the school for over 20 years. Their STEM program was ranked at #2 in the state of Georgia by Newsweek Magazine in November of 2019. In addition, they were ranked at #415 out of all the schools in the country.
Students and volunteers celebrated the day’s events with a dance party during the closing ceremonies. Team 44539, a community team from Dacula, Georgia called Here Comes the Boom took home the 1st Place title and trophy. The 1st Place winners will then have a chance to compete in the FIRST World Championship.