Robotics

FIRST – St. Mary’s 2023 Season

FIRST is a youth STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and robotics competition which helps students learn to think like engineers. We have children in grades 4th-8th do this through fun, excited hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program. This helps today’s students and coaches build a better future together.

FLL (First Lego League)-FIRST programs introduce students to engineering and coding in an engaging, inclusive and creative after school program. Students worked collaboratively to solve the robotic challenge centered around this year’s theme, Energize! From machines that move us to the food that sustains us and the wireless technologies that connect us, energy plays an essential role in keeping our work running. During this season, students came up with innovation projects reimagining the future of sustainable energy.

This season we had 2 teams made up of 4th and 5th graders compete in the FLL Challenge. They competed at That One Robo Battle of the Minds in December at the Gerald R. Ford Academic Center in Grand Rapids.

  • 4th & 5th Grade Team: #2498 Cyber Colts
    • Faced unexpected obstacles yet handled themselves and took home 2nd place our of 29 teams for Core Values.
  • 4th & 5th grade Team: #2505 Electric K9s
    • Presented well and received great feedback from the judges on both the robot build and their innovation project.

FTC (First Tech Challenge)-FTC is a robotics competition for middle school students to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform and are coded using a variety of levels of programming. The team carried themselves extremely well, staying calm and supportive of each other all day.

This years team was made up of 6th – 8th graders. The 7837 Thunder Colts, competed at the Middle School in December, and won 2nd runner up with the Connect Award, an award about how the team connected STEM to the the community! This is awarded to the FTC team that uses sensors and software to increase the robot’s functionality in the field.