Springfield City School District elementary students have spent the second half of the school year strategically building the perfect robots to go head-to-head in the District’s 1st Annual ‘Battle of the Bots’ competition.
Beginning this winter, nine of the District’s elementary schools formed robotics teams. They began learning how to build robots and compete in the ‘VEX IQ Robotics Competition: Full Volume,’ a game-based engineering competition from VEX Robotics. The concept of the game involves building a robot that can pick up different sized blocks, worth varying points, and placing them in a container. The students maneuver the robot by way of a remote control. The team that scores the most points after a set amount of time is the winner.
On competition day, the teams assembled at the District’s John Legend Theater for a double-elimination, bracket-style brawl, where each battle was as fierce as the last. Parents were also invited to add to the excitement.
“All it takes is a single spark to show our students that they could be the next robotics engineer, computer programmer or mathematician,” said Kevin Schalnat, District Curriculum & Instructional Coordinator for Mathematics & Science. “This competition is just one example of how the District is making these career pathways come to life every day.”
Although it was Lagonda Elementary that took home the inaugural championship trophy, the District is already looking forward to hosting this as a repeat event in the future.
