Country Day Robotics is on a Roll!

On November 4, the High School Robotics team "Hoot and Compute" #24123 competed in their first-ever FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) league event, placing 5th of 13 participating teams. FTC teams build and program an aluminum robot to navigate an arena while avoiding obstacles and moving objects to score points. This year's Robot Game, Centerstage, challenges teams to place plastic "pixels" on a backdrop, throw a paper airplane, and finish with a pull-up. The team is led by sophomore Annabelle Do and is coached by faculty members Yanling Lei and Tim Dobbins, with support from engineer Max Boykin and Middle School Robotics coach Cade Grunst. Hoot and Compute have their next League Meet on Saturday, December 9.

On November 13, the Middle School Robotics program sent two teams to their regional FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Qualifying Tournament. FLL teams design robots using LEGO and program them to autonomously navigate a game table filled with interactive models. This year's Robot Game, Masterpiece, has teams delivering minifig "audience members," spinning theater scenes, raising light towers, and pulling boats, all without using remote-control commands. At the same time, teams also research and create an outreach and innovation project to bring STEM ideas into their community.

Returning team "Techno Cavs" #4506 won the tournament award for Best Project for "AudiBeats," a device to help the deaf community learn to play musical instruments. Techno Cavs will be advancing to the Championship Tournament later this year. Middle School Science teacher Cade Grunst coaches the teams.