Sharon Robotics Teams Advance to World Championships
SHARON, Pa. – The Sharon Tiger Techs robotics teams recently competed at the Pennsylvania First Lego League state competition, where they advanced to compete against the highest performing robotics teams from around the world.
The Sharon teams competed against 36 of the best teams in the state at the March 10 competition. Sharon Tiger Techs Team Orange received one of the highest honors with the Second Place Champions Award. Sharon Tiger Techs Team Black received a First Place Robot Design Award.
Team Orange advanced to the First World Championship in Houston, Texas, on April 17-21. Team Black advanced to the North American Robotics Invitational held outside New York City on May 17-20.
Over the past eight months, the teams have designed, built and programmed Lego EV3 Mindstorm robots to compete on a thematic playing field. The theme for this season, “Masterpiece,” challenged the teams to program a robot autonomously for a 2.5-minute period to complete tasks related to arts and technology. A few tasks involved the robot autonomously delivering artwork on the field, lifting objects and configuring levers on a sound mixer. Robots had to complete 15 missions on the playing field.
In addition to the robot challenge, the teams developed an innovative project solution on the topic of hobbies by integrating arts and technology into their solution.
To increase visual arts in a local park, Team Black developed Paint the Park, an event that led to the development of a permanent installation of an art trail at Buhl Park. The trail showcases the top five artists from the event. The team raised more than $5,000 to install the artwork along the trail. The team visited with local artists, the Buhl Park leadership team and Sharon Commercial Printing.
Team Orange developed Adapt-A-Reel, an adaptive fishing device for people with disabilities. The team met with a physical and recreational therapist and staff at Whole Life Services, where they tested their product with several clients.
Pictured at top: Sharon Tiger Techs robotics team members are, bottom row from left, Leah Crytzer, Vincent Calla, Luca Paoletta and Ian Connelly; middle row from left, Logan Patek, Jacob Prelerson, Trigg McMahon, JJ Litman, Henry Nowinski, Jasper Stanisky, Olivia Totin, Camille Klaric and Sophie Nespor; and back row from left, Naima Allen, Kate Powell, Ben Fiscus, Tony Gaginni and Matthew Schimp.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
