Yesterday (12/5), more than 100 students from the Chattanooga area went to Cookeville for the state championships. Not football, but robotics! While Boyd-Buchanan was playing one half mile north of them, thirteen local teams (aged 9 to 14) were competing in a national educational competition, the FIRST Lego League. The competitions lasted almost eight hours, with a break for lunch. Each team competed three rounds of robot performance and then made a presentation on their research on local transportation problems. They were then interviewed on robot design, robot programming, teamwork and leadership, and then competively rated against each of the 43 registered teams at the event. EVERY team there was a leader in their local area in technology and robotics, making this a state championship of the 43 best middle and elementary schools in Tennessee!
The Chattanooga teams brought home more trophies than ever before! Tyner Middle Academy (Tybots), Cleveland Middle School (Robo Raiders), and an East Brainerd homeschool group (East Brainerd Hurricanes) swept the research and presentation (academic) awards, taking first, second and third place trophies. This is based on three months research and a five minute presentation.
Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, Chattanooga's first charter school, won a special award for success "Against All Odds". This first year competitor was singled out for extraordinary performance for a first year competitor. They also won the second place trophy for teamwork.
A neighborhood group from St. Elmo (Team Terastorm) won awards in robotic competition (4th Place Performance, 280 points) and third place in the state in overall performance (weighted average of all five categories). This was Chattanooga's first time to win in overall performance.
Seconds later, Cyberthunder won second place overall and an award in robot competition (3rd Place Performance, 295 points). An unprecedented TWO "Overall" awards.
Jamelie Kangles was honored as an "Outstanding Volunteer" for bringing five first-year TVA Partner-In-Education teams to the competition, unheard of before. To make that even more spectacular, the TVA teams from Battle Academy (5th Place Robot Design) and East Lake Academy (6th Place Teamwork) also brought home awards.
With more than ten awards, in competition with 43 of the finest technology programs in Tennessee, the Chattanooga area schools more than tripled their previous "best". The area teams are sponsored by the Chattanooga Engineers Club, the TVA Partner-In-Education program, Chattanooga State, and the UTC Engineering Research program, as well as a number of local firms in the technology area.
For further information, contact Ed Chapin or plan to come to the Chattanooga Engineers Club meeting on December 14, noon, at the Doubletree. At that time, additional photo and video material, "live" robots, interviews with selected coaches and students, and complete background material on the FIRST Lego League, Chattanooga Robotics, and the other CEC educational projects (the Regional Science Fair (March) and Engineers Week (February) will be available.
For additional information about FIRST Lego League and the Tennessee competition, visit https://wiki.ornl.gov/events/tennfll/default.aspx.
For additional information about the Chattanooga Engineers Club, visit http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/.
For further information about Chattanooga Robotics, an educational project of the Chattanooga Engineers club, visit http://chattabot.org/.
This year, the Chattanooga Engineers Club is working with teams from:
Each team will create and maintain a web site as a part of the research and presentation portion of the challenge. Click on the links above to follow their progress
This year, the traditional "Chattanooga Local Event" will be held at the UTC Advanced Vehicle test facility.
On December 5, more than ten teams will go to Cookeville for the state competition. We will, once again, represent the area well and bring back a few awards.
This year's theme, "Smart Move" (2009) will focus on transportation alternatives. For information about the 2009 challenge and the First Lego League, visit the FLL web site.
For information on starting a local team in the Chattanooga area, contact Cathy Burnett or Ed Chapin. For information on starting teams anywhere else in Tennessee, visit the Tennessee First Lego League
If you, or your firm, would like to support this project, please download the attached document.
As we continue to diversify into several programs, to keep the robots in use in EVERY season, we are also starting a new website, dedicated to the CEC robotics programs. CHECK IT OUT!