Rebel Robotics wasnt expecting to win, let alone for a second year in a row.

The Norfolk-based robotics team won first place at the Nebraska FIRST Lego League recently, which qualified it to attend the FIRST Robotics world championship on April 28 in Detroit.

Rebel Robotics, which consists of five homeschooled students, also attended the world competition last year after qualifying at the state competition, co-coach Amber Haake said.

We didnt really expect it because we thought it would be hard to qualify again since there were a lot of really good teams, Haake said. We were hoping to do well, but were thrilled.

Its an exciting experience for the kids to go and meet and compete at that level.

Haake and her husband, Rob, coach the robotics team, which includes their son, Emmett. The group has been competing for the past four years. Members range from ages 12 to 15.

My son had an interest in robotics and there was nothing in the area that we could sign him up for, so we decided to start our own team, Haake said. From there, we really reached out to people in our homeschool community (to join).

Rebel Robotics took home the winning trophy out of 56 teams at the state competition Feb. 22. This year was the fourth time the group competed at state, according to a previous Daily News article.

The team also was named the Nebraska nomination for global innovation at the state competition for its research project. Teams can compete in a research component, where they have to come up with a solution to a prompt that changes every year.

This year, the competition prompt is to solve a problem that occurs in cities, Haake said. Members met with the city engineering department to discuss current issues and decided on the topic of roundabouts.

The team created pedestrian mats that address the issue of how pedestrians can navigate roundabouts safely.

The ADA-accessible mats are solar-powered and light up when they are stepped on, which helps increase the safety at a roundabout.

Rebel Robotics was named the Nebraska nomination for this product.

Last year, Rebel Robotics received third place at the world competition for its research project, which was a special cap to address the issue of washing hair in space.

It was obviously a completely new experience and our goal was to learn and have fun, Haake said about the 2019 world competition. When they took third place for their research project, it was pretty exciting.

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Robotics team's win sends them to world competition - Norfolk Daily News