Maine elementary school students from Edmunds, Sedgwick, and Winthrop broke standing records in Maine Robotics events at the organizations spring track meets.

These regional events are the culmination of weeks or months of preparation by teams of children who have engineered and programmed robots to compete against each other. Examples of events are: fastest robot, strongest robot, clearing objects from a table, delivering an object to a target, shooting ping pong balls into a box, and speed building a robot.

This year, statewide records were broken by five students. At the Ellsworth event, Paige Bell of Edmunds broke her own speed build record with a new time of 1:56. Her new record was then immediately broken by Inez Furth, also of Edmunds, who built her robot in 1:54. Also at the Ellsworth event, Ira Bucholtz of Sedgwick broke his own record in the ping pong shot put event, delivering an amazing 149 ping pong balls (363 points) into the target in just 30seconds.

Chris Searles and Jadee Garcia from Winthrop Middle School broke the record for the strongest bridge event. While weighing only 875 grams, their structure suspended 85 pounds.

Held each May in Oakland, South Portland, and Ellsworth, the three competitive events were attended by 460 Maine children representing 60 teams and accompanied by 90 adult coaches. Teams from Saco to Houlton attended to test their skills against those of their peers. Leading up to the events, teams worked on their robots in schools, in after-school programs, and through community organizations.

Along the way, they have learned valuable skills in the areas of engineering, computer programming, and more.

We dont teach robotics because we love robotics, said Thomas Bickford, Maine Robotics executive director, in a press release. Its never been just about robotics. Its about teamwork, communication, and the importance of trial and error. Every participant at these track meets has had the experience of their robot failing miserably over and over before they figured out how to make it work right and achieve the goal. Thats the value.

Track meets have experienced a 30percent increase in participation in just two years, filling this Mays events to capacity. Maine Robotics is seeking funding to add two more track meets to the spring slate of offerings for 2018 so that more children can participate.

For information about track meets, summer camps, fall programming, or other offerings, visit: http://www.mainerobotics.org .

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Three state records broken at Maine Robotics spring track meets - Bangor Daily News