Robotics team glows at world championship – TribDem.com

Michele Lamkin knew at the start of the season that she was coachinga special group of talented kids.

Lamkin, who is one of two coaches for theLaurel Highlands Education and Robotics Team, Robotic Doges,said last week proved her right.

Robotic Doges competed in the2017 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) World Championship in St. Louisand made it to the tournaments final four.

The Holsopple-based robotics team was among 128 teams competing to be crowned the tournaments champion.

The week at worlds was a phenomenal experience for the team, Lamkin said.

Beyond the robot competition, the team members had the chance to meet students from 19 different countries, witness technology demonstrations, learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) career options and enjoy some fun together after a long season of hard work.

It was a fantastic way for students to broaden their horizons, she said.

After winning twoout of threesemi-final matches, Robotic Doges allied with teams from New York City and Bucharest, Romania, forthe division finals.Their alliance was defeated by the alliance thatultimately won the event.

It was very fun, and it was cool meeting all of the other teams there, said James Lamkin, a junior atConemaugh Township Area High School.

It was thrilling to see our robot progress through the week and win matches against some of the best teams in the world, he said.

It was verysurreal.

Our goal was to get to worlds, and we pulled it off, he said.

It was a lot of hard work, but we got there.

In addition to making it to the division finals, Robotic Doges was among six finalists nominated for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award.

Theaward is given to the team that has the most innovative and creative robot design solution to any or all specific field elements or components in the FIRST Tech Challenge.

Elements consideredinclude elegant design, robustness and out of the box thinking related to design.

Lamkinsaid, Making it to the final four and being nominated for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award reinforced to the students that they can attain high goals with hard work, even when they come from a rural community which might seem on the surface to not have as many opportunities that urban areas offer.

I am very proud of the team members for putting in long hours this season and for raising the standard of goals they wanted to attain, she said.

These are all skills that will be useful for life.

Ronald Fisher is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @FisherSince_82.

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Robotics team glows at world championship - TribDem.com