Yorktown, Somers Teams Win Awards at Lego Robot Competition

Yorktown and Somers students were recognized with awards at the Hudson Valley FIRST Lego League competition, held on Sleepy Hollow High School over the weekend.

They were among 12 teams that competed. Science Chair Jason Choi was making sure the day went smoothly for guests and home students alike, who filled halls, tables, gymnasium and classrooms as they moved from station to station to prepare, present, get judged, and race their uniquely helpful robots.

Each year has a theme, problem-solving and exploring an important issue of our time, said John Houston, Assistant Director of the region's FLL. While last year’s theme was food safety (and featured a number of salmonella-cantaloupe projects), this year was senior citizens.

Junior groups aged 6 to 9 years old here more for the fun and experience and senior groups aged 9 to 14 who officially compete addressed the topic through their construction of Lego microwaves, bracelets that turn into glasses, chair lifts, machines that help with gardening or dishwashing, and more.

(On Sunday, area high school teams also competed at Pace University. See photos here.)

School groups visited from all over the region from the Mamaroneck Robo Panthers to the Ninja Blocks of Scarsdale and the Tuckahoe Rockin' Robots, all with their own matching team t-shirts.

From six qualifying events, two teams from this day would advance to regionals at Dutchess Community College. Regionals can lead to nationals at either World Fest or the North American Open in California. 

The day's results:

1. The Rockin' Robots (Tuckahoe)

2. Somers Mindstorm Specialists (Somers)

Both teams move on to the Hudson Valley Championships at Dutchess Community College on Feb. 23. 

Other teams that were recognized with awards were:

Team Spirit - YES II (New Rochelle)
Robot Performance - Robot Benders (Chappaqua)
Robot Design - Darwinici's Apprentices (Yorktown Heights)
Core Values - Team DART (Warwick)
Research Project - Somers Mindstorm Specialists (Somers)

“We’re trying to get kids excited about problem solving,” Choi said. 

Next year, the theme will be natural disasters.

See more photos from the Hudson Valley FIRST Lego League Facebook page here.