A team of young robotics enthusiasts from Hudson and Litchfield put their engineering skills to the test on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Southern New Hampshire STEM Tourney, gaining valuable experience as they prepare for the upcoming FIRST LEGO League Challenge season.
The Future Techies, a 10-member team coached by Dr. Ali Rafieymehr, Sc.D., and Shara Puglisi Katsos, with volunteer Kyla Luquette, competed at Rivier University in Nashua. The event, sponsored by The Local Beacon, brought together elementary, middle and high school robotics teams from Hudson, Litchfield, Nashua, Hollis, Bedford and surrounding communities.
Designed as a practice competition ahead of the official New Hampshire qualifying tournaments beginning in November, the event gave students an opportunity to test their robots under tournament conditions, present their engineering work and innovation projects, and receive feedback from judges.
For the Future Techies, the tournament marked their first experience competing in FIRST LEGO League Challenge, a program for students in grades four through eight.
The team encountered a technical challenge when members had difficulty connecting their laptop to the SPIKE Prime Hub that controls their robot. After working through the problem, however, the students were able to demonstrate what they had been developing during their team meetings over the previous several weeks.
Although the teams they faced had prior FIRST LEGO League Challenge experience, the Future Techies approached the event with goals beyond winning. They wanted to enjoy the experience, observe more experienced teams, learn from their approaches and make sure their robot and programming performed as intended.
According to the team’s coach, the students accomplished those goals.
The team now has four more weeks to refine its robot and programming before the New Hampshire Qualifying Tournament scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21.
Rafieymehr has spent several years guiding and encouraging the Future Techies, helping the students find places to practice, purchasing robotics supplies and developing challenges to help them improve their skills.
The team’s membership has remained fairly consistent, giving students opportunities to build their knowledge and work together as they explore robotics and engineering.
Before beginning their strategy work at the tournament, the students also met with an assigned mentor, who asked them about their experiences with problem-solving and teamwork. All 10 members were eager to share what they had learned.
The event also provided an opportunity for students to see how robotics connects to broader STEM learning – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
During a STEM demonstration session, Rafieymehr showed guests two additional types of programmable robots that students in grades two through eight can learn to use: Ozobots and the eXperiential Robotics Platform, known as XRP. He explained how the devices work and demonstrated how students can program them.
Rafieymehr has offered Ozobot and XRP programming programs at Hudson’s Rodgers Memorial Library.
All 10 members of the Future Techies have previously participated in those programs, providing a foundation for their continued work in robotics.
The tournament also drew a visit from Hudson Superintendent Moulis, who stopped by to watch the students in action.
For the Future Techies, the experience offered more than a chance to test a robot. It gave the students an opportunity to troubleshoot a technical problem, learn from other teams, share their ideas and build confidence ahead of their first qualifying competition.
With the Nov. 21 tournament approaching, the team will return to its meetings with new experience and several more weeks to prepare.