Local Kids Soar at Lego League State Robotics Championship

Woodbridge has amazing talent when it comes to Robotics. This year, three teams from our town participated in the First Lego League Robotics competition: Team Bricasso, the Democracy Dragons, and Determined.

First Lego League is a competition through FIRST Robotics for grades 4-8. It consists of Robot Performance, Robot Design, an Innovation Project and Core Values. This year’s challenge is named “Masterpiece” and centered around using the arts and technology to express your interests and passions.

At the regional competition, the Democracy Dragons impressed the judges with their sense of fun and received an award for Core Values. For their Innovation Project the Democracy Dragons created augmented reality exhibits of statues at the state capital. The League of Women Voters posted them on their website.

Team Bricasso created wearable tech to help people with difficulty hearing experience music while incorporating feedback from the deaf community. All the teams scored well in Robot Games. They each built a robot using a Lego Spike Prime with interchangeable attachments to solve the different challenges on the board, and coded programs to operate the attachments. They also used sensors like the Light and Gyro sensor.

Both Team Bricasso and the Democracy Dragons advanced to the State Championship. Determined is our youngest and smallest team and scored in the top half of the field at the regional competition. This was a huge achievement and we are excited to see what their team members will accomplish in future competitions.

The State Championship was held on December 9 in Glastonbury. The Democracy Dragons received first place for the Core Values Award after they displayed honesty and integrity out on the field by correcting a judging mistake that would have benefited them.

Not only do kids learn about science, coding, engineering, and robotics, but Core Values forms an important part of the FIRST competition. The Core Values are Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.