NCS Robotics Team Places First in Competition

The NCS Alpha Eagles Robotics Team won first place for Robot Design in their division at the First Lego League Regional Tournament, held Saturday, Nov. 8 at the US Patent and Trademark Offices in Alexandria, VA.

There were three Judges Awards: Core Values, Project, and Robot. The Robot Award judges look at the mechanical design, programming, strategy and innovation, and performance. The Alpha Eagles were recognized first in their division as "a team that designs and develops a mechanically sound robot that is durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions."

“Their design was simple and efficient and their programs were able to run repeatedly. They spoke very well before the judges and their passion was obvious. I am so proud of them!” said Head Coach Aeronia Poole.

The First Lego League (FLL) Regional Tournament had 14 teams overall, seven in the younger grades Division I (Lyla Bhalla-Ladd, Iva Budina, Meriwether Florence, Maya Thumpasery), and seven in the older grades Division II (Emily Kim, McKenna Dunbar, Anaya Rodgers, Giuliana Weiss, Maggie Wang, Taliyah Emory-Muhammad). The Alpha Eagles were placed in Division II because they have older members.

This is the first year of FLL competition for the team, which began during Clubs time in the fall of the 2013-2014 school year. The team opened participation to the Lower School, and has grown from four 7th-graders to its current roster of ten Lower School and Middle School students (see the list of team members and their coaches, below).

FLL teams compete locally and internationally; the Nov. 8 was a regional event. This year’s competition theme is about how we learn, “World Class;” teams were asked to develop a solution around the question: “How can we improve the way someone learns __________”. The Eagles chose “handwriting” to fill in the blank.

The team formed their individual research plan, then conducted research with NCS Teaching and Learning Center Co-Directors Deborah Mans and Lena Sadowitz, as well as used Skype to interview Dr. Corinna Lathan, Founder and CEO of Anthrotronix, Inc., an innovational trailblazer in learning technologies using robotics.

The team solution was to supply a device to allow anyone to use it to practice print or cursive lettering. A prototype was designed and built with the help of Dr. Nancy Ehrlich, NCS STEM Coordinator.


The Alpha Eagles Robotics Team 2014-2015 

Head coach: Middle School Technology Coordinator Aeronia Poole
Assistant coach: Information Technology Specialist Steven Rentz

McKenna Dunbar ‘19
Taliyah Emory-Muhammad ‘19
Maggie Wang ‘19
Giuliana Weiss ‘19
Emily Kim ‘20
Anaya Rodgers ‘20
Meriwether Florence ‘21
Maya Thumpasery ‘21
Iva Budina ‘21
Lyla Bhalla-Ladd ‘21
 
Back
    • The Alpha Eagles and their coaches (click on photo to enlarge it).

    • Working on the prototype.

    • Skype session with Dr. Lathan.