BRAGG CREEK ROBOTICS is back at it after a few years off!
This season we had coaches Nick, Evan, Ashlynn and Amber guiding 5 team mates in grades 3, 4 and 6 through their first robotics competition. We are so proud of the team spirit, quick learning and huge growth displayed in each of these amazing children on our team; BRAGG CREEK ROBOTICS.
We started the season in Oct. 2023, with bulding the MASTERPIECE Challenge Mat which gives them ideas on how to solve the missions on race day. We then learned how to build and program a Mindstorm EV3 robot; playing robot games, using different sensors, wheels and attachments. We then start to work with one or two of the "Masterpiece" missions each week on our individual robots to try and solve the mission....we take time to watch each other's solutions and collaberate on trying new ideas. After weeks of this, we work together to combine the group's efforts into one robot and program the routine. The coaches guided the team to keep solutions simple with attachemnts and programming so we could observe where the robot failed. Working together they could improve the details in the robot, attachments and programing. The team practiced all four race positions and they decided where they would like to participate on race day.
In the second half of our meetings, time is spent brainstorming ideas for the innovation project and this year they wanted to celebrate the arts and technology by creating thier own stop annimation Lego short film! They asked the advice of our very own AUArts student and coach Ashlynn, to guide them through the filming and voice recordings. The team came up with the story, wrote the script, filmed, voice recorded and edited; all selecting their roles without conflict. This project brought so much fun and laughter. My guess is that this will be remembered for years to come. The only conflict they could not easliy resolve this season was the robot's name. They had a few names selected but could not agree so they went back to the brainstorming board and one team member suggested, "Mashed Potatoes" and they all loved it! It was agreed!
BCR loves to have fun and we like to make time to PARTY! This year we had a potluck Christmas celebration where the team dressed festivly and brought their favorite foods to share. We had a fun race with their very own reindeer robots pulling Santa's sleigh! A few meetings we were surpised to have a team member baked special cookies for their team! It is these little moments that add so much love and positive energy into the team spirit.
Competiton day was on Feb. 17th 2024 (Southern Alberta Qualifiers) held at Webber Academy Calgary. Where 20 teams participated in presentations to the judges and robot races on the Challenge Mat. Our team presented their innovation project to the judges and spoke confidently about some of the challenges faced in their robot building attachment designs and programming. The team remained calm and showed they worked well together, all participating in the stop annimation project as well as solving the Masterpiece Challenge Mat Missions. Our team was very proud that their robot "touched" (or solved part of) each of the missions on the challenge mat in less than the 2.5 minutes time limit.
Our team proved to themselves that working together, bringing a positive attitude and that putting in the practice at meetings was not only helpful to bring a consistent score for all 3 races on competiotion day...but, an incredibly fun way to build supportive friendships that can last a lifetime.
We recieved the Robot Performance Award; winning 1st Place in the robot races with a high score on our final race of 390 Points.
Great Job Team...you should be so proud of yourselves!
We look forward to next year's robotics season...
...starting in Sept. 2024!
:) Amber