Southern Maryland Teams Advance to State Competition
Through the 2011 Maryland and Southern Maryland qualifying competitions held at the College of Southern Marylands La Plata Campus Dec. 3, six FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams and six FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams will advance to the state championships in 2012.
FTC Teams advancing to the state championship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab on Feb. 25 are The Droids from St. Peter the Rock Home School of Annapolis, RoboBees-1 and RoboBees-2 of the Dr. James A. Forrest Tech Center of Leonardtown, Under the Son of Hollywood, Talons of South River High School in Anne Arundel County and Craftsmen from Boy Scout Troop 793 of Howard County. The winning alliance was made up of the RoboBees-1 and Under the Son. Finalists were RoboBees-2 and Quake of Friends School of Baltimore.
FLL Teams advancing to state championship at University of Maryland Baltimore County on Jan. 28 are Mr. Roboto of Hollywood, Egg-Stremes of Leonardtown, CyberKnights of Charlotte Hall, Crabotics of Huntingtown, FAW Team JFTI of Leonardtown and Smallwood Middle School of Indian Head.
Awards presented to teams participating in the FTC and FLL competitions included:
FIRST Tech Challenge Awards
PTC Design Award
Under the Son, Hollywood
The intent of this award is to expand the challenge, inspiring teams to incorporate industrial design into their robots.
Motivate Award
Jr. Power Hawks of South River High School, Edgewater
This judged award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team spirit and enthusiasm.
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award
Grizzl-E of Garrison Forest School, Owings Mills
This award celebrates a team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life
Connect Award
The Craftsmen of Boy Scout Troop 793, Ellicott City
This award is presented to the team that the judges feel most connected with their local community and the engineering community.
Think Award
The Talons of South River High School, Edgewater
This award is given to the team that the judges feel best understood the role of the engineering notebook in the design process.
Judges Award
South River High School teams: The Jr. Power Hawks, The Talons and The Mech Hawks
This award is given at the discretion of the judges to a team(s) they have encountered whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition, yet the team does not fit into any of the existing award categories. The judges created The Birds-of-a-Feather award for a group that worked as cohesive birds of a single mechanical flock.
The Inspire Award
First Place: The Droids of St. Peter the Rock Home School, Annapolis
Second Place: Under the Son, Hollywood
Third Place: The Talons of South River High School, Edgewater
This award is given to the team that the judges felt truly embodied the challenge of the FTC program.
FIRST Lego League Awards
Inspiration Award
Kings Christian Academy Eagles-1, Callaway
This award celebrates a team that is empowered by their FLL experience and displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit.
Champions Award
Mr. Roboto, Hollywood
Runner Up: Egg-Stremes, Leonardtown
This award recognizes a team that embodies the FLL experience, by fully embracing our core values while achieving excellence and innovation in both the robot game and project.
Judges Award
RoboWarriors, Upper Marlboro
Runner Up: Hamilton Hawks, Baltimore
During the course of competition, the judges may encounter teams whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition.
Mechanical Design Award
CyberKnights, Charlotte Hall
This award recognizes a team that designs and develops a mechanically sound robot that is durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions. This is the top ranked team in the Robot Design category and will be going to the state competition.
Programming Award
LFS Patriots, Great Mills
This award recognizes a team that utilizes outstanding programming principles, including clear, concise and reusable code that allows the robot to perform challenge missions autonomously and consistently.
Strategy & Innovation Award
FAW NAWCAD, Leonardtown
This award recognizes a team that uses solid engineering practices and a well-developed strategy to design and build an innovative, high performing robot.
Robot Performance Award
Mr. Roboto, Hollywood
Runner Up: FAW Team JFTI Bad Apples, Leonardtown
This award recognizes a team that scores the most points during the Robot Game.
Since, as winners of the Champions Award, the Mr. Roboto team is attending the state competition, judges invited the runner-up to the state competition.
Core Values Overall Winner & Teamwork Award
Smallwood Middle School, Indian Head
This award recognizes a team that is able to accomplish more together than they could as individuals through shared goals, strong communication, effective problem-solving and excellent time management.
Core Values – Gracious Professionalism Award
Indian Head Elementary Rockets, Indian Head
Runner Up: FATT, Brandywine
This award recognizes a team whose members show each other and other teams respect at all times.
Rising Star Award
Indian Head Elementary Deep Freeze 101, Indian Head
Runner Up: Kings Christian Academy Eagles-2, Callaway
This award recognizes a team that the judges notice and expect great things from in the future.
Against All Odds Award
Indian Head Elementary Engineers, Indian Head
Runner Up: BMMS Team 1, Ellicott City
This award goes to the team that improvises and overcomes a difficult situation while still making a respectable showing, with an attitude that shows, We can overcome incredible odds if we never give up, no matter what.
Research Award
Kings Christian Academy Spikers, Callaway
This award recognizes a team that utilizes diverse resources to formulate an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the problem they have identified.
For information on the colleges robotics programs, visit www.csmd.edu/ISTEM.