On Saturday, the EagleBots met at Urban Air Trampoline Park to celebrate the end of the season. We’ve been extremely busy over the past several months working to master different coding interfaces, conducting in-depth research projects, competing against the best robotics teams throughout the state, and presenting our scientific findings before various panels of judges. It was great to take some time to kick back and just enjoy being kids. In addition to the awards everyone received for their contributions to the team throughout the season, special awards were presented to three team members to recognize our Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, and Rookie of the Year. We’d like to thank all of the parents, sponsors and supporters who helped to make our season a huge success.

In our last practice, we enjoyed cupcakes and juice to celebrate our performance at the Alabama Robotics Competition. While the results didn’t go the way we would’ve liked for them to, we’re still very proud of the work that we did. Our team battled it out against 24 other elementary schools and came VERY close to bringing home a top finish. We debriefed by discussing what worked, what didn’t work, and what steps we can take to have an even stronger performance the next time around.

The EagleBots have spent the last several weeks putting in lots of hours to prepare for the Alabama Robotics Competition. In two more days, we’ll travel to Tuscaloosa to go up against dozens of students from all over the state in the biggest robotics event of the year. We’ve gone through countless challenges all designed to test our critical thinking and math abilities. Our coaches have turned up the heat on us in practice, and we’re learning that even in the midst of a tense competition setting, we can’t lose sight of the details. Checking and double checking our code, taking accurate measurements, and following our methodology for developing strategy will help us work smarter and more effectively.

Earlier this week, the team was invited to Lawson State Community College to tour their automotive robotics laboratory. We had a great time watching real production lines run and learning how each step of the process works. Our tour guides gave us lots of great tips on how we can improve the way we troubleshoot our code during competition. We were also really shocked to learn that a lot of the things we do to design and program our robots are the same skills by professionals in the field every day. This was the best field trip ever!

With our next competition only four weeks away, there’s no time to waste. The EagleBots spent Saturday at the school working on tons of different challenges to get ready for the Alabama Robotics Competition on April 7th in Tuscaloosa. It was a long day, but we kept things interesting by constantly moving between different obstacles that tested our critical thinking, math, and coding skills. Pizza and snacks make everything better too!

Last night, the EagleBots went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a special event. Each year during Black History Month, the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Division of Youth Services highlights young people who are making great contributions in the city through their time and talents. The History in the Making Reception aims to recognize youth 21 and under for doing the right things. The EagleBots were selected as a group to be profiled and honored in this year’s program. It was a night we won’t soon forget.

The EagleBots are finally back together after the long holiday break and are ready to get to work! In February, the team will compete in the VEX IQ Challenge. This competition has several phrases that will test our ability to code for autonomous movement and also test our skills in maneuvering our bots using wireless controllers. This will be our first time to ever participate in this new league. There’s lots of ground for us to cover in a very short amount of time, but we’re up for it.

Today we participated in the FIRST LEGO League “Battle of the Brook” competition held at Crestline Elementary. The competition was fierce as we faced off against 8 other teams from elementary and middle schools across the state of Alabama. Our team performed well in each category today, but we shined brightest in mechanical design. We won highest overall honors in the Robot Design category! The judges were very impressed by our design methodology and technical applications.

We’re kicking off this year’s fundraising campaign!

The EagleBots need your help in making our upcoming season even more successful than last year’s. Your donations will help us cover our team registration fees, research supplies, and team shirts. We’re also looking to expand our competition schedule by participating in an additional robotics league. In order to compete, we’ll need to purchase the robot kits and supplies that are required.

Please consider donating to our cause. Check out the link to our GoFundMe page below.

https://www.gofundme.com/epiceaglebots2018