Shown, from left to right, are Ben Champion, Dylan Russell, Zachary Fisher, Joshua Fisher, Luke Plaisted, and Noah Valentine.
The Bricks in Black robotics team, made up of six homeschoolers, took second place in the East Tennessee State First Lego League Tournament, on Dec. 8. Team members were Ben Champion, Dylan Russell, Zachary Fisher, Joshua Fisher, Luke Plaisted, and Noah Valentine.
Over 60 teams competed in this year’s Senior Solutions challenge. Their objective was to research ways to improve the quality of life for seniors, allowing them to remain independent, engaged and connected in their community. They also worked to program independent robot missions on the senior themed obstacle course. Teams throughout the state competed in four categories, Robot Performance, Robot Design, Core Values, and Team Project.
For this year’s project, the Bricks in Black team selected a senior partner who has Alzheimer’s disease and came up with an innovative solution using QR code technology, to help those in the early stages of the disease. They also achieved 300 points in the robot performance game, and scored well for their robot design, research project and core values.
Several other teams competed from around the area. The Xbots, another homeschool team from Soddy Daisy, took third place and won the Robot Performance category with an impressive score of 475. The Tybots, from Tyner Middle Academy took first place in the Research category, and the Battle Bots, from Battle Academy placed second in Presentation. Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy, Dupont Elementary School and McCallie Middle School, all took home awards in the Core Values categories.