Hundreds of kids took over Centennial Hall Saturday for the 9th annual Juneau Robot Jamboree.
Twenty-eight teams from Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Hoonah, Coffman Cove and Metlakatla put their robots to the test to qualify for the FIRST LEGO League state tournament in Anchorage.
Rebecca Soza is the STEM program manager at the Juneau Economic Development Council, which organized the all-day jamboree.
“It’s supposed to be like an NCAA tournament and a Hollywood film opening all at once. So we’ve got an emcee doing play-by-play for the robot matches. We’ve got a DJ playing music all day. Our referees are dancing and wearing silly costumes,” Soza said. “We want the kids to want to come back. It’s supposed to be exciting and fun and make them want to dedicate hours to computer programming to come have a day like this.”
This season’s challenge was how to make less trash or improve the way people handle trash. Teams competing were in grades 4-8.
Three members of Candied Squirrelverines, the robotics team from Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, wore matching LEGO earrings. Their robots didn’t place well, but 11-year-old Addy Mallott said it doesn’t matter because they had a lot of fun.
“It’s a lot of teamwork and collaborating while learning about world problems that we can use to make Juneau a better place while learning how to program. That was one of my favorite parts,” Mallott said.
Volunteer coach Hannah Lager said LEGO league builds an awareness of STEM in kids at a younger age.
“They don’t know that they’re learning about the math and the engineering when they’re programming these robots, which is super fun and playing with LEGOs, but that’s what they’re doing,” Lager said.
Eight teams from the tournament received top awards and an invitation to the state championships. The winner in Anchorage is eligible to compete in the North American championship in LEGOLAND, California.
Awards
Champion: A2Z, Juneau Community Charter School
Project: Mindstorm Masters, Raven Correspondence, Juneau
Core Values: Unibears, Juneau Community Charter School
Robot Design: Trash Talkers, Skagway
Robot Performance: Coffman Cove
Elimination Round Winner: That One Team, Ketchikan
Judge’s Award (Best Idea): Scare Bears, Floyd Dryden Middle School, Juneau
Judge’s Award (Rookies): RoboRovers, Riverbend Elementary, Juneau
