Latest news with #WorldRoboticsChampionships
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Science
- Irish Times
‘It was such a feeling of awe': All girls team to represent Ireland at Robotics World Championships
'It was such a feeling of awe,' recalls 12 year old Alice Duffy, describing the moment her robotics team were announced as the overall winners of the VEX IQ All Ireland Robotics Competition. Duffy is part of The Steminists, a group of five students from Co Offaly, who made history earlier this year when they became the first all-female team to win the competition. The 12 year-old first year student is the team's builder and game analyst. 'It was incredible… because there were a lot of boys teams there, and it was just really cool to show them we can do just as good as they can,' she tells Róisín Ingle on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women's Podcast. The team of young women, who range in age from 12 to 14, impressed the judges at the competition with their robot, Agatha Trunchbull, affectionately named after the main antagonist in Roald Dahl's Matilda. READ MORE But creating Agatha came with its challenges for the group. 'It is quite difficult because it's more trial and error…you don't know what's going to go wrong and how you're going to fix it,' explains 13-year old Rachael Ebenezer, the Steminist's research, strategy and team coordinator. Following their historic win, The Steminists will travel to Dallas, Texas this month to represent Ireland at the World Robotics Championships. It's a dream come true for the girls and their science teachers, Sindy Meleady and Aisling Burke. 'We knew this was a very special team. We knew it was a very special robot. It was very tense down there,' says Meleady, who is anticipating even tougher competition at the World Championships. 'There's going to be over 300 teams from around the world and some of those teams are well resourced, so much more than a little all girls team from Tullamore could ever be'. Whether they take home a prize or not, Duffy says, 'I'm just really looking forward to the whole atmosphere, seeing what the other teams have, and just going with the people I've worked with for the past eight months. It's gonna be so good.' You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
South Martinsburg Middle School robotics team heads to Texas for world championships
MARTINSBURG, () — Some enterprising middle school students are on their way to a world robotics competition – a source of pride, not only for the school and local community, but the students as well. This is the third year the students' robotics excellence has taken Martinsburg South Middle School from a classroom to the world stage. As teacher Sharon Mason tells it, the experience could well be one where the teacher learns from the students. 'I got interested in robotics just coming into the classroom and hanging out,' says Mason. 'It was interesting to watch the kids work the robots and then I found they built them on their own and I was sold!' Leesburg man selects $1 million cash option after winning lottery game Mason now helps to coach the award-winning robotics team as the students prepare for their international showdown. Cindy Evarts, a faculty member, mentors the students. 'They are so special,' said Evarts. 'They work together amazingly. They are totally student-driven. And they're just a great team. They have personality. They just have it all. They're awesome.' Robotics student Thierno Bah calls the teamwork 'a cool experience, like putting your best against somebody else's best and just having fun.' For eighth grader Olive Bird, 'it's like we're a little family. We just hang out and we know a lot about each other and we love each other so much.' The team heads to Dallas for the World Robotics Championships next month. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Largest robotics competition in Connecticut underway in Bridgeport arena
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) — The largest robotics competition in Connecticut continued for its second day at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport Tuesday. The tournament involves high school and middle school students who spend months designing, building and testing their bots. Connecticut's best 'bots compete in 1st robotics competition of the year There were dozens of intense metal-to-metal matches at the VEX Robotics V5 State Championships. The goal was for the robots to score the most rings as possible. 'The past three years, we've been part of the Southern New England Group. Our expansion into a just-Connecticut state championship is because of our growth. We've exploded over the past three years,' director Bill McDonough said. McDonough said the competition included 110 high school and middle school teams from nearly 50 communities across the state. Among them is the Danbury 'Z' team. They've been working on their robot, 'Zero-Gravity,' since last May. Nyberg: West Haven high school students teach robotics to younger kids 'Since we knew each other from middle school, we decided to form a team because we wanted to compete and do something other than at home (doing) homework and academics,' said Danbury High School student and competitor Christopher Borges. 'We wanted to actually build something.' Not only does the experience help students build communication and team skills, but it also encourages young women to enter the male-dominated stem sector. 'At first there's the anxiety of coming into such a male-dominated field, but luckily I have the best team in the world here,' said Danbury High School Student and competitor Izzah Nishad. 'They're really lovely, we all include each other so it doesn't really feel that different.' Five middle school teams and nine high school teams from the tournament will go on to the World Robotics Championships, which will be held in Dallas, Texas on May 6. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
