BY JOSH PERRY (@Josh_Perry10)
Four Needham robotics teams earned trophies at the recent Massachusetts state finals, RoboNautica, held last Saturday at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, including Polkabots, which took third place overall out of the 86 teams that competed in the state championships.
In addition, the Robotic Mealworms won a first place Innovation Award for their project, the Technobots won a first place Research Award, and the Technogirls won a second place award in Strategy and Innovation. The Mealworms (Dana Freedman, Esha Rawat, Maya Brunelli, Daisy Pressman, and Cristina Perez) are also the regional nominee for the Innovative Solution and will have the chance to compete for the FLL Global Innovation Award.
To qualify for the FIRST Lego League state championship tournament at WPI, the five Needham teams (Creationary was the fifth) had to finish in the top 20 percent of a regional meet. More than 430 teams competed in regionals this year.
The teams of students used Lego Mindstorm kits to build robots and worked on research projects to solve real world issues. This year’s theme was “Trash Trek.” It was a successful year of robotics in Needham and a great weekend to wrap up the season.
For more information about First Lego League, visit www.firstlegoleague.org.
