INDIANA – On Saturday, FIRST Indiana Robotics publicly announced the winners of the 2022 FIRST LEGO® League Challenge (FLL) State Championship Awards.
Winning awards locally are:
The state championship was held on Saturday, December 10th, at the campus of the University
of Indianapolis. 49 teams of fourth through eighth graders from across the state converged in Indianapolis to compete in this year’s game, SUPERPOWERED.
Friendly competition is at the heart of the FLL Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-14 engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO® robot that navigates the missions of a robot game.
As part of the Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem. From the machines that move us to the food that sustains us to the wireless technologies that connect us, energy plays an essential role in keeping our world running. During the 2022-2023 robotics season, FIRST ENERGIZESM presented by Qualcomm, FIRST teams across our programs will reimagine the future of sustainable energy and power their ideas forward.
To empower young people to be leaders and innovators, this year’s energy theme addresses
global challenges related to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #7 – focused on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
This is the second year for the FIRST LEGO League State Championship to be held at the University of Indianapolis. Due to COVID restrictions in 2021, the event was in the R.B. Annis School of Engineering and not open to spectators. This year, friends, family, and others were able to attend the event in Nicoson Hall, home of the UIndy Greyhounds.
Dr. Ken Reid, Dean of the School of Engineering, said, “We were thrilled to work with FIRST Indiana Robotics for the FLL State championship and happy also to host FLL Explorer and teams competing in First Tech Challenge. The teams were so enthusiastic, and that enthusiasm was contagious! The core values of FIRST are very similar to the elements of our DesignSpine process, so we hope to inspire these students to look toward a future career in engineering or in a different STEM field.”
The Champion’s Award-winning team, FLL 16059 “Sunny Delight” from Twin Branch Elementary
School in Mishawaka, IN will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas, in April 2023.
They will compete and celebrate their success with over 100 teams from all over the world. Champion’s Award Description: This award celebrates a team that embodies the FIRST ® LEGO® League Challenge experience by fully embracing the Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in Robot Performance, Robot Design, and the Innovation Project.
Tammy Burns, a “Sunny Delight” coach, said, “If we are very lucky, as coaches, we take a bunch of truly disparate kids from all different backgrounds and abilities, and they form a team. They bond. And then they push beyond what they think they can do because they don’t want to let anyone else on the team down. They become the best of themselves.”
When asked if he would have done FIRST LEGO League Challenge this year, even if the team hadn’t advanced to State, Owen (member of Sunny Delight) said, “Yes, because we bonded.” Elsie, age 11, added, “It felt shocking, but we were so grateful to win. Before they called us, we had to keep reminding each other that what we experience is better than what we win. It felt amazing, though!”
Coach Lauren Gaskill said, “It was truly a magical day, and our team was honored and completely overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to represent FIRST Indiana Robotics at the World Tournament in Houston.”
Amongst the many UIndy volunteers was Associate Professor of Education Leadership Dr. John Somers. He said, “The teams were amazing in their professionalism, brilliance, and ingenuity. The coaches were all encouraging, very personable, and cared for their proteges. The future is in good hands!”
Chris Plouff, Provost and Executive Vice President of the University spoke at the closing ceremonies and was quoted as saying, “UIndy is proud to support and host FIRST competitions because of our shared values of the importance of STEM education and fostering innovation, inclusion, and teamwork skills towards the development of tomorrow’s leaders. The students were highly engaged and demonstrated such enthusiasm in all phases of the day’s activities. It was truly a SuperPowered event; I am confident that these young people will develop into engineers and scientists that will positively impact the future of the State of Indiana, the country, and the world.”
The awards earned at the state championship were as follows:
Coach / Mentor Award
John Holmes – 58069 Brick NRG – Granger
Breakthrough Award Finalist
4641 MEMs Robotics – Millersburg Elementary School – Goshen
Breakthrough Award Winner
7584 CG Tro-Botz WATTz Up – Center Grove Middle School Central – Greenwood
Motivate Award Finalist
6153 Eagle Energizers – St. Joseph Grade School – South Bend
Motivate Award Winner
9426 Roxstars – Shoals Middle School – Shoals
Rising All-Star Award Finalist
56987 Haute Coders Team Lightning – Terre Haute
Rising All-Star Award Winner
3676 Greyhounds – Thompson Crossing Elementary School Indianapolis
Engineering Excellence Award Finalist
4378 RDP Silver – West Lafayette Intermediate School – West Lafayette
Engineering Excellence Award Winner
150 Robo-Raptors – Kokomo
Robot Performance Award 3rd
4378 RDP Silver – West Lafayette Intermediate School – West Lafayette
Robot Performance Award 2nd
33368 Wired Knights – St. Mary School – Greensburg
Robot Performance Award 1st
21449 Rocket Fish – Westfield Washington Public Library – Westfield
Robot Design Award Finalist
44949 RoboTillers – Bedford
Robot Design Award Finalist
24735 1st Class Dispatch – Trinity Lutheran School – Elkhart
Robot Design Award Winner
24984 CKS – Christ the King Catholic School – South Bend
Innovation Project Award Finalist
18516 River Forest Ingbots
Innovation Project Award Finalist
18067 Holy LEGOs Batman – Granger
Innovation Project Award Winner
54205 Brain Drain – Granger
Core Values Award Finalist
57232 Bionic Bulldogs – Maywood Elementary School–Hammond
Core Values Award Finalist
10869 Thunderbots – Bedford
Core Values Award Winner
46911 Sock’ em – Granger
Champion’s Award Finalist
39473 Tech-nically – Carmel
Champion’s Award Finalist
46910 Electrifying Engineers – GEARS – Granger
Champion’s Award Winner
16059 Sunny Delight–Twin Branch Elementary School – Mishawaka
FIRST Indiana Robotics was also able to host a FIRST Tech Challenge League meet with 25 FTC teams from central Indiana, a FIRST LEGO League Explore Festival with 11 teams of 1st – 3rd-grade students from around the state, and 3 FIRST Robotics Competition demonstrating their robots in Schwitzer Hall. “UIndy was a fantastic venue for us to showcase our K-12 STEM mentoring programs to the state. Having all of our programs in one place at one time allowed us to help increase access to FIRST for more students through visits by schools and potential corporate sponsors,” said Chris Osborne, Vice President of Programs.
For pictures and more information, please visit
https://www.firstindianarobotics.org/first-lego-league/challenge/state-championship/
FIRST Indiana Robotics is an organization dedicated to growing FIRST
®
robotics programs in
Indiana. Founded in the fall of 2001 as the Indiana-based affiliate of FIRST, FIRST Indiana
Robotics brings FIRST programming to students in grades K-12, teaching them hands-on skills
in engineering, science, and technology that they can relate to their class work.
