FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge teams are heading to the Ohio FLL State Championship! 

By Chuck Gibson (Christine Rasmussen, Loveland Robotics contributed to this story) 

LOVELAND, OH (February 19, 2021) – Five Loveland FLL Challenge teams of students in grades 4-8 competed in tournaments across Ohio during January qualifying for the Ohio FLL State Championship competition.

Team 4075 Striped Might won the Champions Award. Team members Aaron Frazier (6), Brennan Kosht (7), Grant Macura (6), Tucker Freve (6), Isabel Combs (6), Ethan Pachmeyer (7), and Lauren Skinner (7). (Provided)

All five Loveland FLL Challenge teams qualified to advance to the Championship based on their performance in their qualifying tournaments. The Ohio FLL Challenge State Championship is scheduled to take place in March. To compete, teams had to submit three videos showing their robot runs. They also were required to present their Innovation Project, their robot design, and the Core Values they practiced throughout the season to judges over Zoom.

Team 4075 Striped Might won the Champion’s Award, which recognizes a team “that embodies the FIRST LEGO League experience, by fully embracing our Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in both the Robot Game and Project.” 

Team 38182 Masked Mechanics Won the Engineering Excellence Award. Team members John Paul Galles (6), Elijah Eppley (6), Jacob Drown (7), A.J. Drown (5), Owen Helms (5), and Luke Varadachari (6) (Provided)

The teams began their season in August, and have been working to design, build and program a LEGO robot to complete the missions of this year’s robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem, helping people in their community be more active. All FLL Challenge tournaments were held remotely this year.

Team 38182 Masked Mechanics won the Engineering Excellence Award, which celebrates a team with “an efficiently designed robot, an innovative project solution that effectively addresses the season challenge and great Core Values evident in all they do.”

Team 50712 Exploding Watermelonzz won the Innovation Project Award. Team members Owen Ewald (6), J.T. Brinkman (5), Izzy Bisogni (8), Bryce Hemphill (6), Nolan Hicks (6), Cameron Dickey (6), Eloise Young (5), and Charlotte Kady (5). (Provided)

Team 50712 Exploding Watermelonzz won the Innovation Project Award, which recognizes a team that “utilizes diverse resources for their Innovation Project to help them gain a comprehensive understanding of their problem, have a creative, well-researched solution and effectively communicate their findings to judges and the community.”

Team 45562 The Growling Gears, sponsored by Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, and Team 51294 RobotActiveX each won the Robot Design Award, which celebrates a team that “uses outstanding programming principles and solid engineering practices to develop a robot that is mechanically sound, durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions.”

Team 45662 Growling Gears, sponsored by Girl Scouts of Western Ohio won the Robot Design Award. Team members Sarah Papsdorf (6), Caroline Chesar (5), Abigail Boyle (5), Mia Ireland (5), Ellie Livingston (5), Caitlin Ryan (5) (Provided)

Team 51294 RobotActiveX also won the Robot Design Award at a separate tournament. Team members shown are: Back row from left to right: Anderson Hunt, 4th grade at LES, Logan Pape, 5th grade at LIS, Sam Herber, 4th grade at LES and Front row from left to right: Hunter Hodgson, 4th grade at LES, Maddie Dougherty, 4th grade at LES and Nicholas Gatsos, 4th grade at LES. (Provided)

The Loveland Middle School and Loveland High School (VEX) robotics teams will compete this weekend (February 20-21) at Harrison. Full story and results will follow next week here on Loveland Beacon.

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