Robotics Team Advances to Super Regional Competition

Team Shell Shock, a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team comprised of four Chapel Hill Middle School students, took home the Second Place Champions Award from Saturday’s regional qualifier at Grady High School in Atlanta. They placed second overall in a field of 30 teams. Members include Alan Dooley,
Ethan Harrison, Tyson Stokes and Sebastian Torres. Coached by Jenny Harrison and Manny Torres, Team Shell Shock will advance to the Super Regional competition in January.

In early fall FLL releases a challenge which is based on a real-world scientific topic. Each Challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project and the FLL Core Values. Teams of up to ten children, with at least one adult coach, participate in the Challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score
points on a themed playing field (Robot Game), developing a solution to a problem they have identified (Project), all guided by the FLL Core Values.

This year’s FLL challenge theme is “Senior Solutions: Independent, Engaged, Connected.” Teams are challenged to improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities. Team Shell Shock and a fellow FLL team, The Firebirds, a home school team from Hiram, visited the Woodie Fite Senior Center in November to share their ideas and showcase their robots. Team Shell Shock is tackling the issue of stove top fire safety for seniors.

More than 500 teams are registered this year in Georgia with approximately 20,000 teams registered worldwide. At least three teams hail from the Douglasville area.

FIRST stands for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.’ FIRST’s mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. FIRST LEGO League is part of the same family of STEM programs as the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), a program in which Lithia Springs
High School students will be participating for the first time this year.

For more information about FIRST, please visit www.usfirst.org.