Richfield Teams Shine at Regional Robotics Competition

The Regional FIRST^® LEGO^® League competition, held this past weekend, brought together teams from across Minnesota, with students from Sheridan Hills Elementary, Richfield Dual Language School (RDLS) and Richfield STEM Elementary (R-STEM) among those showcasing their talents and hard work in the world of robotics and innovation. Both of the teams from Sheridan Hills, along with the team from RDLS, received the Rising All-Star Award, which honors teams that show exceptional promise for the future. In addition, one of Sheridan’s teams will be advancing to the Sectional tournament in January, which is an exciting achievement! 

This year's competition was based on the "SUBMERGED" theme, where students explored an ocean-related problem, conducted research and developed creative solutions. Teams were challenged to design and code robots to complete tasks on a timed playing field, as well as present their innovation project that they researched to a panel of judges. The project, part of the overall judging, involved presenting a solution to a self-chosen problem, backed by research and creative problem-solving. 

The “Ocean Leaders” team from Sheridan Hills, who won a Rising All-Star Award, were recognized for their research project on ocean floor mapping and clean-up, as well as great teamwork skills. Their project was to design a robotic fish, named Starburst, that would both research and detect problems in the midnight zone. “They felt that Starburst would help the world by cleaning the ocean of the pollution in the midnight zone while discovering new species of fish that might lead to medical breakthroughs,” said the team’s coach (and district elementary media specialist) Barbara Berdahl.

The “Lego Sharks” team from Sheridan Hills, who also won a Rising All-Star Award and will be moving on to Sectionals, impressed the judges with their research and thinking about the impact their project could create. “The Lego Sharks’ innovation project was designing an underwater research station, very similar to the international space station (living quarters, research areas/equipment, and a plan for traveling to/from) but for deep ocean research,” explained parent Micci Lundy. “So they had to research what type of features this research station would need to have, and take into account the water pressure and how submarines would travel down to it.” The team did their own research, as well as tapped into the knowledge of some of the parents on their team, who work in architecture and technology fields.

The RDLS team, named “Lego Submarine,” was composed of a group of fifth grade students and one seventh grader who attended RDLS previously, and was coached and led by parents of the students. In the write-up for the Rising All-Star Award, the judges praised their poster board presenting their innovation/research project. The group wanted to research additional deep sea exploration, and as they kept looking at different aspects, they found their way to BRUVs – Baited Remote Underwater Video systems. “Current BRUV technology has a limited depth, and they researched ways to make it be able to go deeper to withstand the pressure,” explained parent and coach Jeff Weiss. “They used the Yokozuna Slickhead fish as an example of a creature they may be able to research if the BRUVs can go deeper. This is a recently-discovered species that was discovered with a BRUV. If the system can go deeper, researchers may be able to learn more about that species and discover new ones.”

Students from R-STEM competed in two teams: “No Air” and “Pollution Patrol” that consisted of a mixture of fourth and fifth grade students. “They were all very nervous and excited about the competition,” said the team’s coach (and R-STEM teacher) Andrew Onishi. “Both teams did awesome! We were so fortunate to have such great family support during the season and at the event, and it was great getting the chance to show all the hard work we put in throughout the season.”

This event was a great opportunity for the teams to engage with experts, gather feedback and refine their ideas – and have a ton of fun! The competition was a testament to the dedication and creativity of the students, who had been preparing since September. It was an exciting weekend for everyone involved, and the teams are looking forward to continuing their journey in the world of robotics and innovation in future competitions. The Lego Sharks are hard at work improving their Innovation Project and robot runs. They will be competing in Otsego the second weekend in January.