It has been a victorious February for a team of 5th graders at Aviara Oaks Elementary. They took top places in local and regional robotics competitions. Team Eagle Bots wore purple pride and came out on top impressing judges with their team spirit, creativity, strategies and solutions for complex tasks.
At the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Cup tournament in LEGOLAND on February 8, the Eagle Bots successfully competed against 54 teams from fourth to eighth grades and proudly brought back to AOE the Runner Up Champions trophy. They went on to win the Overall Championship at the 2020 Carlsbad Educational Foundation Robotics Showcase on February 29 in the Elementary School Division. Prior to receiving the top prize at the end of the day, the team also received an award in each of the four areas, collecting five awards in total.
“We are absolutely thrilled and quite amazed at how much we have accomplished”, said Eagle Bots Coach Julie Krumrei
“As a coach, I am incredibly proud of our cohesive teamwork. The Eagle Bots have self-driven desire to succeed and represent their school. We are very grateful for the support of AOE Principal James Hines, CEF Coordinator Linda Dee and the members’ parents”.
Members of the team were Sathvik Kambam, Kennedy Krumrei, Skylar Krumrei, Christopher Lee and Stephanie Luong. Coach Krumrei and three out of the five members were in their first year of robotics. Despite being inexperienced and without the assistance of a mentor who typically is a high school robotics competitor, it did not deter the team from making great strides. Even from its first competition at the FLL Qualifiers on November 2 last year, the Eagle Bots were awarded 2nd Place in Innovation Project. They worked diligently to gain vast improvements over the six-month season outside of school work and other activities.
The Eagle Bots identified and proposed solutions for the AOE traffic congestion. The team built and programmed a robot to perform a set of missions in the Robot Games. In carrying out those tasks, they executed FIRST Core Values of “gracious professionalism and cooperation”.
The FIRST LEGO League is a partnership between FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the LEGO Group. It was created in 1998 to be ‘the most accessible, guided, global robotics competition.’
