Coaches, from left, Amy McCormick and Ashlee Sherwood from Columbiana, Kelly McKenzie from Beaver Local and Kelsey Dozier and Derek Drinnon from East Liverpool. (Submitted photos)

After competing in the Ohio State Championship in Marion, Ohio on March 11, three schools from Columbiana County have qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championship – Middle School Event in Dallas, Texas including Beaver Local, East Liverpool and Columbiana. This is the largest robotics competition in the world and is being held from April 30 through May 4 for this division. The VEX World Competition website states, “The VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, brings together the top VEX IQ Competition, VEX Robotics Competition, and VEX U teams from around the globe to celebrate their accomplishments and compete to be crowned champions.”

In order to have qualified for the IQ League World Competition, teams in grades 4 through 8 designed and built robots, then configured the motors and controllers for their robots to compete in this year’s challenge “Slapshot.” During each match, two teams work in an alliance to try to score as many points as possible in one minute by unloading discs from various dispensers and moving them under a fence, like the game of shuffleboard. The teams competed in three qualifying rounds, before making it to the finals, improving on their engineering design principles to make their robots more efficient before competing in each additional round. The VEX Robotics IQ League is sponsored by the Columbiana County Educational Service Center.

The championship event can viewed at https://roboticseducation.org/vex-robotics-world-championship/.

Beaver Local

Beaver Local High School Robotics team (BL Team Titans Go) will be competing at the World’s Robotics Tournament held in Dallas, Texas April 25 through May 2. On March 2 and 3, they competed at The State Vex Robotics Tournament in Akron. While there, the team won the “Create” award for their robot design, which qualified them for the next level of competition. The team was named Columbiana County Robotics Tournament Champions on Feb. 9. They were also recognized their robot design at this tournament. The team will be fundraising to help with travel costs. The team includes Isabella Ward, Cameron Sullivan and Isiah Archer coached by Ken Kuzior.

Columbiana

Columbiana Middle School had two teams that qualified for the VEX Robotics State Championship. The teams consists of Andrew Kridler, Preston Lawton and Connor Dattilio and placed 23 out of 50 in the state competition. Michael Conrad and Aiden Rosario finished 2nd place overall in the teamwork challenge, qualifying for the world competition held in Dallas, Texas next month.

East Liverpool

Westgate’s Middle School Robotic team will be competing at the VEX IQ World Championship in Dallas, Texas. They qualified for Worlds by placing eighth out of 50 teams in the skills programming and driving category at the State Championship. The team includes Livia Chambers, Cameron Conley, Melanie Watson, Cameron Estell and Gemma Messenger, along with coaches Derek Drinnon and Kelsey Dozier. The VEX Robotics World Championships brings together the top VEX IQ Competition, VEX Robotics Competition, and VEX U teams from around the globe to celebrate their accomplishments and compete to be crowned champions.