Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto

Gears were in motion for students at Daniel Island School participating in the inaugural Robotics Club.

Open to fourth through eighth graders, the first year of the club attracted enough students to create four teams, according to parent coach Jill Shively.

The teams were the Robowolves, fourth grade boys; Brainstormers, fifth and sixth grade boys; and String Cheese, with seventh and eighth grade boys and girls.

A grant from the Department of Defense through the Naval Information Warfare Center (or NIWC, formerly known as SPAWAR) helped support the registration and start-up costs for an all-girls team, the Thunderbirds, made up of fourth through sixth graders.

Helping the teams navigate through the world of robotics competitions required dedication and guidance from seven coaches: Shively; parent Krysten Coulter; Allison Woods, seventh grade science teacher; Katie Gryder, fourth grade teacher; Leigh Cook, elementary technology teacher; and mentors John Kiser and Sterling Campbell.

The teams met every Tuesday after school for two hours, and sometimes more, as the date of their first competition neared.

Over the course of the 12-13 week season, the students had to balance their time between building and coding a robot, and tackling an innovative project.

At the first qualifier in November, the students had to solve a complex program known as the FIRST Lego League (FLL). This included four presentations, an innovation project vetted by professionals, as well as building and coding a robot to complete the missions and documenting all the challenges and successes along the way.

“While doing all of this, the students have to learn how to work together, since they have differing roles on the team,” added Shively.

Although it was an intensive program, their hard work paid off when the club brought home three trophies, and two teams advanced to the regional competition.

The seventh and eighth grade co-ed team, String Cheese, received the Robot Design Award for the best robot design out of all 24 teams competing.

The all-girls Thunderbirds received the Core Values Award, which meant this team worked well together and best represented the “Core Values” areas of discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun.

Both String Cheese and the Thunderbirds advanced to the regional competition in December.

Additionally, Team Brainstormers won the Rising Star Award given for outstanding overall performance by a rookie team.

The two teams that went on to regionals did their best, but faced some serious competition from all the teams that moved on from qualifiers in the lower state.

Shively explained, “Our rookie teams were competing against more than 30 teams — many veteran teams — from Hilton Head to Myrtle Beach and Charleston to Columbia!”

Even though both teams missed moving on to the next level of competition, the coaches were proud of what the students were able to accomplish in a short amount of time.

Shively said. “The robot missions were tough this year, and most of our kids were beginning coders, but they scored great at competition and really learned a lot about coding and the idea of try, try and try again until you are able to get it right.”

The leaders said they enjoyed watching the kids grow as individuals and as a team.

“Some of these kids were so dedicated and excited about what they were creating, and that was fun,” said Shively.

Just as building a robot takes practice and experience, so does building a successful school club. Many lessons were learned during the first year, ranging from the ideal number of students to have on a team to the interesting fact that a considerable amount of work that is required is not robot related. In the first competition, for example, the robot performance accounted for only 25% of the total score. The presentations about robot design, the innovation project and displaying “Core Values” accounted for the rest.

“We learned goring forward we need to set expectations for the students and parents to understand that our time in robotics is not just building and coding robots,” Shively said.

She added, “The school and community were so supportive and we were lucky to have everything we needed supplies and support wise.”

Funding from the Daniel Island Community Fund administered by the Daniel Island School PTA, in addition to the NIWC grant, helped with the club’s start-up costs.

“We will continue robotics at Daniel Island School next year and hope to have another fun and successful season for our teams!” Shively exclaimed.