Royal students dominate robotics competition

EAST WENATCHEE — The chant would not have been out of place at a basketball game.

Or a wrestling match.

“We! Are! Roy-yal!” Clap! Clap! Clap!

It was Saturday, and the gym at Clovis Point Intermediate School was full of elementary school kids and middle schoolers from across Central Washington, all eager to show off their skills at programming robots at a regional First Lego League robotics competition.

And Grant County was amply, if patchily, represented, with six teams from Royal and four teams from Ephrata vying to go on to the state competition in mid-January. However, of the 23 teams that competed on Saturday, seven are going on to the state competition in January. And four of them are from Royal.

According to Chris Palmer, a sixth-grade teacher and one of four robotics coaches at Royal Intermediate School, there were 67 students from Royal schools in East Wenatchee on Saturday looking to show off their programming skills.

And cheering each other on.

“It’s a big deal for our small community,” said Palmer. “There’s a lot of support coming out of our district, our parents and the rest of our schools.”

In fact, Palmer said the program has been growing so big in Royal that students from the intermediate school were so into Lego robotics competitions that they “wanted to form their own team and come back.”

The First Lego League uses the Mindstorm power pack and computer as the core of a customizable, programmable robot that can be assembled with ordinary Lego bricks. The robots are then put through their paces — moving stacks of blocks, flipping and switching things, trying to cross bridges — to complete tasks in order to gain points for their team.

“We programmed it to do a certain thing, but when we got here, we found out the thing was up so we had to change our program,” said Sam Rybakov, a seventh-grader at the River Academy in East Wenatchee. “We got close but it did not work.”

There’s a lot of improvising and scrambling during the two-and-a-half minutes each team has do their tasks, and a resolution to take some time between rounds to try and reprogram their robots.

But it’s not just about robots and programming. It’s also about working together, sportsmanship, and trying to find ways to make the community better.

“Tournaments are about more than just programming and tech, the core values theme ensures that students also think about how they do what they do,” said Sue Kane, director of STEM programs for the North Central Educational Service District in Wenatchee. “The mantra of the day was gracious professionalism. It means competing like crazy against the clock, but treating each other with respect.”

According to Rob Tidd, chief referee overseeing Saturday’s competition, there are 14 things robots can accomplish on the task boards, though most teams will focus on four or five.

And as a high school football referee, he’s no stranger to competitions.

“This is my third year,” Tidd said. “I just love being here with the kids because the kids get so excited. I like it when the other team is being rooted on by the competition.”

“That’s what it’s all about,” he adds.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com