Livingston Robotics Team Wins Award At NA Open Championship

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Exit 5A Robotics in Livingston. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

Exit 5A Robotics (E5A), an all-girls robotics team, finished their robotics competition season at the FLL (FIRST Lego League) North American Open Championships (NAOC) at LegoLand Carlsbad, CA May 18-20, 2018. Exit 5A Robotics (E5A) won a Judges Award for their teamwork, enthusiasm, and community efforts. The Judges Award is presented to teams whose unique efforts or dynamics merit recognition. Teams competing in FLL are judged and scored in three categories: robotics, core-values & teamwork, and a STEM research project.

The team’s STEM research project titled “Amphitrite” was cited by judges as being an original solution with potential value. The solution employs Halophytes, class of plants known to grow in salty marshes, to drastically reduce road-salt contamination of reservoirs and aquifers. This summer, the team will be working with a local water utility to start an Amphitrite pilot project.

Judges also liked the team’s robotics efforts, notably for strategy & innovation, and original features with a systematic design process. The team’s robot finished in top 20% with 16th place in the robot game challenge and within a few millimeters from completing a mission that would have placed them 9th overall.

The event brought together 79 of the top teams from each of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and leading teams from Sweden, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, South Korea, and Japan. The team consists of Jannet Chari, Julia Chen, Rachelle Hu, Annica Lam, Elaina Mann, Maggie Siao, Chloe Sivitz, Summer Yung.

With many teams from different parts of the world, each team member found the event a revelation. Chari noted that were so many people of different backgrounds and yet we all shared common bond for STEM, robotics, and gracious professionalism. Sivitz reflected that the team was honored to be recognized in the midst of so many of so many great teams from the US and other countries. Project team captain, Siao saw a highly positive change with nearly twice as many young women competing compared to NAOC in 2014. For core-values/teamwork captain Yung, “Getting the project, teamwork, and robotics efforts to a high level, took a lot of hard work, it was all worth it.”

The team started their season late in the summer of 2017 and the nine month effort. In looking back, Chen observed that the NAOC brought together young people from around the world that had nothing other than common bond to learn and a passion for STEM & robotics. Robot team captain Lam was proud of the team effort building three increasingly successful until the final iteration for the NAOC. For Hu, the best part of the season was learning the engineering process that enabled the robot autonoumously navigate confined spaces. According to Mann “The best part of going to NAOC was meeting teams from different states and countries to see the variety of novel robot designs and innovative project ideas.”

E5A would like to thank American Water, Suez Water, Livingston Township and industry experts Alexandra Wells PE, Lauren Weinrich PhD, Chuck Collins - NJ Turnpike Administrator. The team would also like to thank its premier sponsors, Morgan Stanley, Prudential and also longtime sponsors Charles Ditta DDS, Bernard Gorkowitz DDS, and Wushu-Kung Fu Fitness Center.

Exit 5A Robotics has been a member of Livingston Robotics Club since 2014. For more information about supporting E5A, starting a robotics team, or joining a robotics team, please contact e5a@livingstonrobotics.org.

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