Middle School Robotics Scores with 'Reforestation Challenge'

The 16^th Annual Middle School Technology Design Challenge took place at Bridgewater Middle School on April 20, with 13 Warren students participating. 

This event allowed middle school students from around Somerset and Hunterdon Counties to delve into robotics through the use of the LEGO NXT 2.0 Mindstorms Program.  Students were given 16 weeks to build and program robots to attempt a series of four technological challenges. 

Shown are Warren Middle School students’ whose efforts were put to the test at the county event held in Bridgewater. Thirteen Warren Middle School seventh- and eighth-graders attended the event and participated in what some would call “the most real life collaborative and problem solving experience at the middle school level.” 

The MSTDC is a springboard for the F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Competition that takes place at the high school level and hopefully inspires students to continue onto a higher level opportunity in grades 9-12.  The MSTDC is geared to minimize competition and maximize personal growth through ultimate robotic challenges. 

The Warren Middle School teams fared well on Saturday as they achieved top scores in the “Reforestation Challenge,” which required the programmed robot to remove mature trees from a playing board while planting seedlings in its place. 

The Rube Goldberg Challenge, as shown in the photo, required the robot to set off a series of contraptions to solve a task and spell out the word, “LEGO.”  

Overall, the Warren Middle School Students demonstrated not only high technological talents, but teamwork, leadership and tenacity. 

Warren Middle School has participated in 15 out of the 16 years the MSTDC has been in existence. A special thank you is extended to WHRHS senior, John Draikiwicz, who for two years has assumed an active role as the program coach for the Warren Middle School teams.

Submitted by Dr. Susan Cooper, Gifted & Talented Teacher and Robotics Advisor, Warren Middle School