Caption, left to right: Youth SRQ DAILY reporter Griffin Roberts, Jacek, Chris and Rowan of Team Kirby Clan; photo by Wes Roberts

This past Sunday, as it drizzled outside, it was blossoming with energy inside as 12 teams battled against each other using robots. These 12 elementary school teams along with 16 high school student mentors over six weeks had built, coded, and tested robots. This event called LEGO® RoboRumble took place for the first time at Suncoast Science Center (SSC) where the teams had their robots confront challenges of varying difficulty, dueling for awards and prizes.

The founder of RoboRumble and current SSC Robotics Director April Pan is a long-term enthusiast of teaching kids robotics who was encouraged by SSC Founder Ping Faulhaber to launch this inaugural competition “It’s amazing,” said Pan. “The kids are learning very quickly. This is a program-based project so every time they learn something, they put it into their project. Gradually their projects become bigger and bigger and it's amazing to see.”

In the main room of the SSC, there is a giant table filled with spinning obstacles and balloons, making up the battlefield for the robots. Kids were everywhere conversing with their teams on strategy, redesigning their robots on the spot to fit the challenge. Then sitting in the middle were RoboRumble’s three judges Aaron Laine of RND Automation, Fab Lab supporter Don Burrer, and retired Pine View teacher Roger Siegel. In front of the judge’s table, each current competing team lined up with their robot creation, nervously scanning the elements of the board. “Three, two, one, LEGO!

Bouncing with enthusiasm, ten-year-old Jacek of Team Kirby Clan said, “I loved being every second with my team. and even when I depart from them, I know that this will be the best moment in my whole life.”

The Grand Champion winner for 1st to 3rd grade was the team The Sharks composed of team members nine-year-old Nico from Bay Haven School and seven-year-old Arthur from Lakeview Elementary. The Grand Champion winner for 4th to 5th grade was Team Pizza with homeschooled students eleven-year-old Blake, ten-year-old Grayson and eleven-year-old Jadon.

Caption, left to right: Youth SRQ DAILY reporter Griffin Roberts, Jacek, Chris and Rowan of Team Kirby Clan; photo by Wes Roberts

For more about the Suncoast Science Center.