April 16, 2024

Lego Gearbots prep for Saturday’s Marshalltown regional

Robotics competition works entirely with Legos

By Jason W

The Gearbots are a team of Newton-area students set compete in a Lego robotics regional qualifier competition in Marshalltown on Saturday. In the front row, from left, are Carlee Zahurones, Isaac Freidman, Joshua Ness and Brian Ness. In back are Michael Chuigu, Zach Van Waardhuizen, Cutter Benac, Nathan Simon, Caleb Ness, Damon Reynolds and Beth Zahurones. Not pictured are Hunter Kennedy, Collin Berkley and Maddi Pierce. (Jason W)

It’s not unusual for a young person to spend the better part of a Saturday with Legos. However, a group of Newton young people who will be around Legos this Saturday won’t be simply messing around. The group will be trying to get to a state-championship level.

The Jasper County 4-H Gearbots will be one of more than a dozen teams to compete in the Marshalltown Community College regional qualifiers of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League, with the top 10 teams advancing to a state championship next month at Iowa State University in Ames.

The competition, put together by ISU’s College of Engineering, allows teams to spend about three months preparing for regionals, getting an all-Lego robot ready to perform select tasks. Each year has a theme, and there are “practice” contests to prepare for regionals, but there isn’t really a season or schedule or regular competitions.

Kara Warrick, the ISU Extension & Outreach Jasper County 4-H Youth Assistant, said the Gearbots have to be ready to answer questions at the competition. “It’s not just about using the robotics,” she said. “Each member of the team has to be knowledgable.”

Warrick said the Gearbots range in age from 9 to 14. “We’ve got one high school sophomore on the team,” she said. “The rest are younger.”

The Junior FLL program is for ages 6 to 9. Warrick said there was a “practice” competition held recently in Ottumwa, but it was on a Saturday — the Gearbots’ regular meeting day.

“We didn’t go to that, because everyone felt like that would take away from preparing for Marshalltown,” she said.

There are 13 other regional competitions held throughout Iowa. Some were held last weekend.

“We really needed the extra week to get ready,” Warrick said. “We took a lot of time off at Thanksgiving.”

Warrick said while the team would love to qualify and go to Ames, but the competition is mostly about working together and exploring the science of robotics.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a Newton team make it to state,” Warrick said. “But the core values are here, and those are learning and having fun.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at
641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or
jbrooks@newtondailynews.com

legoroboticsscience competition4-H