The Stadium Drive Elementary robotics team was one of 16 early elementary FIRST LEGO League – Explore teams at the Team 302 Expo in January. Photo provided by Team 302.

By Sydney Martin and Lucas Murray

Lake Orion High School students

Robotics Team 302

On Jan. 22, Lake Orion High School Robotics Team 302 hosted an expo, entitled “Dragon Display” for their 16 early-elementary FIRST LEGO League – Explore (FLL-E) teams.

The season this year was entitled “Cargo Connect”, and focused on how different methods of shipping affected the environment; additionally, they learned how to be inclusive towards others.

Having been preparing since August, the kids learned how to work as a team and use block programming to accomplish a task based on the season: sort and deliver cargo in an ecologically-friendly way.

The expo was held at Stadium Drive Elementary school. More than 30 volunteers, comprised mainly of students from the FRC Team #302, Scripps Robotics Team #11691 and Waldon Robotics Team #12862, ensured that the event ran smoothly.

Students and mentors from two Webber Elementary robotics teams also volunteered Saturday morning to demonstrate their presentation and robot in order to show the FLL-E students what the next level of robotics, FIRST Lego League – Challenge (FLL-C), would be like.

In the cafeteria, the teams were given the chance to show off the models and posters they made about their team to a group of reviewers. These 1st – 3rd graders really impressed the reviewers with their ability to answer questions about their journey, including questions about their posters, their models and how their block code was able to make the LEGO models move.

When students were not showing off their models, they rotated through stations created to enhance their experience, challenging them in a fun way related to the theme, Cargo Connect.

At one station, the children made paper airplanes and learned about different ways to fold them to create their best plane for a flight competition.

Another station included building a boat made entirely out of aluminum foil. These boats were tested to see how much “cargo” (or rather, pennies) they could hold.

The day concluded when all the young teams gathered to receive medals and trophies for their unique accomplishments.

Team 302 would like to give a special thanks to the mentors who lead these awesome young teams because we know that this would not be possible without them.

The Lake Orion High School Robotics Team loves to inspire these younger kids on their journey through FIRST—they are going to be the future Dragons of Team 302, after all! Go Dragons!

Online: www.team302.org.