Photo courtesy of Renee Jewett During a FIRST LEGO League robotics qualifier that was held in Marquette in December, a referee discusses missions with members of the Brave Blue Whales, a team of fifth-graders from Gladstone that ended up taking third place in the regional tournament.

ESCANABA — This weekend, three local robotics teams in the upper elementary program — FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge — will travel, to Mason, Mich. for the state championship after sweeping the regional qualifier in Marquette last month. At the competition that brought together 24 teams of fourth- and fifth-graders from around the Upper Peninsula on Dec. 7, Gladstone’s Royal Froggies (team number 62609) won first place, the Cookie Bots (43816) from Rapid River took second, and the Brave Blue Whales (62608) — another Gladstone team — secured third.

Like other levels of FIRST robotics, FLL Challenge is about discovery, innovation, inclusion, and teamwork. Though the season culminates in competition with other teams, animosity has no place in the friendly rivalry, and the different groups of children learn from one another.

“The atmosphere during the competition is so positive,” said Sara Sholten, who teaches fifth grade at Jones Elementary and coaches the Brave Blue Whales along with two other teams from Gladstone. “Students are encouraging not only their own team members but other teams as well.”

Each year, a new theme is presented to participants, who use beginner-level technical resources to program small robots made of LEGO sets to complete missions on a table, design an “innovation project” meant to improve the world, and deliver to judges a presentation on the ways they incorporated FIRST’s core values along the way.

A vast range of innovation projects — inventions — are developed, since guidelines are open-ended and encourage creativity. The students speak with professionals whose expertise inform their direction.

When asked what’s been gained from the season so far, Brynlee Miron — a fourth-grader at Rapid River — said, “learning to communicate with my teammates and working together with people we would not have if it weren’t for robotics.”

The theme for the 2024 to 2025 season was “Submerged.”

Seeking to solve a problem that plagues the world’s oceans, Gladstone’s Royal Froggies decided to tackle the issue of pollution in water for their innovation project.

“Through research, the students learned that scientists devised trash pickup systems to pick up trash that floats on the top of the water’s surface; the innovation project attempts to provide a solution for trash pickup below the water’s surface near the ocean floor,” explained Mariel Carter, coach of Gladstone’s Royal Froggies.

Each team member drew a potential design for such a machine, then collaboratively brainstormed to narrow down one concept.

“They recognized the value in others’ contributions, gained confidence when their ideas resonated with others, and provided critical feedback to one another to make the project stronger,” Carter said.

Having now had a full month since the regional competition, the teams moving on to the state one in Mason (south of Lansing, 376 miles from Gladstone) on Jan. 11 have had the opportunity to make improvements based on the judges’ feedback on both the mission-completing robots and the innovation projects.

Last year, with “masterpiece” as the theme, the Rapid River team placed among Michigan’s top seven and progressed to a world championship that was held in Massachusetts. They used the additional time to continue to produce several prototypes that addressed variations of the problem they chose to solve — how to make playing with LEGO bricks easier for people with disabilities.

Carla Meyer, coach for the Rapid River Cookie Bots, said that the team this year has “shown us everything that robotics stands for. They have worked together to build a robot that they’re proud of, challenged each other, made new friends along the way and learned that they can truly impact the world we live in.”

Sholten relayed that the Brave Blue Whales’ final idea ended up being very different from their original notion, but that communication with experts allowed them to grow.

“They were open to feedback throughout the whole process and showed an eagerness to research and learn more about their ideas,” Sholten said. “When it came time to present their ideas, you could tell that they were confident in the work that they had done and proud of the progress they had made.”

The process was not without hurdles, whether in the form of programming errors or differences between teammates. But obstacles were surmounted; Rapid River fourth-grader Marlea VanLandschoot said that working together and learning how to handle disagreements are things the Cookie Bots have learned.

“All students who participated in FLL have so much to be proud about — even if they did not advance,” said Sholten, praising the kids’ teamwork and dedication. “Students stepped out of their comfort zones during the FLL season to contribute in all areas, and instead of asking an adult for the answers, worked through their difficulties to discover things on their own. Every team ended up being very successful, and I was so incredibly proud of their performance.”

FLL Challenge’s Michigan Championship I begins Saturday, Jan. 11 at Mason High School. Of the hundreds of teams in the state, just 48 were selected to participate in the invitational. Like all FIRST events, it is free for the public to attend.

Students from Rapid River, some of whom experienced the state championship last year, said that they’re looking forward to seeing the projects other Michigan kids have created, meeting new people, collecting pins from other teams, and having fun.

“We hope the snow cone bus is there this year!” added fifth-grader Tristen Leadman.

Teams that perform well in Mason this weekend may proceed to another open invitational, out of state, in June.