For Immediate Release

Friday, Jan. 25, 2019

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

*Media Advisory* Oyster River to Host Robotics Competition this Weekend

DURHAM – Principal Jay Richard is pleased to announce that Oyster River Middle School will host its first VEX IQ robotics event this Sunday.

Approximately 45 students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at Oyster River Middle School take part in VEX IQ robotics, and are coached after school by teachers John Silverio and Jason Duff.

VEX IQ Robotics is a robotics building program that teaches students STEM concepts through the act of building and programming a robot.

Students who joined the VEX IQ Robotics club at Oyster River Middle School this fall started working on their robots in late September. Four out of the middle school’s nine teams have qualified this year for the state tournament on Feb. 17 at Manchester Community College. Two to five students are in each team.

Last year, one Oyster River Middle School team won the New Hampshire/ Vermont state championship VEX IQ Robotics competition in multiple categories. The same team also participated in the World VEX IQ event in April 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky.

On Sunday, Jan. 27, Oyster River Middle School is hosting it’s first annual VEX IQ Next Level Tournament from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tournament is the last qualifying event for New Hampshire teams, and 32 groups from across the state have signed up to compete.

Students will face a variety of challenges in the competition. Individual teams will have one minute to score as many points as possible on the ‘challenge table.” Points can be scored by maneuvering a robot to move hubs on the table and stacking them in two scoring zones. Teams can also earn points by directing their robot to complete the round with a particular action, such as parking their robot under a bar or hanging from it. Points will also be added to the ‘skills’ score if a team programs their robot to score points autonomously.

Teams will also participate in pairs to score as many points as possible in one minute teamwork challenges during the tournament, ending in a ‘step ladder’ competition where the two teams with the highest scores will advance to the state tournament.

Engineering judges will also evaluate teams based on robot design and performance. Two awards, one for design and another for overall excellence, will be awarded at the competition. Teams that are given either award will qualify for the state tournament. Teams will also be assessed by their engineering knowledge and design, as well as an engineering log that tracks their process for building a robot and their engineering design stages.

For more information about Sunday’s competition visit www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-iq-challenge/RE-VIQC-18-6984.html.

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