About 20 students from Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Central Lee high schools make up the Lee County Robotics team, also known as the Lc3 Thunderbirds. The team was formed this school year.
The team won the Rookie All-Star Award at the Iowa Regional robotics competition in Cedar Falls earlier this year, and now the team has earned second place in the International Robotics Competition in Houston. 35,000 students from 11 states and 51 countries participated in the international competition.
The Lee County students’ award-winning robot is a remote-controlled, metal-framed creation that stands about 3 feet tall and rolls on wheels. The students built and programmed the robot to pick up and toss large rubber playground balls into a basket several feet away. Their robot can also extend its mechanical arm to grab a bar above it and then lift itself off the ground.
The Lee County Economic Group hosted and helped form the team, with support from local businesses. Lee County Economic Group Economic Development Project Director Dana Millard said local businesses raised $14,000 to help fund the students’ trip to the international competition.
“That was a great surprise and an amazing once-in-lifetime experience for our students,” Millard said.
Millard also said the robotics team helps expose local high school students to science, technology, engineering and math while also teaching them how to work together.
“This is a team sport, just like any other team sport, and with that comes building a certain skill set, not only building the robot, but also creating some communication skills and building those business skills behind the scenes,” she said. “All of the students have to do all of that work themselves, and that’s part of that learning experience.”
The students have also created a website about their robotics team.
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