SCHOOL - "Middle school robotics teams ace state, look to world"

The combined Bear River Middle School robotics teams of Kason Rees, Atticus Winward, Remi Sano, Jace Bingham, Jayden Mello, Jaxon Thompson and David Roberts earned their place at the top of the podium at the 2022 Vex Robotics Competition held this weekend in St. George. Courtesy Photo

TREMONTON - By Ellen Cook, Headliner Media Specialist, March 5, 2022

Building a robot with a brain that can enter the battlefield on its own sounds a little like science fiction but seven young men from Bear River Middle School did just that this past weekend and came home as state champions.

Two of the school’s robotics teams, along with advisor Preston Richey, Bear River High School chemistry teacher, were in St. George at Utah Tech University competing in the Vex Robotics Utah Competition. They each brought with them a robot designed and constructed and programed by the team members. After going through seven rounds, the quarterfinals then semi-finals, the two local teams were sitting first and second.

At that point, each team was asked to align with another team before heading into the final rounds of competition. Team H, in first place, chose to partner with Team C to battle it out in the best of three. It was two Bear River teams against the rest of the playing field.

Team C had four members - Kason Rees, who serves as the robot’s programmer, David Roberts, team captain, Jace Bingham, the driver, and Remi Sano. Sano’s job was to keep a notebook of the entire construction progress of the robot, from start to finish. The team’s notebook was a major part of scoring the competition.

Team H was made up of three competitors – Jayden Mello, driver; Atticus Winward, notebook designer; and Jaxon Thompson, who worked with the other two on designing, building and programming.

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Designing and constructing a robot that can be driven around a course and is programmed to "think" when doing required tasks takes a lot of teamwork. Courtesy Photo

The competition was timed, and the robots were required to negotiate the course, finishing goals and picking up rings. The BR brotherhood took the first two rounds in quick order to claim the state title. On top of that, Team C’s robot earned the Best Robot Design Award for the entire competition.

Because of the win the teams also received an invitation to the World Competition to be held in Dallas, Texas in May.

The Bear River teams were able to work together during the finals and combine their robotic creations to seal the state title. Courtesy Photo