Abigail London and Mariah Lopez, students from Marina West School, were awarded first place in OSD’s first District Robotics Competition. (In the center is Raymond Ibay, one of the coordinators of the District Robotics Competition). Courtesy photos.
OXNARD — A total of 10 students in grades 3-5 competed in the Oxnard School District’s first-ever District Robotics Competition held on Wednesday, May 30 at Marina West School in Oxnard.
Teams from McKinna, Emile Ritchen, Harrington, Christa McAuliffe, and Marina West schools participated in the competition that challenged students to develop coding for their own “Dash” team robot to maneuver through designated areas on an obstacle course designed on a grid mat that included a ball and a set of bowling pins.
“To me the competition is exciting as well as a really good opportunity for students to code robotics,” said Raymond Ibay, one of the coordinators of the event as well as a site technician at Marina West School. “This competition is a good platform for the students to move on to coding in middle school.”
Vivienne Nuñez, a student at Emilie Ritchen School, does coding for her “Dash” robot.
Each team had two opportunities to finish the obstacle course that was randomly assigned to them. On the first round, teams had 20 minutes to set up their coding and on the second round, the teams had 10 minutes to revise their coding with hopes of getting their “Dash” to the finish line. All teams were scored using a points system.
Abigail London and Mariah Lopez, students from Marina West School, were awarded first place and students Isabella Wedemeyer and Vivienne Nuñez the from Emilie Ritchen School were awarded second place.