Members of the Cornelius Elementary Robotics Team at the Charlotte Regional Qualifier, from left, Yahya Khan, Liam Bredeson, Alexis Admire, Katherine Chou, back row; Mrs. Warren, Anthony Gautier, Zoey Hart, Nora Tobias, Kaya Dickens; and Mr. Rosebrook in front. Not pictured Margot Wood and Keegan Bamford.

Jan. 11. Cornelius Elementary’s Robotics Team was awarded the Judge’s Award in the NC FIRST Lego League (FLL) Challenge qualifying tournament held at Olympic High School in Charlotte, and scored high enough to advance to the State Championship. The Judge’s Award is presented to the team that excelled in all aspects of the competition: Robotics, teamwork and research project.

The State Championship will be held Jan. 21-22 at North Carolina A&T State University.

FLL offers project-based, hands-on STEM programs to introduce students to engineering and coding through an annual robotics challenge centered on a new theme every year. This year’s theme is Energy. The students designed, built and coded a Lego robot to complete specific tasks at the tournament.

They also created a research project and presentation on sustainable energy. The CES team’s project focused on solar sidewalks.

For more information click here.

The Cornelius Elementary School’s team is comprised of 4th and 5th grade students, and overseen by CES teachers Brian Rosebrook and Anna Warren.

Cornelius Elementary Robotics Team at work