Tuscumbia robotics team reaches state competition in first year

Gobbling up accolades

The T-Town Lions Robotics 25915 mentor Randy Gum, center, and team members, from front left, Jonah Viser, Devon Alexander, Lance Wieberg, Connor Kempker and Zoe Martonfi watch as their robot tries to complete a mission as part of the robot game during practice at Tuscumbia School.
The T-Town Lions Robotics 25915 mentor Randy Gum, center, and team members, from front left, Jonah Viser, Devon Alexander, Lance Wieberg, Connor Kempker and Zoe Martonfi watch as their robot tries to complete a mission as part of the robot game during practice at Tuscumbia School.

The Tuscumbia T-Town Lions Robotics Team 25915 listened as announcers winded down giving awards for various central and southern Missouri teams Nov. 12 at the annual Mid MO FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Qualifying Tournament at Camdenton High School.

Near the close of the ceremony, they heard a familiar phrase as the Presentation Award was announced.

"We thought we didn't get anything," said Steve Martonfi, Tuscumbia music/band teacher and robotics team coach. "Then, they said 'gobble, gobble, gobble' and called us. We couldn't believe it; I think we all exploded."

That "gobble, gobble, gobble" referred to the Tuscumbia robotics team's innovative project and presentation on a wheelbarrow with a robotic arm that could haul off dead turkeys for farmers, which tied into the 2016-17 FLL theme, "Animal Allies."

"The judges really liked our project and said we gobbled our way through the competition," fifth-grader Emma Sears said with a smile. "They gave us our banner for the award."

The smiles grew even bigger for the seven team members when they found out they were one of five teams of 35 advancing to the FLL state competition Sunday in St. Louis.

Through connections of parent and mentor Jennifer Kempker, who works for the University of Missouri Extension Office in Miller County, the Miller County 4-H program donated robots to the team of fifth- through seventh-grade students. Last year, the team was able to play with the robots for about a month, learning the basics of building, programming and running a robot, before the competitive season began this fall.

The Miller County R-3 School District received a hardship grant, which helped pay for 90 percent of the team's initial costs in its first competitive season, including the robot kit, the challenge board, programming components, the application to compete and many other items.

The team's first competition was the Mid MO FLL Qualifying Tournament. The team has since practiced continuously to prepare for the state competition this weekend.

The T-Town Lions Robotics opened its official first season like any other FLL team.

"To make it fair for all the groups, we all had six weeks from the time the theme was announced and we received the robot kit," Kempker said. "The challenge had six weeks from the start to the first competition."

At competition, the team had to solve problems in three activities, one being the robot game. With this year's Animal Allies theme, the robot game has 15 missions where the team's robot helps animals, humans or both. Missions include delivering a shark in a tank, assisting a service dog, completing milk automation, releasing a panda and even working with a neighboring team in competition between the two tables in animal conservation.

Fifth-graders Sears, Connor Kempker, Jonah Viser and Zoe Martonfi, sixth-grader Devon Alexander, and seventh-graders Nicky Martonfi and Lance Wieberg split into groups, taking turns programming the robot to perform each mission. They received help from their coaches and mentors - Kempker, Martonfi, Emilie Judge and Tuscumbia Principal Randy Gum - as well as from the Camdenton High School robotics team.

Each team was tasked with identifying a way people interact with animals, designing a solution that adds value to society and makes the interaction between humans and animals better and also sharing that idea with at least one person in their community. The Tuscumbia team identified an interaction between animals and humans that hits very close to home.

"Our problem was turkey barns and people having problems getting dead turkeys out of their turkey barn, those that are weak, old and disabled," Sears said.

With a third of the team's families having a turkey farm, the team thought an efficient robot could make a solution to this ongoing problem.

The T-Town Lions Robotics team did online research and thought of ways to haul off the turkeys. After visiting a large turkey operation and talking with a couple of farmers, they realized some of their ideas would not stand the humidity or functionality of removing the deceased birds. However, the team took one farmer's suggestions and created a wheelbarrow with a robotic arm that could pick up dead turkeys, put them in the wheelbarrow and transport them to their disposal area with little labor intensity.

"We have worked on our skit and presentation and showed it to the judges during the local competition," Sears said, with Coach Martonfi adding the team made a video and posted it on Facebook. They also plan to add it to YouTube. "We plan to present it to Cargill."

The final aspect of the FLL competition is working together to solve problems in eight core values, including teamwork, having fun, and displaying gracious professionalism and cooperitition.