1st Lego Robotics Competition held Saturday at Oak Grove Middle School

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - The Oak Grove Middle School gym was full of excitement during the inaugural Hub City First Lego Robotics Competition.

Ten teams from across the Pine Belt built their own robot and programmed it to perform several tasks in under three minutes.

The host team, The OG Bots, had waited years to have the event it its backyard.

“We’ve had a robotic team for six years going on now,” said lead teacher Heather Brinson. “And we really have wanted to be able to host it and bring different communities and schools together to be able to compete against each other.”

Members of the Oak Grove team talked about the process of making the robot move through using an app.

“We go in there and we’ll put in a code like destinations,” Aundre Smith said. ”Like how we want the robot to move, what we want to move, what motors we want to go, and direction turns.”

The team practiced for weeks leading up to the event and had to stay motivated while experiencing growing pains.

“We were getting nervous sometimes and getting down,” Brycen Kirksey said. “But we never let that get us down.”

The event included children from ages 9 to 14, and the winners will qualify for the state competition.

Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Copyright 2023 WDAM. All rights reserved.