The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Lab Robotics Teams Compete Here and Abroad

Lab’s eighth grade robotics team, the Maroon Phoenixes, won a first place medal at the 2023 RoboMed MAIS Robotics Tournament on Friday and Saturday, March 24–25 in Lisbon, Portugal.

This was the first time Lab was able to participate in the Mediterranean Association of International Schools tournament, according to Jeremy Schwartz, eighth grade robotics teacher, who also chaperoned the trip with nurse Mary Luz Toledo. There were two Lab teams participating in this tournament, the Maroon Phoenixes and the Deep Dish Destroyers, both of which consisted of four students per team. 

Lab was the only school out of ten from the United States to compete in the two-day tournament at the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon. The tournament consisted of seventeen teams competing in five events “sumo bots, speed drag races, line following races, tug-of-wars, and obstacle course challenges.”

Lab’s eight students started preparing for the five RoboMed events in September during their first quarter robotics course,  Schwartz says. “Additionally, students voluntarily signed up for extra robotics workshops during the weekly Middle School seminar period on Wednesdays.”

Schwartz says this competition shows Lab’s Middle School students “how to engage in the engineering design process through a hands-on approach to robotics and software programming.” 

The U-High robotics team, Cache Money 8096, has also been making its way  through a variety of local and national high school tournaments, and from April 19–22 have the chance to attend and compete in the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston. From March 22–25, they also competed at the The Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee, where they were ranked ninth out of 47 teams. "They did, however, walk away with the Quality Award for the design and robust functionality of our robot," Darren Fuller, U-High robotics coach and Middle School Science teacher, says. “We were one win away from making it into the finals again. The team was discouraged that we lost, but felt proud of our accomplishments.”

Earlier this month, Cache Money competed in the Midwest Regional FIRST Robotics Competition from March 9–11 in Chicago. They were ranked seventh after 11 qualification matches.

There is one more tournament left, The Buckeye Regional, March 29–April 1 in Cleveland. “[We] are hopeful that we can push through and qualify for the world championship,” Fuller says.

Lab is cheering for you, Cache Money!