The Virginia State VEX IQ robotics tournament took place on March 15th and 16th at Nysmith School in Herndon. Four LASER teams, based in Mineral, attended – one elementary and three middle school teams. Only the top 24 teams in the state for each age group (elementary and middle school) received an invitation to the tournament. At the end of the state tournament, only three teams from each age group would go on to compete at the World VEX IQ Championships taking place in May in Dallas, Texas.

Teams start the year with an introduction to a brand new robotics challenge. They are tasked with engineering robots from a variety of parts, including pins, gears, wheels, motors, and sensors, but with no instruction manual. Though mentors are involved to assist teams with understanding the rules and to engage students in thinking through the engineering process and the challenges inherent in learning to collaborate as a team, the work itself is entirely student-led. The teams are responsible for designing, building, testing, and coding their robots over several months with tournaments interspersed throughout the season.

In 2024, LASER’s inaugural season, only one team placed high enough in regular season tournaments to receive an invitation to State – the elementary team, Radioactive Robots. Returning for a second year, the team of now fifth graders took the field on March 15th during the elementary school championships. 

Putting up consistently high scores in their eight qualifying rounds, the team never left the top two spots the entire day. The top two teams pulled ahead early and never slowed down, placing them in the top spot for the finals. After qualifying matches end, the knock-out elimination-style final rounds commence for the top ten teams. Teams are paired up in groups of two for their Teamwork Challenge rounds. From these Teamwork Challenge rounds, only the top scoring pairing receives a pass to the final World Tournament. With all eyes on Radioactive Robots and their partner team, Royal Roboteers, the finals rounds began with the ninth and tenth place teams taking the field and putting up their top scores of the day. The subsequent three pairings all fell short of the 70-point “score-to-beat.” Then it was Radioactive Robots’ turn. 

Before the match began, the announcer paused to address the audience and announce the winner of the prestigious “Amaze Award” for the team that built the most amazing and high-scoring robot that clearly demonstrated overall quality in the competition. After a proverbial drum roll, the award was presented to Radioactive Robots!

Then the time came for the final match of the day. The countdown was given and the one-minute timer was set. In a nail-biting tide-shift, the team’s robot experienced equipment failures inconsistent with their robot’s performance up to that point. The last three seconds were called out over the loudspeaker and the faces of the young engineers fell as they realized in a devastating blow that the coveted Teamwork Challenge win would go to the teams sitting on the hot-seat and not to them. You could hear a pin drop as the entire room of spectators looked on in shock as everyone waited for the score to be added up. 

Though the team is heartbroken by the unexpected loss, they can be proud of the incredible season they crafted. Finishing in second place in the qualifying rounds based on consistently high-scoring matches means they were truly one of the top elementary teams in the state of Virginia this season. We haven’t seen the last of this team of young men. Next year they will compete at the middle school level as sixth graders.

On Sunday the three middle school LASER teams converged on Nysmith School to begin their day of competition. Dracobots and CyberStars, two newly formed LASER teams this year with a combination of new-to-robotics and returning LASER competitors, showed incredible resilience and displayed their wonderfully designed robots, as well as their impressive driving skills.

Mechanical Masterminds, who narrowly missed their invitation to State last season in a final knock-out round during the regular season, put up impressive scores throughout the day this year, masterfully maneuvering their robot to a seventh place finish in qualifying rounds. 

Then came finals. Though the team entered finals paired with the eighth place finisher, the duo found themselves in the hot seat once again for the final match of the day, after maintaining a one-point lead over all other finalist competitors. 

Another pause for an announcement between finals matches found the Mechanical Masterminds smiling for photos with the Energy Award trophy, which is presented to the team that best displays a high level of enthusiasm and passion at the event. Taking their seats again in their homemade St. Patrick’s Day green hats, the team’s energy was palpable, proving without a doubt that the award was well-earned.

With fingers crossed they looked on as the top finishers took the field. The two top teams seemed to be hitting some slight slow-downs early on but hit their grove and finished with one of the highest scores of the entire day. For the second day in a row, a LASER team found themselves falling short in the final match of the day. 

Elsewhere in the competition, all three middle school teams finished in the top half of all teams in their Skills Challenges – individual rounds of both scoring (driving) and autonomous (coded and pre-programmed) events. Radioactive Robots finished in fifth for their performance in Skills Challenges in the elementary division.

Despite emotional endings to the weekend on both days, all four teams should be incredibly proud of their accomplishments this season and their performance at the state championships. As the oft-quoted trope from Norman Vincent Peale attests, these teams “shot for the moon and landed among the stars.”

Though the competitive teams’ seasons have come to an end, LASER isn’t slowing down. The program offers Battle Bot nights for kids once a month and plans to host two summer camps this upcoming summer. They have also developed a Smash Bot program and will be partnering with local establishments to bring the Battle Bot experience to adults. The one-night events will take place at venues including Log Home Brewery, Coyote Hole Ciderworks, and Callie Opie’s Orchard Restaurant starting July 5th. 

More information about LASER and all these great programs is available at LASER23093.org. If you’d like to be a part of mentoring students, reach out to [email protected]. 

Jennifer Christian

Jennifer Christian is a Lake Anna watercolor artist and designer. Coming from the Detroit area in early 2019, she fell in love with the natural beauty of the lake and surrounding fields and forests. Much of her artwork looks to capture the essence of the lake and its surroundings. Known for her community-minded entrepreneurial spirit, she is the creative mind behind Lake Anna-opoly, a beloved board game inspired by the local businesses and organizations of Lake Anna. Jennifer’s game has become a local favorite and has brought joy to rainy days for many families and friends in our community. Jennifer’s paintings, prints, greeting cards, and other merchandise can be found in stores around town and on her website at jenniferchristianart.com. She has also worked with several local organizations and businesses on the logo and sign designs you see around town. Outside of her artistic endeavors, Jennifer is a devoted mother to two boys and wife to Jonathan Christian, founder of LASER Robotics and the LASA Soccer Challenge Program. In addition, she founded and oversees the Lake Anna Homeschool group.