Berkshire Robotics Challenge: Egremont Elementary team tops in robotics [The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass.]

Mar. 23--PITTSFIELD -- The Egremont Eagle Engineers of Pittsfield's Egremont Elementary School defeated the St. Agnes Short Circuits of St. Agnes School in Dalton in the finals and were crowned competition champion of "Smart Move," the 11th annual Berkshire Robotics Challenge, conducted Saturday at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.

The competition involved student teams from throughout the county, using programmable robots built from Lego kits to complete a variety of missions involving hypothetical scenarios related to safe, efficient transportation.

The event, which involved 25 Berkshire County teams composed of more than 200 students ages 8 to 14, was sponsored by Berkshire Applied Technology Council, with major underwriting support from Sabic Innovative Plastics.

Kevin Mooney, Jim Chalfonte and Gigi Hawkins were coaches for Egremont, which featured team members Katara Mullett, Sydney Ovitt, Ethan McGuire, Nadine Billow, Troy Schweitzer, Artem Dudko, Xain Stedman, William Munch, Liam Mooney and Sadie Supranowicz.

Karen Schmidt and Don Hall were coaches for St. Agnes, which featured team members Abbey Laurin, Elizabeth Bean, Gage Frazier, Mike Shea, Connor Townsend and Peter Grande.

Other award winners included the following groups.

Semifinalists: WES Legoheads 3 of Williamstown Elementary School and Montessori Masterminds of Montessori School of the Berkshires.

Sportsmanship & Team Spirit:

Roadrunners of Southern Berkshire Regional School District.

Best Mechanical Design: Conte Mechanics of Silvio O. Conte Community School.

Most Innovative Design: Kontrolled Kaos 2 of Hoosac Valley Middle School.

Best Programming: Boy Scouts Troop 4 of the Dalton Neighborhood Team.

Comeback Kids: Team Husky of Stearns Elementary School.

Rookie Team of the Year: Montessori Masterminds of Montessori School of the Berkshires.

Best Research Project: Team Husky of Stearns Elementary School.

Judges, inspectors and referees for the event were Greg Owen, Bob Gove of Pelican Storm Case, Richard Peters of Sabic Innovative Plastics and Bob Vaughan.

The planning committee included Doug Crane of Crane & Co., Dorothy Curtiss of General Dynamics, attorney Lee Flournoy, Jon Friedman of Craneville Elementary, Gove, Denise Jezak of Morris Elementary, Denise Johns of the Berkshire Applied Technology Council, Bernie Klem of Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, and John Wood of Sabic Innovative Plastics.

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