DANVILLE – Fifth-grader Will Samples knows exactly why his Danville Elementary School robotics team, the Danville Potato Devils, is heading to Texas to compete for a world championship.
"We’re like a family," he said. "We work together. If we have a problem, we solve it."
The Potato Devils – which also includes James Malone, Logan Joseph, Kyler Sanders and Riley Malone – won the 2023 Ohio VEX IQ Slapshot Elementary State Championship on March 10 in Marion. Next up is the VEX World Championships May 2-4 in Dallas. Eight hundred teams from across the United States and around the globe will compete.
VEX Robotics sells educational robotics equipment and programs to schools throughout the world. On its web site, VEX describes its products and skills competitions by proclaiming, “It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get.”
The Marion state competition involved teams of two schools, paired randomly, using their robots in teamwork fashion to score as many points as possible in 60-second rounds on a 6-by-8 field. The scoring objects were 45 orange 2.5-inch diameter plastic discs, which were stored in towers. The robots knocked the discs from the towers then maneuvered to slapshot them under a low bar to the other side of the field, which is marked with squares of varying point value.
“We were paired with a team from Monroeville, which also placed first,” Potato Devils adviser Shelley Langdon said. “The Potato Devils were fifth and the Monroeville team was sixth going into the finals. They had one chance – one 60-second round – to work together to score as high as they could. That is what got them the championship.”
The tower-like robots are provided by VEX but students determine how they perform.
“A lot depends on how we build our robot,” Kyler, a fifth-grader, said. “We can choose the ways we control it. We can change the gear ratios.”
“The robot’s main brain holds all of the information,” Will explained. “We can upload changes to the motors connected to the drivetrain and the spinners.”
James, a fifth-grader, said he became interested in robotics after watching the robotic combat of BattleBots on TV with his dad. His sister Riley also is on the Potato Devils team.
“I thought I would like to be like them,” James said of the BattleBots competitors.
Sixth-grader Logan, who said he watched BattleBots with his grandpa, already has a career in mind.
“I want to be an engineer,” he said.
Danville’s robotics program, only in its second year, includes five other elementary teams and two middle school teams that meet after school weekly. The middle school coach is Marie Mosher.
Langdon has high praise for the Potato Devils.
“The thing about this group is that they are extremely motivated,” she said. “They come in to work on robotics during study halls or recess. They are very intelligent and very good at problem solving.”
The Danville Local Schools website notes that the team has worked hard at fundraising, but still needs $10,000 to $12,000 for the trip to Texas.
The team’s $1,200 Dallas registration fee will be paid from a $5,000 donation by Brian and Cindy Montgomery of Centerburg through America’s Farmers Grow Communities, a Bayer Fund program. The Montgomerys’ donation, channeled through the Knox Educational Service Center, also paid for the Potato Devils’ $800 registration fee for the VEX state qualifier in Pickerington. The remaining $3,000 will be used to purchase robotics equipment for Centerburg Local Schools.
Tax-deductible donations to help the Potato Devils pay for travel, hotel and other expenses may be sent to Shelley Langdon, Robotics Adviser, P.O. Box 30, Danville, OH 43014. Checks should be made payable to Danville Local Schools. More information is available on the Danville Local Schools website.
