Local robotics teams competed at the 2014 RoboParade, a program of Lawrence Technological University’s Robofest, at the St. Pete Beach Community Center Saturday, November 8.
“The robotics program offers an opportunity to learn technology in a fun environment and really do application of programming and computer skills,” said St. Pete Beach Mayor Maria Lowe who attended the festival. “The Robofest gives them an opportunity to congregate and compete in a way that lets them bring their studies to life in a competition, so being able to host this is a wonderful outlet for the city to get to open these doors for these young people.”
Teams from Oak Grove Middle School, the city of St. Pete Beach, Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School, Clearwater Main Library and St. Pete Master Builders presented their robots – disguised as a haunted house, a dragon, a police patrol, a pumpkin queen and a yellow submarine with an alligator – and cheered as their autonomous creations paraded for the judges.
Mayor Lowe called the event “a wonderful representation of the efforts of St. Pete Beach Recreation Department to reach out to a number of young people in a variety of settings, not just athletics, but also mentally engage the students.”
