Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Twenty-four teams from Minnesota competed in the first Vex IQ tournament held at IJ Holton on Saturday, Jan. 21. The teams competed in the Vex IQ Slapshot competition where they had one minute to get 45 discs out of the dispensers and into the goal zone. Each team had eight qualification matches where they formed an alliance with another team to score the highest points possible.

The competition also has an individual skills field where teams have three opportunities to score points using their driver skills and an autonomous portion where the teams program a code into their robot.

Representing Austin were the Gear Shifterz and Dead Treez from Southgate Elementary School and RoboKnights A and RoboKnights B from Neveln Elementary School, and a homeschool team the Microbots. The Spam Bros represented Brownsdale. There were also four teams from Sacred Heart, six from Southland, as well as teams from Grand Meadow, Faribault, Kimball, and St. Cloud.

Six awards were presented at this tournament. The Spam Bros from Brownsdale earned the Judges award. The Design award was given to The 3 Musketeerzz from Sacred Heart. The Robot Skills Champion award was given to the Microbots from Austin. The Excellence Award was given to the Frogbots from Grand Meadow. The second place Teamwork Championship award was given to The 3 Musketeerzz and the Oompaloompas from Sacred Heart. The Teamwork Championship award was given to the Frogbots from Grand Meadow and the Microbots from Austin.