After all the points were tallied and the robot gears and motors slowly hummed to a stop, the Stingbots of Loyd Star stood out as one of the top regional robotics team from the area at the First Tech Challenge competition.

The FTC competition, held Saturday in Oxford, is a statewide robotics tournament that pits the best and brightest minds of high school aged students against one another.

Loyd Star, along with student robotic teams from West Lincoln and Enterprise attendance centers, competed in the event after qualifying for the tournament in November.

Originally, 43 teams from across the state attempted to qualify for the tournament at FTC regional qualifying competitions held throughout the state. In November, 21 teams from the area met at Copiah-Lincoln Community College with aspirations to move on. Out of the 21 teams, the West Lincoln Botshop, Enterprise Bionic Mafia and Loyd Star Stingbots earned top honors and qualified for the state tournament.

At Saturday’s all-day tournament, the Stingbots of Loyd Star ended up winning the Promote award at the contest, the top honor for best video presentation. The Stingbots also made a name for themselves by ending up as one of the top six finalists of the tournament.

Sadly, despite the award won by the Stingbots, the Oxford competition marked the end of the road for all three area teams. Now, those that qualified will travel to San Antonio to compete in a nationwide tournament. From there, qualifiers will then compete on the world stage.

Despite being unable to qualify, the scope of the tournament is something that motivates area students to come back year after year, said Instructor of Math and Science at

Co-Lin Kevin McKone.

“It was not without it’s merits. The kids had a great time. Now, with this year’s experience under their belt, the kids have a better understanding of what to do to win next year,” said McKone. “This is a worldwide event and every year we see more and more interest in the field.”

The First Tech Challenge program has expanded rapidly in recent years. Many of the kids involved have come back to the competition year after year to fine-tune their skills and sharpen their focus. Other kids have inspired their brother or sister to get involved.

At the tournaments, student teams are tasked with programming and controlling their robots, both manually and remotely. Then the teams compete against one another in a partitioned robot arena. The goal is to maneuver the robots to retrieve Lego-like blocks and transport them into a basket, among other tasks.

McKone, as well as dozens of other instructors, students and volunteers, have been instrumental in the FTC tournament. In turn, area kids have gravitated to McKone’s annual summer robotics camp held in July at Co-Lin. At the camp, McKone teaches robotics to kids by using an interactive, hands on approach. Students at the camp learn to program and create their own robots. To many kids, it is a precursor to the FTC competition.

As interest in the FTC increases year to year, the camp sees more and more interest from all segments of society, according to McKone.

“We want to reach out across all demographics to get as many kids involved as possible. As interest increases, I’ve noticed a much more diverse group,” McKone said. “It’s my goal to introduce the world of math and science to kids in the area.”