Youth from 30 teams across Illinois demonstrated their learning, celebrated their accomplishments, and interacted with others who share an interest in robotics at the 2024 4-H Robotics Competition held at the Interstate Center on the McLean County Fairgrounds on May 4.
The competition theme this year tasked youth with thinking about a world of never-ending technological advancements through the lens of AgTech.
“From the foods that we eat, to the clothes that we wear, Agriculture plays both the lead, and several supporting roles in this theater. With the threat of drought, global disasters and worldwide food shortages, AgTech may be the hero mankind has been waiting for,” says University of Illinois Extension 4-H youth development specialist Keith Jacobs. “It will be this generation of youth minds that will be charged with saving our civilization and innovating the changes we hope to see for our agricultural future and that’s what we’re challenging youth to bring to this competition.”
Stephenson County’s 4-H Robotics Club had a team of 9 youths that spent Thursday nights from January through April planning, building, coding, and laying out their runs for their robots so that they could be ready for this competition. Coaches, Ryan and Nikki Keltner helped guide the team with problem-solving & team building activities to help them be a united front when competition time came. “The team had a great time building and programming robots to perform the tasks on the agriculture-themed mission list,” says Nikki Keltner, 4-H Volunteer and Robotics Co-Coach. “The kids grew together as a team, learning how to work together and solve problems as a group.”
On May 4, the Stephenson County Robotics Team had 6 youth present at the competition. All the preparation and teamwork paid off as the team won the Rookie Design Award.
For more information on Stephenson County 4-H Robotics Club or other 4-H programs, please visit our county website: go.illinois.edu/jsw or reach out to Brenda Heimann bheimann@illinois.edu for more information.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.