It’s time to get your gears turning! Introduced this year as a new non-traditional activity for our Unified Champions Schools, Unified Robotics has been a new way to introduce students into the field of STEM while also building life skills such as leadership, teamwork and critical thinking.

On February 17, four middle schools from Jefferson County Public Schools competed in our first ever Special Olympics Kentucky Unified Robotics Competition! The schools were Western Middle School for the Arts, Kammerer Middle School, Stuart Academy, and Westport Middle School. For months each school’s Unified Robotics Team has worked to build, strategize, and program their LEGO Spike Prime robots to prepare for the competition. Each robotics team consisted of both individuals with and without intellectual disabilities working together to compete in each competition style.

The competition began with schools competing in two skills-based competitions, then proceeded into the brutal Battle Bots tournament. To wrap up competition, schools competed in a Battle Royale Finale in which each team’s robot entered the competition arena to battle it out but only one was left standing. The last robot standing would be named winner and receive the first ever Unified Robotics Golden Gear Award!

Stuart Academy claimed both the Line Following and Clear the Mat competitions. Westport Middle School  won the Team Spirit Award. Western Middle School for the Arts claimed the Dazzling Design Award. And Kammerer Middle School took home the Battle Bots tournaments and Battle Royale Finale.

See photos from the Unified Robotics Competition

We would like to extend a huge thank you to one of our existing Unified Champion Schools, Fern Creek High School, whose Robotics Team served as our competition judges throughout the event!

For more information about how your school can get involved in Unified Robotics or other Unified Champion Schools programming, contact Karen Michalak-Parsley at [email protected] or 502-326-5002.