JAY – The Jay Robot Monkeys, a team of students from Jay Elementary and Jay Middle schools, came in second place at the Spring Robot Track Meet at the University of Southern Maine on April 29.

Maine Robotics sponsored the event and nine teams from southern Maine competed. Teams constructed and programmed robots using Lego Mindstorm kits. Each robot was designed by the students for one of seven events, which included fastest robot, strongest robot, slope climber, line follower, ping pong ball shot put, table navigation and nonrobotic bridge building.

In the fastest robot competition, the Lego Monkey’s second-place robot traveled the 15-foot track in just over 2 seconds. In strongest robot, the robot came in third and was able to pull a cart loaded with 50 pounds of weight the required two feet in 41 seconds.

In ping pong shot put, the team finished third by shooting eight balls into a box four feet away in 30 seconds.

The team took third in line following and second in bridge building. The bridge, constructed of Legos, held the required 60 pounds. More than one bridge held the required weight, so the most efficient or lightest bridge was declared the winner. Jay’s bridge, which used a truss design, missed taking first by 28 grams.

Jay was able to take second place overall in the meet by finishing second or third in five of the seven events they entered. First place went to students from the New Hampshire Robotics Institute of Windham.

Students participating in the meet have been working on their robots as part of the gifted and talented program in grades three, six and seven at Jay Middle and Elementary schools.

Third-grade participants were Noah Parker and Jacob Luce. Sixth-graders included Lexi Deering, Ben Hartford, James Douglass, Ian Gingras, Sam Hutchinson, Dakota Paul, Andrew Stearns and Devlen Rider. Seventh-grade participants were Dustin Hargreaves, Courtney Webster and Mariah McKenna.

Rob Taylor is the Jay School District gifted and talented coordinator.