Coach/Sponsor Spotlight: Millbrook Middle School Robotics Sponsor Carrie Licina

BY SCOTT NICKERSON

ELMORE/AUTAUGANEWS

The Robotics Program is relatively new in many Elmore County schools, but Carrie Licina has been the sponsor/coach of the Millbrook Middle School Robotics team for four of the five years it has been in existence.

A native of Eufaula, Licina went to the University of South Alabama and earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics, and a master’s degree in Math Education. She began her teaching career at Stanhope Elmore in 2011 and has been employed in Elmore County schools since that time.

Taking over as the leader for a Robotics program in its infancy stages has been both rewarding and challenging. Students on the Robotics team are responsible for building, coding, and driving the robots. Licina explains that there are three different types of Mustang teams. “Currently, there are 21 students in the competition club. Those 21 students make up eight individual teams. We have three divisions of teams. We have some elementary teams, middle school teams, and a middle school VRC teams.”

For those that do not know, Robotics competitions are held all over the world, with many well-funded and supported teams traveling cross-country to test their creations against other future engineers and world leaders. In 2023, Licina led the MMS VEX IQ Robotics team in competitions in Wetumpka, Tuscaloosa, and Lagrange (Georgia). The competition held at the Great Wolf Lodge in Lagrange featured Robotics teams from as far away as Orange County, California, and Ontario, Canada.  Several Mustang Robotics teams also qualified for the State Tournament held in Auburn.  The MMS VRC Robotics team also traveled for competitions in Jasper, Cordova, Birmingham, Montgomery, Elmore County and Pike Road.

VEQ IQ Robotics uses plastic, snap-together pieces to build high-functional robots. The VEX IQ Competition consists of matches played on a 6×8 rectangular field. Two robots compete in the Teamwork Challenge as an alliance, scoring as many points as possible. The matches last 60 seconds. During a competition, each individual team will compete in as many as six matches. Teams with the highest average score advance to the finals, where matches are held again, this time with the highest scoring teams.

In addition to the teamwork competitions, there are also driving skills matches, which are entirely driver controlled, to determine the average number of points each individual driver is able to obtain on their own.

And finally, there are programming skills matches, which are autonomous with limited human interaction, and determine how well and advanced the students have been able to code and build their robots.

VEX 5 Robotics is a metal-based Robotics program with bolt together pieces that are machinable to create any mechanism. The matches in VEX 5 are on a 12×12 field. The alliances, composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of an autonomous period followed by a driver-controlled period. In VEX 5 Robotics, the goal of each team is to obtain a higher score than the other alliance competing on the same field at the same time.

Several programs in the State, at Mountain Brook and Pike Road, have recently excelled. Licina explained that the Robotics program at Millbrook has obtained most of their pieces from grants. Asked to describe what the programs in Elmore County need to be able to compete with other programs such as Pike Road and Mountain Brook, Licina gave an honest answer. “They do have access to more, but not just equipment. They have knowledgeable parents and high school volunteers that help during practice and competitions, as well.”

Licina agreed that donations would obviously help, as they are trying to upgrade the Robotics electronics, as well as prepare to send a team to the World Competition, held the last two years in Dallas, Texas. There is one big thing that Licina thinks would help greatly. “One thing we would love to have is an engineer to help give our students more perspective on the game and the mechanisms needed for the robot. Volunteers to help our students achieve are needed.” 

In just five years, Licina’s teams have already had impressive successful competitions, to include some of the teams qualifying for the World Tournament in Dallas in 2022 and 2023. The VRC team placed 5th for virtual skills in the world, and 3rd at state finals in skills and autonomous. Also, an elementary team won the Design Award for its robot at one of the competitions this year.

The goal next year, according to Licina, is “to earn some judged awards. To do this, students will need to complete an engineering design notebook, something that they have a hard time working in. It would be wonderful to have an engineer come into our camp this summer and explain the need and use of this notebook. Also, we would like to have more coding experience so that students can earn more points autonomously using sensors.”

For her efforts with the Robotics Program, Licina was recently awarded the Lakeisha Ray Stem Spirit Award given for her works and dedication in the Robotics and Stem Program at Millbrook Middle School.