Elmsford School Hosts FIRST LEGO League Regional Competition
Elmsford, NY - Grady Elementary School hosted the regional competitions of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) on Jan. 30 to a packed gymnasium. Students representing 11 different organizations or schools participated in the competition, which involved 4- to 5-inch robots made from LEGO parts. Competing teams included: The Techno Girls Girl Scouts - Heart of the Hudson; The Porcupineapples - Pleasantville Middle School; The Geek Squad - Port Chester Middle School; New Ro-bots - New Rochelle; New Ro-Bots 2 - New Rochelle; LEGOmaniacs - Private; Rockin' Robots Home School Group; The Robo-Raiders - Grady Elementary School, Elmsford, NY; NanoBots - Hughes Elementary - New Hartford; Bricktron Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center; and LEGO Masters - Briarcliff Manor Library. Competing teams came from as far north as Poughkeepsie.
This year's FLL theme was "Smart Moves," and required contestants to build LEGO MINDSTORMS robots that moved efficiently. Each robot was unique, and could be programmed to perform a different task related to safety and movement of things. In one of the exercises, the students hooked a test dummy onto the robot. If the dummy stayed intact while the robot traversed the course, the team could accumulate up to 400 points. Students who accrued the most points won the contest. Teamwork, robot design, and a research presentation were the other elements of the contest.
The 13-member Grady School Robo-Raiders designed a "snow robot" that could escort children to school on a snowy day. The proposed robot was equipped with a cell phone to alert the police in the case of an emergency, and could potentially clear away snow for the children as they walked to school. Dr. Pam Davis, Grady computer teacher and FLL organizer, was impressed that her students were thinking of a way to get to school on a snowy day. The Robo-Raiders began preparing for the FLL competition in October of 2009.
FLL was formed when FIRST, (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, a 501 (c)(3) organization developed to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology), founder and inventor Dean Kamen joined forces with LEGO Group's owner and deputy chairman Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen in 1998. They set out to create a powerful program that engages children in playful and meaningful learning, while helping them discover the fun in science and technology. Mr. Kamen and Mr. Kristiansen believe that FLL inspires student teams to research, build, and experiment, therefore creating ideas, solving problems and overcoming obstacles. There are currently over 140,000 in 56 countries worldwide who actively participate in the FLL.
Created with flickrSLiDR.