Posted on November 12, 2007
Elementary and middle school students from the Shenandoah Valley cheered and chanted as their robots went head to head in ISAT on Saturday during the FIRST LEGO League’s regional robotics competition.
Designed to develop interest in the fields of math and science, the FIRST LEGO League partnered up with the Lego Co. to create a program geared toward young mathematic and scientific minds, which has grown into an international event.
However, the competitive atmosphere didn’t generate group rivalries on Saturday. Members of Team Pie said that their competition was only with themselves.
“It’s about our personal best,” sixth grade Pie member Grace Zeng said. “We just want to make it to [the state competition] and do better than we have before.”
Each fall, a universal group challenge, or “power puzzle” is designated. This year’s theme was “Energy Resources: Meeting the Global Demand,” focusing on how personal energy use affects the environment.
Director Ralph Grove, professor of computer science, and Assistant Director Steve Purcell, a professor in the college of education, organized this year’s regional contest. This was the fourth year JMU sponsored and hosted the event. The contest was one of 16 held throughout Virginia on Saturday and included 24 teams, each made up of four to 10 students.
The competition consisted of four components that contributed equally to the groups’ final scores.
“Projects are judged on robot performance, the power puzzle, individual robot design and teamwork,” Grove said.
Students were assigned tasks to program their robot to accomplish, such as putting a solar panel on the roof of a house, planting trees and transporting oil without spilling it. Teams had three sets of two minute and 30 second intervals to complete as many tasks as possible.
“Each year the kids continue to impress us with how well they do,” Purcell said. “The way they work together is impressive, especially at their age.”
Grove was impressed with the excitement the children generated while creating the robots.
“The whole purpose is to make science and technology interesting and fun to kids,” he said. “It’s great to see them get so excited and have that much fun learning.”
JMU freshman and event volunteer Nicki Underwood enjoyed watching the kids relate their creations to real life.
“The kids are learning about issues in the environment and safe solutions to help start and reverse the damage, and it’s changing their lives in that way,” she said. “This is a new generation with a whole new focus on the world.”
There were no hard feelings at the end of the day when the victorious top-five teams were announced. Teams SPAM, Pie, C.O.R.N (Company of Robotics Nerds), the Gifted Girls and I C Energy will advance to the state competition in December, which will be held at JMU.
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