Teams prep for FIRST LEGO League state championships

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CHAMPION’S AWARD: The Tech Tsunami from Our Lady of Mercy School won the Champion's Award and Robot Performance award at the FIRST LEGO League qualifying tournament on December 16. They continue to rehearse their HYDRODYNAMICS project presentation at school to prepare for the FIRST LEGO League state championship. The team spent the HYDRODYNAMICS season exploring the problem of septic water in the human water cycle, and designed a filter for dirty water that makes it suitable for fertilizing a lawn. Pictured (from left) are Christian Butera, Mark Andraka, Blake Sykes, Levi Burdon (Warwick), Henry Wind (Warwick) and Evan Franchina.

DESIGN AWARD WINNERS: The RoboSquids won the robot design award at the FIRST LEGO League Qualifying tournament at Portsmouth Middle School on Dec 16. The team of 6th graders whose team is based in the home of coaches Walter and Sheila Sulyma of Warwick, recently presented their HYDRODYNAMICS project, "The faucet of the Future" at Symmons Industries who posted on their Facebook page that the RoboSquids, were a "bright group of young innovators who embody the dedication to sustainability that makes Symmons the smart choice."

Forty teams from across the state have advanced from the qualifying tournament system to Rhode Island Student of the Future's FIRST LEGO League state championship, to be held Saturday, Jan. 13 at Roger Williams University in Bristol.

Major sponsors of the event are National Grid, Textron Charitable Trust and The Verizon Foundation. Local teams are: The RoboSquids, a home based team from Warwick, and the Bright Blue Builders, a home-based team that includes students from Cranston and Warren, and Tech Tsunami from Our Lady of Mercy in East Greenwich, which includes students from Warwick, East Greenwich and Coventry.

FIRST LEGO League is a global robotics program for students aged 9 to 14 that is run locally by Rhode Island Students of the Future, a non-profit organization. Teams use the LEGO Mindstorms kit to build a robot that can score points on a game field that includes missions and obstacles related to an annual theme. The 2017/2018 theme is HYDRODYNAMICS. But the FIRST LEGO League program is about more than robots.

"The robot and the building with LEGO is a hook to introduce students to science and engineering skills and careers" said Rebekah Gendron, the President of Rhode Island Students of the Future, the non-profit organization that manages FIRST LEGO League in Rhode Island. In addition to building a robot that scores points for completing water related missions on the game table, teams learned about water and how communities find, transport, use and dispose of it. They identify a part of the process that can be improved on, and create an innovation solution to solve that problem.

"Teams focus on real world problems, and they are encouraged to meet with professionals to learn about current practice and solutions. The teams are learning to conduct interviews, do research, create innovative solutions, and present their findings in public. These are all skills that are important to creating strong communities." said Gendron.

At the state championship, teams will begin the day presenting for judges who evaluate their project, robot design and core values, and practicing with their robot on the competition boards.

"We give the kids structure to show us what they did," said Dick Taylor, of Tiverton, a volunteer who serves as the Rhode Island FIRST LEGO League judge advisor. While the projects are all related to the water theme, Taylor said that what the kids focus on will vary widely. "FLL gives them a chance to follow their interests, and to learn more about the community around them." said Taylor.

The local teams are entering the state championship with a strong record of success:

Tech Tsunami from Our Lady of Mercy won the First Place Champions Award and 1st place robot performance award, and the RoboSquids won the robot design award at the AIR 4H qualifying tournament at Portsmouth Middle School on December 16. The Bright Blue Builders won the robot design award at the December 9 qualifying tournament at the Edward Ricci Middle School in North Providence.

On the day of the competition, FIRST LEGO League teams meet with judges in the morning, and the event opens to the public with opening ceremonies, which include a talk by Representative Jim Langevin, at 11:30 am. Three rounds of robot game matches will run until around 4 p.m. with an award ceremony following. Teams were eligible for awards in the judged categories of project, robot design and core values (teamwork) and in the robot game. The team that does the best across all categories wins the Champion's Award and an invitation to compete alongside teams from around the world at the FIRST World Festival, held in Detroit, Michigan in April.