LEGO teams build future
Students use math, science, technology in robot challenge
Only minutes away from testing its robot on the tournament floor, the Hercules team belted out Christmas carols despite the persistent beat of rock music, loud shouts from the crowd and cheers from competing teams.
The team of Brentwood Elementary fifth-graders was among 48 who competed at Saturday’s 2007 FIRST LEGO League Indiana Championship Tournament hosted by Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, according to Carol Dostal, IPFW’s director of outreach programs. Eight teams were from Fort Wayne while others came from as far away as Hammond and Indianapolis.
This year, teams faced a “Power Puzzle” and had to construct a LEGO robot to complete tasks associated with creating sustainable, environmentally friendly power options.
After only three months of preparation, teams of children ages 9 to 14 brought their robots to the tournament’s tables and attempted to complete environmentally focused missions such as planting trees, installing solar panels and installing a hydro-dam.
Teams had 2 1/2 minutes during each of three rounds to compete the missions. Each mission was assigned a point value, and teams could accumulate a total of 400 points in each round.
Despite the difficulty of meeting such a challenge, all of the teams seemed to be having a great time.
Before the Hercules team belted out “Jingle Bells” and “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” the children formed a conga line around coaches Brad Hess and Sam Wagoner.
“I’ve seen this group come together like a family,” Wagoner said.
Earlier in the second round a Warsaw team, Eco-Tech, competed to the pounding strains of “Born to be Wild.”
The six Eco-Tech members gathered around the referee to see their performance results before they returned to the pit area to prepare for Round 3.
Coaches John Yingling and Bob Hastings said friction on the tournament floor was keeping their robot from its peak performance. By the end of the second round, Yingling said they wouldn’t win.
While tree planting was a breeze for Eco-Tech’s robot, it simply didn’t have enough power to push the hydro-dam in place.
“So far we haven’t got it where it needs to be, but in all our practices we have,” Yingling said.
Despite Yingling’s dire prediction, Nic Jansen, 11, enjoyed being on the team.
“I like building and programming because it’s cool and I like to see the robot work,” Jansen said.
As a result of what he’s learned about renewable energy, Jansen said, when he grows up, he plans to install a solar panel on his house.
“I think it’s great that there are so many energy sources.”
bmanley@jg.net
Mayor Tom Henry and the Allen County commissioners will welcome the award-winning Voices of Unity Youth Choir back to American soil in downtown Fort Wayne today.