BRISTOL—When at first the team from St. Mary Bay View Academy, East Providence, experienced a glitch with their robot on the competition floor, they went back to their station and made some minor programming modifications.
They came out of the gate strong, finishing in third place in the robotics portion of the First Lego League Rhode Island’s 10th annual Robotics Championship, but way out front in first place overall as the winners of the Champions Award, thank to an innovative invention.
“We are so proud of this team. These girls have worked so hard and have logged so many hours of practice to carry out the task given and make their creation shine among a field of such strong competition,” said Linda Grasso, technology instructor and coach for the Bay View Elementary and Middle School team, along with co-coach Erica Cross.
Cross was equally excited about the victory for the all-girls team.
“These girls achieved much today for themselves and girls everywhere,” said Cross. “Today was about hard work, smarts, creativity and a little bit of girl power.”
Fifty-eight teams competed last weekend in the local round of First Lego League for the chance to compete against teams from 30 different countries at the First Lego League World Festival on April 27-30 in St. Louis, Mo.
In addition to winning the chance to compete in Missouri, each member of Bay View’s S.M.A.R.T. squad also won a $5,000 scholarship, renewable for up to four years, to Roger Williams University, which hosted the competition.
According to the program literature, the goal of the global First Lego League is to get kids excited about science and technology. The FLL challenge has three components: the robot game, the research project and Core Values—which includes collaboration, team spirit and sharing with the community.
The topic of the research project and missions are announced in September each year. This year’s Body Forward challenge introduced teams to innovative ways to heal the human body using technology.
The Bay View team’s innovative research project was to design a pair of eyeglasses containing LIDAR sensors to help the blind achieve a greater degree of independence.
The sensors, using light detectors and radar, scanned the horizon in front of the wearer to search for obstacles that might impede their path.
A voice warning would steer the wearer around the obstacles, and the glasses themselves were powered by solar energy.
In designing a research project, the Bay View girls sought to work with common materials that would have practical applications.
“We researched blindness and picked the glasses because they would fit in with everyday items,” said seventh-grader Allie Cross.
“We wanted the glasses to be charged by solar energy,” added seventh-grader Megan Nadeau.
Two other Catholic schools also won awards in the competition.
The All Saints Academy, Middletown, Transformers won the Judges Award for the great promise they showed to be a future champion with their project, and the Rogue Cells of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, Bristol, won the Mechanical Design Award for their robot.
The Rockin’ Robots of St. Peter School, Warwick, began working on their projects at the beginning of the school year.
They came up with a practical medical application for their robot, which in theory would provide a small amount of anesthesia at the tip of a needle that would be used to administer medicine to a child apprehensive of shots.
Nicholas Sylvester, a St. Peter School seventh-grader, said he and his teammates were inspired after reading about how bedbugs can bite someone without being immediately felt because they apply a chemical to their victims that acts like an anesthetic.
The students put their robot through the timed course and carried out other medical tasks as well.
“We also used our robot to put a cast onto a Lego bone,” said eighth-grader Teddy Dermouelian.
They also used the robot to apply a patch over a damaged heart.
The students put in many hours over the course of a few months to prepare for the competition.
“I helped to do the poster board and the presentation, and have worked on this since September,” said seventh-grader Samantha Wynne.
This is her second year of competing in the tournament.
“You learn teamwork and how important it is to work with other people well,” she added.
Susan Unger, who teaches science and health at St. Peter School for students in K-8, and a few dedicated parents were there to mentor the students.
“I am very proud of them,” said Unger. “This is much more difficult than it looks. It takes a lot of focus and patience, and that’s what they learn.”
