Erin Joy joined a Lego robotics group.
"First Lego League" is a program for 4th-8th graders. Their task was to use legos to build a robot and program it with a computer to perform various rescue missions. They also had to design a solution to a problem arising from hurricanes. They decided the biggest problem after a hurricane was evacuation and designed a floating shelter in place which they named "the pea pod."
I was a little concerned because Erin was the youngest member of the team and wondered if the older girls would include her, accept her, and be patient with her. They worked for several months and did a wonderful job at the competition today. They were one of 52 teams. I noticed one other "all-girl" team in addition to the lovely Tutu Ninjas, but Erin's team had the best outfits:)
Here is their lovely display board....
I love the outfits that the girls designed.
They presented their robot to the first judge.
The robot didn't perform as expected. Oops.
Because the robot didn't perform as expected, the girls used the time in between judging sessions to work on the bugs in their computer program.
I was impressed that they didn't get frustrated and kept trying to work it out. I felt bad for them because I saw it working just fine when they were practicing the day before the competition.
They did an excellent job with their skit and answered the judge's questions about their hurricane shelter very well. They also did a great job in their "core value" teamwork challenge.
It was a very long morning followed by a very long afternoon in a hot, stuffy gym on hard benches with loud music that gave me headache. I'm glad the girls had more fun than I did....
The girls had to race their robot in three rounds. They earned points according to the challenges they completed in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The first round they only completed one challenge and scored 28 points. (I think there were seven challenges). They used the time between the first two rounds to try to re-program their robot. The second round they didn't complete any challenges because their robot had technical difficulties and spun around in a circle instead of going where it was programed to go. Oops. The third round, the girls completed two of the tasks and were very excited. The girls finished 45 out of 52 and were happy they weren't last.
I was impressed that the girls had such positive attitudes and worked so hard to try to figure out why their robot wasn't doing what they wanted it to do. They really persevered and the judges recognized that quality. I recognized that they had a good coach who let the girls solve their own problem. I noticed too much intervention by adults on several of the other teams.
The judges awarded them with the "Judge's Choice" award calling them "diamonds in the rough." They were so excited and it was certainly a well-deserved award.
Great job, girls!
Erin wants to do it again next year. It certainly was a great learning opportunity for her and she had fun.
