‘When their robot accomplished what it was programmed to do, the kids reacted as if they had won the Super Bowl,? said Kelly Scott, mother of 5th grader Kegan Olsen.
Independence Elementary students are proud to have won three awards at the Lego Robotics competition on Nov. 13, and the moment is thanks to a great coach and the dedication of six fifth graders.
Dan Olsen decided, on short notice, to coach the 5th grade Lego Robotics ‘Unlimited? team. Olsen’s son Kegan is a student at Independence and he wanted to be a part of the competition. With no one to coach, Olsen stepped up to the position.
‘The school wasn’t going to have the team, Unlimited, because there was no coach,? said Olsen. ‘So I decided to do it for Kegan, but once we got started it was a lot of fun for everyone.?
With only six weeks to competition, Team Unlimited came together. With the help of April Wuest, a sponsor of Lego Robotics, team Unlimited was able to get things started. Wuest explained all the details, informed the group on the things needed, delivered the budget and provided some of the materials.
Team Unlimited met twice a week and some weekends. The theme for this year’s competition was ‘No Limits? and it focused on exploring areas and making them handicap friendly.
The competition is broken into two parts. The first is designing and programming a robot to complete certain missions. The second is to do a research project where the students find a barrier or limitation in their environment and come up with a creative way to solve the problem. The students must research the area and do a presentation on the solution or topic.
The World Trade Center was the perfect candidate. After research on the World Trade Center was complete, the students found that after the 1993 attack, traveling down the stairs took a gentleman an hour and a half. The students knew they could come up with a program for a wheel chair that could go down stairs.
The team had a robotics kit, three motors, touch sensors and a light sensor. The kids must program the robot using software called Robo-Lab, which is an extension of Lab View, the same software used by NASA.
The group designed a working prototype.
‘Their prototype actually helped them win an award,? said Olsen. ‘They not only gave the presentation, they showed the judges how it would work.?
Team Unlimited competed against 28 different schools. They ranked in the middle of the teams during the obstacle competition, but won an award for their presentation. When presenting, the group played the part of scientists that designed the wheelchair. The scores were determined by adding the total points of the research portion and the obstacle portion.
Team Unlimited walked away with three awards including: 1st place Creative Presentation Award, 2nd place Quality Research Award and an Honorable mention for Innovative Solutions.
‘It was a lot of work trying to get 6 ten-year-olds to do anything,? said Olsen. ‘When it came down to it, they all pulled together as team.?
Because Olsen learned so much during the process, he plans to participate in next year’s Logo Robotics Competition.