January 07, 2008
FORSYTH COUNTY - Robots were seen all over Forsyth Central High School Dec. 15.
That's because the school hosted the First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Qualifier for Elementary and Middle Schools.
First Lego League is an international organization dedicated to the improvement of young minds. FLL holds a yearly challenge for children 9-14 years of age and the qualifier was held in Forsyth.
The FLL's philosophy is that children learn best with a hands-on approach. Building robots to compete compels the teams to utilize their ingenuity, creativity, reliance on other team members,
A total of 40 teams were involved in the competition at Forsyth Central. The noise was deafening as excited junior robotics geniuses tweaked their creations and competed like crazy.
Lisa Rawlings is the team coach of the Shiloh Point team, the Dot Botz.
"Our team made third place and we're going to the State Finals at Georgia Tech in February," said Rawlings. "Not bad for one of the younger teams that is also a rookie team."
Lisa Rawlings' son John is a 5th grade Dot Botz member.
"I'm so excited that we got third place out of 40 teams. We worked hard for this," said John Rawlings.
Interestingly, the top two winning teams were homeschool teams: the Dark Hawks were first place and the Power Porcupines took second.
Troy Bielicki is a proud member of the Chattahoochee Elementary School Chattbots.
"Most of our team members are in 4th grade," he said. He proudly held up his robot and said, "Our team meets twice a week to build robots and program them. I love it."
The First Lego League Robotics Competition is the brainchild of entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway scooter. He realized that kids needed to be inspired to pursue science, so he created a sporting event to up their enthusiasm.
"We want to teach kids that it's more fun to design a video game than to play one," Cayman has said.
The Sunkist Girls are an all-girl robotics team from Cloverleaf Elementary.
Their faculty advisor, Jennifer Martel, said "I'm so proud of them for competing in this."
Rick Folea is one of the organizers of the FLL event and also runs the Forsyth Alliance, a countywide robotics club that has members from all four high schools.
"This year's designated theme was 'Alternative Energy,'" he said. "Each team had to design a robot and do three different interviews with judges on Teamwork, Research Project and Robot Design. They earn points in each category and the top performers are selected to be sent to the state championships."
Automation Direct is a Forsyth company which sells factory direct automation like computers and motors. They generously sponsored the competition since there is no county money spent on the robotics community.
Folea explained that the gracious professionalism that is the hallmark of the robotics community in the county is directly in line with Automation Direct's corporate ethic. Other local businesses are also supporters of the competition.
Although the teams are fiercely competitive, Folea said there is also a great spirit of what he likes to call "coopertition", meaning that teams will gladly help each other.
"It's pretty amazing to see that many kids excited about engineering, science, and math," he said enthusiastically. "The whole point of this program is to show kids how much fun an academic activity like this can be."
More photos online at www.Northfulton.com.
- www.northfulton.com
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