LEGO Robotics Team Debuts in The School Town of Highland

HIGHLAND | When people talk about a green jalapeno one usually thinks of a hot pepper used in dishes to spice things up.

At Warren Elementary School a Green Jalapeno is a member of the school's LEGO Robotics Team. Green Jalapenos is the name that the students came up with and voted on for this year's challenge.

This year marks the debut of a FIRST LEGO League® team in the School Town of Highland. The team is made up of thirteen fourth, fifth and sixth grade high ability students at Warren Elementary who took an interest in designing, building, and driving robots.

The team was formed in mid-September and worked hours each week to prepare for the regional competition at Indiana University Northwest in late November.

"The journey from beginning to end was a learning one for both coaches and team members. It was the first time any of us have been involved in FLL." said Mr. Boylan, one of the team's two coaches.

The best way to summarize FIRST LEGO League is to say that it is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year olds, which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills.

One of the most important aspects of FLL is the Core Values associated with the organization. Team members discussed these at each team practice. "The most import value for me was ‘what we discover is more important than what we win.'" says Conner O., a fourth grade team member. "We focused on learning more than we did winning prizes. It made us stay together as a team." Other Core Values include; we are a team, we honor the spirit of friendly competition, we share our experiences with others, we have FUN!

A challenge is presented to teams each year. The 2011 challenge was called Food Factor; the focus centers on how food is produced, processed and kept safe for humans. Team members tackled problems in three distinct areas that lead up to a regional competition.

Robot Design and Table Games

Students were given missions to complete as a part of the Robot Games portion of the 2011 challenge. As the students saw the table and what the robot needed to do they began designing a robot to complete the missions.

After designing and assembly were complete team members began programming the robot to complete missions. Each mission that was successfully completed earned the team points. Earning points helps teams advance to the state level competition. During the competition at IUN The Green Jalapenos placed 17th out of 30 teams.

The Project

Every team was required to complete a project for that helps the human race. Teams are encouraged to research the topic thoroughly and be imaginative in the solution to the problem. This year teams were given a chance to "make foods safer." The Green Jalapenos decided to focus on processing cheese so it would not spoil. The solution involved filtering techniques that utilize snail slime.

Core Values

Finally, teams were required to keep the core values in mind during all practices. The team had to talk with judges about how they used the core values during their time together. After this judging The Warren team placed 2nd in teamwork.

Over 60,000 students worldwide participated in this year's FLL Challenge. For the team at Warren elementary School it was an experience that will be remembered for years to come. The FLL program will continue next year as a new team tackles the next challenge-Senior Solutions.