AFRL engineer honored at FIRST LEGO League World Festival

  • Published
  • By Holly Jordan
  • AFRL Air Vehicles Directorate
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Like many others, Air Force Research Laboratory engineer Skip Gridley volunteers much of his time for charitable causes. Few, however, go as far above and beyond.

Gridley, Air Vehicles Directorate Propulsion Integration Team Leader, was recently one of only two people worldwide to be presented with the annual FIRST LEGO League  World Festival Volunteer Award. FIRST is an acronym that translates into For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The award honors volunteers who dedicate an extraordinary amount of time and effort toward the FIRST LEGO League program.

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) program is designed for children ages 9 to 14, to spark an interest in science and technology. Each year, children who participate in the local, state, and national FLL competitions build robots using LEGO components and demonstrate problem-solving and teamwork skills before a panel of judges.

Gridley has been actively involved with the program since 2002 and has served in many different capacities, including judge, judge advisor, referee, and, most recently, software designer.

This year, Gridley was asked to travel to the FIRST LEGO League Power Puzzle World Festival, held in Atlanta, to serve as co-judge advisor and to facilitate the use of the judging software he developed to simplify the judging process. It was there that he was presented with the award.

"I am honored to be singled out from among the numerous FLL volunteers who work tirelessly to provide children with opportunities to learn about engineering, science, computers, and math, and to help them develop problem solving and teamwork skills needed to compete in the future business world," says Gridley. 

"I am rewarded enough when I see the spark in a kid's eye when he or she describes how much fun he or she has had while learning and about autonomous robots or alternative energy.  I'm humbled to receive an award for having so much fun!"

Gridley's software assists FLL judges in scoring teams accurately and fairly according to all the scoring criteria. The software also aids the judges in timekeeping and overall organization, compiling all individual and team scores and assisting judges in making their final nominations for awards and recognition. In addition, the software creates certificates and even helps write the script for the awards ceremony.

Best of all, he donated the software to FLL, free of charge.

According to Gridley, the creation of the software was a labor of love. After working with FLL for some time, he saw the need to assist the judges and standardize the scorekeeping.

Gridley's software has been a big hit with FLL, first being used in competitions throughout Ohio and then being rolled out in competitions worldwide. 

Gridley has found himself traveling throughout the world, to Europe, Asia, and throughout North America, to provide support for his new software. As a result, he recently accepted a new volunteer position as Global Judge Advisor. In this role, Gridley will continue to provide support and institute new improvements for FLL.

The tremendous effort Gridley devotes to FLL is worth it, he says, to promote an interest in science and technology among young people.

For more information on FLL, visit www.firstlegoleague.org.