Youth teams compete at Ohio robotics competition

  • Published
  • By Derek Kaufman
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO -- --  Forty-eight teams from across the state will compete Jan. 14-15 at the FIRST Lego League Ohio state championship tournament at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the Wright State University campus.

Co-sponsored by the Wright-Patterson AFB Educational Outreach Office and open to the public, the annual event will bring together some of Ohio's brightest 9- to 14-year-old students and mentors.

Participating in teams, the students will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship and sense of community.

FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. The not-for-profit charity and the Lego group have partnered to challenge youth teams who use Lego bricks, motors, gears and software to design and build robots to solve real-world engineering challenges.

"The educational outreach office at Wright-Patterson has been affiliated with FIRST Lego League since 2001," said Kathy Schweinfurth, chief of the Wright-Patterson AFB Educational Outreach Office. "Our staff member, Kathy Levine, is the state FIRST Lego League coordinator for Ohio and our robotics program manager. She does an awesome job in pulling this huge program together, and a program like FIRST Lego League is right up our alley; it's all about sparking imagination and a love for science by showing that learning and fun can go hand-in-hand.

"There is no better way to help influence that critically important next generation of scientists and engineers."

Each September, FIRST officials announce the annual challenge to student teams around the world. After weeks of intense preparation, the competition season culminates at high-energy, sports-like tournaments. This year's focus is nanotechnology, exploring existing sciences at the molecular level.

The competition is judged in four areas: 1. project presentation, 2. robot performance, 3. technical design and programming of the robot and 4. teamwork. The highest honor will go to the team that best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.

"It is truly inspirational to see not only the creative engineering strategies employed by these teams, but their profound sense of civic responsibility as demonstrated through their research," Ms. Levine said. "Kids learn firsthand that they have the power to solve problems and impact the world -- very powerful lessons indeed."

FIRST Lego League's eighth year is also its biggest season, with 8,100-plus teams -- more than 80,000 students -- from 34 countries, competing in hundreds of qualifying events and championship tournaments, according to its Web site.

The FIRST Lego League Ohio State Championship winner will have a chance to participate at the FLL World Festival that will take place April 12-14 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in conjunction with the FIRST Vex Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition Championship for high-school students.

The Ohio state championship follows nine regional state qualifying events from Toledo, Canton, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati where more than 180 Ohio teams competed in December, Ms. Levine said.