Fifteen teams of youths from Lincoln and nearby towns showcased their robotic work during the Time Warner Cable First Lego League "Nature's Fury" challenge on Nov. 23 in the East Union to more than 200 spectators.
The Community Learning Center / 4-H Robotics team at Goodrich Middle School won first place in two areas of a city-wide competition. Jesse Andreas, Science teacher at Goodrich, answered questions about the event, the project and what is next for the team at this LPS site: http://www.lps.org/post/detail.cfm?id=8053.
Youth were working since August to develop leadership and solve this robotic mission.
The day was sponsored by Time Warner Cable's Connect a Million Minds initiative, which is committed to engaging youth in science, technology, engineering and math.
Selected teams qualified for the Nebraska First Lego League Championship Tournament on Feb. 22 at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland.
This "Nature's Fury" challenge called for teams of nine to 14 to research and present their own creative solutions to natural disasters.
Teams also built, tested and programmed an autonomous robot using Lego Mindstorms NXT to solve a set of natural disaster missions, such as positioning an evacuation sign, clearing an airplane's runway of debris and delivering supplies.
The cornerstones of the experience are the FLL core values, which emphasize contributions of others, friendly competition, learning and community involvement.
At the tournament, teams demonstrated their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship and sense of community. Local university, nonprofit and corporate science and technology professionals were tournament judges and referees.
The competition was judged in five areas: research and presentation, robot performance, technical mechanics of the robot's construction, teamwork and gracious professionalism. The highest honor went to the team that best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.
For more information about the event, go to http://go.unl.edu/fll-lincoln or http://4hset.unl.edu/4hdrupal.
The event was hosted by UNL Extension's 4-H Youth Development Program.
Photos: http://ne4h.smugmug.com/LincolnFLL2013/Lincoln-FLL