Three teams of students from Templeton Middle and Silver Spring Intermediate schools competed Nov. 9 at the FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Franklin Regional.
Final standings for the teams were:
- Cyber Turtles won the Champions Award, finished second place in the robot games and will advance to sectionals;
- Flashbotz finished third place in the robot games, won the Project Innovation Award and was chosen as an alternate to sectionals; and
- Radioactive Pyros finished fourth place in the robot games, won the Core Values Award and will advance to sectionals.
FLL challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. This year, teams chose and solved problems related to making our cities more sustainable. The challenge was to identify a problem with a building or public space and design a solution.
Cyber Turtles chose to address the No. 1 cause of water pollution in fresh water bodies which is cigarette butts. Their solution involved a pocket-size shredder where shavings would be turned in for money. Flashbotz attempted to create a solid and durable road to withstand Wisconsin weather using cellulose, plastic and rubber. Radioactive Pyros wanted to reduce harmful ground-level ozone with a three-part filter placed on a factory smokestack system.
In addition to the problems, the teams also built, tested and programmed an autonomous robot to solve a set of missions in the Robot Games. Throughout their experience, teams are encouraged to operate under the FIRST core values that include celebrating discovery, teamwork and gracious professionalism.
Kathy Betters is the advisor and Kelly Mallinger, Jason Fuhr, Deepak Babu, Brian Nagai and Matt Zank also coach the Charger Robotics FLL Program. Hamilton High School student mentors include Emilie Fuhr, who won the coach-mentor award at the competition, Tate Hutchinson, Akash Deepak, Nikki Nair and Anvita Bansai. The next FLL competition will be Dec. 14 at the Mukwonago Sectional.