Titan Hill Lego Robotics Team Advances to State
Team Spirit Goes A Long Way!
By Cheryl Ryan
December 17, 2009
On Saturday, December 5th, ten fourth grade girls from Titan Hill Intermediate School (a.k.a. T.H.I.S.) went to the FIRST Lego League Regional Competition in Sioux City, IA. Team members included Emily, Madison, Jordan, Hannah, Anna, Paige, Courtney, Allison, Addison, and Clare. This team also had two coaches: Stephanie Rostermundt, an engineer with the Army Corp of Engineers and Cheryl Ryan, a third grade teacher at Titan Hill.
The competition consisted of four parts, which were evaluated by different panels of judges: an interview to measure teamwork, a demonstration of the robot they built to show effective designs for performing various tasks using sensors followed by a programming interview, a presentation based on research that demonstrates problem solving, and a “best of three scores” performance of the robot on a playing field. Each portion of the competition was judged separately, providing opportunities for teams to excel in multiple areas. At the end of the competition, seven teams were given trophies and the chance to move on to the state competition. Although most teams consisted of middle school students, T.H.I.S. was one of those selected to advance by winning the “Team Spirit” trophy. They will be competing at state on January 16th at Iowa State University.
With funding provided by the Girl Scouts, the girls started preparing for this competition in September. They were meeting every week for several hours after school to build their robot and playing field pieces out of Legos, research this year’s problem of efficient transportation, create a skit with their solution to the problem, and program their robot to do specific tasks. If you would be interested in forming a team and are between the ages of 9 and 14, please email Mrs. Ryan at cryan@lewiscentral.k12.ia.us for more information.
