Students take part in FIRST LEGO League robotics competition

Up to 140 youngsters ages 9 to 14 will participate in the inaugural FIRST LEGO League robotics competition Nov. 9 at the University Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

FLL is a nationwide elementary and middle-school robotics event aimed at students who want to compete head to head using a sports model, a university news release said. The program introduces younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.

In this competition, the theme is Nature's Fury; an expected 14 teams of five to 10 students will be asked to find solutions to problems encountered during a natural disaster, such as positioning an evacuation sign, clearing an airport runway of debris and removing a leaf from a power line. Admission is free and the contest runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Students will build, test and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS, intended to help find solutions to these challenges. Renee Deken, a teacher at Immaculate Conception School in Jackson, is coaching a team of eight seventh- and eighth-graders. Fifth-grade teacher Rob Askew is heading up a fifth-grade squad with nine students.

Last year marked the first time math teacher Renee Deken mentored a team in the FLL, and it won the gracious professionalism award.

"We were extremely proud of that," she wrote in an email. "The gracious professionalism award goes to teams who help other teams figure things out."

Megan Jansen and Allison Bray, both 13-year-old eighth-graders at Immaculate Conception, were members of the team last year when the FLL contest was in St. Louis.

"We got to stay in a hotel, which is always fun," Jansen said.

The robot Jansen, Bray and teammates Matt Gibbs, Hayden Morrill, Parker Nugent, Steven Peters, Benton Keran and Megan Engelen built is solar powered and "would filter volcanic ash out of the air if a volcano erupted, so people could see and breathe," Jansen said.

Teams have 2 1/2 minutes to complete every mission, and each task is worth points. The more difficult the task, the more points a team receives. The team with the most points wins, but other recognitions are bestowed, as well.

Part of the competition involves youngsters devising a prototype of an innovation related to the contest theme. Brad Deken, an FLL site coordinator and chairman of the department of industrial and engineering technology, said this year the contest includes such challenges as "How do we communicate in a natural disaster? How do we keep structures from failing?" The ideas will be presented to a panel of judges.

Askew, in an email, said this is the first year his group has participated in the competition.

"They are very excited," Askew wrote. "[It's a] great group of students."

Last year, Renee Deken said, the contest theme was aging, so children in that competition came up with a watch that would connect to a pill box, so if the person didn't take their medicine, the watch would remind them. Competitors didn't have to build the watch, but they submitted a prototype, Renee Deken said.

One of the things both girls like about the contest is the teamwork involved, "because whenever you accomplish something, the feeling is really great and you get to share it as a team," said Bray, whose mother, Laura, helps Renee Deken with the team.

Jansen noted that each team member contributes something to the effort. "We have one person who's good at programming," she said.

"One that can build attachments," Bray said.

"And someone who can write," Jensen said.

Jansen and Bray said the team has to write a skit and create a brochure, poster board and a website highlighting their innovation.

"There's a lot more than LEGO," the girls said. "We have to memorize the core values ..."

Teams also have to know how much their innovation would cost and where the product would be sold and interview first responders and a Red Cross representative.

According to the FIRST LEGO League website, core values, which are the cornerstones of the FLL program, include the following:

* We are a team.

* We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.

* We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.

* We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

* What we discover is more important than what we win.

* We share our experiences with others.

* We display gracious professionalism and "coopertition" (cooperative competition) in everything we do.

* We have fun.

Renee Deken noted the competitions help "tremendously" with STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- learning.

Brad Deken said while teams may range in size from five to 10, "it seems like most teams are closer to 10. Usually there are more children than teams," Brad Deken said.

The contest is an extension of the FIRST Technology Challenge, hosted by Southeast for the last five years. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, Brad Deken said.

Public schools in Kennett, Mo., and some from Poplar Bluff, Mo., are participating this year, and there are few from the immediate Cape Girardeau area other than Immaculate Conception. Several students from the St. Louis area also are expected.

"We're certainly hoping next year we'll have many more from Southeast Missouri," Deken said.

Prizes are awarded based on how students do in different parts of the competition, but there also is an overall award, Brad Deken said.

Volunteers, which are needed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the competition and registration, are provided with breakfast and lunch. Anyone interested may contact Brad Deken at 651-2965, or bdeken@semo.edu, or Kevin McMeel, also a site coordinator, at ktmcmeel@semo.edu.

"Really, anybody can do it. It's not that hard. We'll train you for everything you need to know," Brad Deken said. "All you have to do is care about children."

To register to volunteer, visit stlfirst.org/GetInvolved/EventVolunteers/FLLVolunteers/tabid/254/Default.aspx. Then select "11/9/2013 Southeast Missouri State Univ., Cape Girardeau, MO" under the FLL Qualifiers. For more information, visit usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639