PRESTON YEE AND COLE KRAUS at the competition table.
(The following was written by Lester Yee, coach of the “We Are Robo” team from Wakefield.)
WAKEFIELD — Five years in the making, the “We are Robo” First Lego League (FLL) team won the Massachusetts FLL State Championship on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The team will now represent Massachusetts and the Town of Wakefield in the World Festival in St. Louis in April 22-25, 2015. The team will compete head-to-head with the top 100 teams from the U.S. and world including the best teams from Russia, China, India, UK, Scandinavia, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Australia and Canada to name a few.
The team comprises of four Wakefield students Cole Kraus (Lead Programmer and Community Outreach Representative), Preston Yee (Base Robot Builder and Primary Project Researcher), Calvin Yee (Video Game Designer and Developer) and Sydney Yee (Robot Attachment Designer and Engineering Photographer). The team delivered a blistering 521-point performance with their robot, the only team out of 84 state finalists to break the 500 points barrier. This yielded the team the Top Robot Performance Trophy.
The team also received a second place trophy for the dual-team event with random pairings of teams in single elimination rounds.
A backdrop story to this second place finish for this event: After the head referee addressed all rule clarifications prior to the competition, a competing team was in need of a specific part to address a deficiency in their robot design. As one of the few teams with a spare parts box, the team lent them the parts that they needed. The beneficiary of these parts was the “Robot Revolution” team from Lexington; this is the same team that outscored the We are Robo team in the last round of their qualifying tournament in Worcester two weeks ago. They were also the team that had the greatest potential to outscore the Wakefield team here at the state tournament (final score of 471 points while targeting 535 points). They received the first place trophy in the team event, potentially due to the necessary pieces that were lent to their team. “Caps off to them” for winning in the dual-team event says the We are Robo team. This “coopertition ™” of helping a competitor in need is an example of the core values that is promoted by the First Lego League organization.
Aside from the robot competition, a social benefit project is required for every competing team. This year’s theme is on Teaching and Learning and the team’s project is a design and development of a video game teaching Infection Prevention to kids (game posted on team website www.wearerobo.org). Numerous members of the Wakefield Community has helped this team with their project. Some of the people who had a part in contributing to the team’s project include: Ruth Clay, director of the Board of Health in Wakefield, Melrose and Reading; Marie Rej of Parent Advisory Council (PAC) for Special Education; Gene Dion of The Boys & Girls Club of Wakefield; members of the local 4H Clubs and the YMCA.
With the robot competition representing only a portion of their overall score, strong scores in the other three phases of evaluation (project, teamwork/core values and technical review, mechanical design and programming) are needed to be declared champion. In the previous two years, the team with the highest performing robot was not crowned the Champions as their scores in the other areas were not collectively strong enough. Fortunately for the “We are Robo” team, they were able to wow the judges with their project, core values and robot technical design. The team was awarded the Championship Trophy and the coveted invitation to the World Festival. The organizer of the FLL state championship later informed the team that the voting for the team to be the Champion was unanimous by the judges.
Five years ago, the team was started by the coach, Lester Yee (and now joined by assistant coach, Annette Dupon), upon their kids’ interest in Legos. By chance they discovered the existence of the First Lego League. Thinking that this would be a fun and educational activity, it has turned into so much more. The purchase of a Mindstorms robotic kit and signing up to participate as a team resulted in the discovery that a great deal of applied science learning and development of special skills (interviewing professionals, reaching out to the community, speaking publicly, leadership and designing creative skits). In the applied science area, they learn about geometry (angles, rotation), friction, levers, mechanics, center-of-gravity, pneumatics, gyroscopes, gear ratios, linear algebra, logic and programming. They take some of the learning from school and apply them directly to solve problems using Legos and the Mindstorms robot.
Superintendent of Schools Steve Zrike had taken time out to visit the team the day before the State Championship and offered his support and compliments to the team who had showcased their project presentation to him. That gave the kids a huge confidence boost for the following day.
The team is extremely excited about competing in the World Festival. After being crowned, past winners approached the team to share their experiences of participating in the international event as a lifetime experience and believe that it is akin to participating in the Olympics. The kids will play the roles of ambassador and competitor from the U.S., Massachusetts, and their hometown of Wakefield.
In preparation for the April 2015 event, the team will continue to engage in the community outreach in Wakefield to further their project and will seek corporate sponsorship for their trip.
