Four boys from the Coast are taking their specialized robot to Atlanta to compete in the First Lego League World Festival April 25.
The boys will represent B.C. at the world championships that will see 80 teams from 30 countries participate in a two and a half day tournament testing their robotic creations and highlighting their research projects handed out by First Lego League (FLL).
Thirteen-year-old Oliver Gidora, 12-year-old Terran Tasci, 12-year-old Kiel Strang and 14-year-old Philip Klippenstein make up the team Roberts Creek Extreme Robotic Minds (RCXRM). They've spent the last five months tweaking their Lego robot for the competition and several months working on a research assignment that shows the damaging effects of underwater mining on the sea environment, complete with a better solution to the problem.
Through their research they have come up with a low-impact machine that could theoretically mine for manganese nodules and float them to the surface with very little environmental impact.
"These lumps of rock have valuable metals that can be used to make things like batteries. We think there will be a great demand for these underground sources of manganese in the future when we deplete the other sources we have," Kiel said.
The research project was just one component of the FLL criteria for entrants into the competition.
The second component was to build a functioning Lego robot that could repair a pipeline, protect a pump, clean up a cargo accident, find one specific species of fish among many, launch a submarine, make an artificial reef, recover ancient artifacts and raise a series of flags to signal completion.
Of course all of this is done in tiny scale on top of a large table designed for the Lego robots. It falls within this year's theme for the competition, Ocean Odyssey.
"Last year the theme was helping the disabled and the year before it was Mars. Next year it's going to be nano-technology," added Kiel.
He and his team have been competing in FLL, creating different robots and compiling research for nearly four years."It's really fun and we get to meet lots of interesting people and we learn a lot," Oliver added.
FLL is an international program for children aged nine to 14 that combines a hands-on, interactive robotics program with a sports-like atmosphere.
Teams consist of up to 10 players with the focus on things like team building, problem solving, creativity and analytical thinking.
RCXRM has had to be creative and find solutions to problems weekly as their robot starts to respond differently. Their best guess is that they have changed their robot "millions of times. Too many to count."
"Axles and things get worn out or bent. Batteries can be a problem or the programming itself," Kiel said.Philip has a different take on the problems they've experienced. "Sometimes its just unknown random mystical forces," he laughed. The team has been fundraising for their trip to Atlanta since January. So far they have raised $4,000 of the $10,000 needed.
"We have had a lot of business and community donations and we're really thankful for that," Kiel said.
The group held bake sales and garage sales, lobbied businesses and accepted donations at their various interactive displays in the mall, and they're still fundraising.
If you would like to help, you can email them at or call the team treasurer Lois at 604-886-0548.
The boys feel they'll do well at the competition, though they're not sure they'll win top prize.
"There are some really strong teams there," Terran said. "But for sure, we won't be last."
