The Newby First Lego League(FLL) robotics team, The Newby
Tige-Robots, competed Dec. 7 at Evergreen Aviation Museum. FLL is for
students ages 9-14.
Like most robotics competitions, teams design a LEGO robot that can maneuver autonomously around a course completing missions.
Part of what makes FLL unique is that students are also asked to
solve a problem and present their solution in front of a team of judges.
The Newby Tige-Robots tackled the many issues surrounding fashion: self-esteem, confidence, and professionalism.
They designed a robot that helps someone pick out an appropriate
outfit. The machine recognizes the colors on a person: hair, skin tones,
eye color, clothes, etc. After recognizing colors the machine quick
suggests possible solutions based on a number of other factors.
The design impressed the judges so much that they suggested the team forward their work to Intel for further research.
Along with all this, the team managed a highly impressive sixth place in table mission points out of 20 competing teams.
When asked by a judge if it was their first time completing many
students said, “Oh no! All third graders do something like this.” Our
third-grade robotics and FLL are quite different, but it does show MSD
has many programs in place that help students succeed in STEM related
areas.