Enough teams for local Lego competition

After putting out a countywide call to form additional teams for the FIRST Lego League regional tournament, the number of teams in the area jumped from five to 16.

Instead of traveling to a state competition, local FIRST Lego League robotics teams are holding their first regional competition in Yuma County this November, said Jenny Kaste, a Gowan Achievement Program teacher at Rancho Viejo Elementary School and robotics team coach.

To have a competition in Yuma, a minimum of eight teams are needed.

The FIRST Lego League is a robotics program that helps make science and technology fun for students ranging in age from 9 to 14 and also teaches them valuable employment and life skills.

Students are judged in four areas, Kaste said, including how well the robot was designed, the competition, teamwork and the biomedical engineering research project.

The local teams will join 200 teams statewide as they take on this year's challenge: “Food Factor.”

“Basically we're looking at how to solve problems with making our food safer and healthier and less contaminated in general,” Kaste said.

Teams will build, test and program an autonomous robot to solve a set of food safety missions as well as research, develop and share their innovative food safety solutions, stated the regional tournament's website.

Before the regional tournament on Nov. 19 at Centennial Middle School, however, the teams will be having a scrimmage this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Castle Dome Middle School.

Kaste said that this is a great chance for the teams to practice in a tournament setting, and it will also allow for people in the community to stop by and see what the competition is all about.

She shared that local teams are seeking volunteers from the community to help with judging and getting teams organized on the day of the event, as well as event sponsors and local businesses that want to donate to help teams participate.

Sponsors could donate anything from team T-shirts or food to registration funds or travel money for the winning teams that advance to the next level, she said.

So far, in addition to a large sponsorship from General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, students in science classes at Yuma and Kofa high schools have volunteered to help at the event. They are also partnering with the Yuma Community Gila Monsters robotics team and state representatives from Arizona State University to make the tournament a success in Yuma.

“We are excited to have over 15 teams, including a team from Precious Treasures. It's a growing program that I really think is good for the community,” Kaste said.

Visit www.engineering.asu.edu/k12outreach/fll to register a team, to register volunteers or to learn more information about the program. To RSVP for the event, call Kaste at 580-5526 or Elizabeth Lother at 261-9086.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858.