The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Lego robots help teach STEM
ONEIDA, N.Y. » For the 12 participants in the Oneida Public Library’s Lego Robotics summer camp, every second counted as they directed their creations to solve a series of water-based problems Friday.
Using a combination of sensors, programming, and engineering know-how, the Lego robots made their way across a table strewn with various obstacles, each presenting a problem that needed to be solved - such as removing a broken pipe, closing a gate, or putting out a fire. A variety of attachments helped the robots pick up items, move them around, and even pull levers.
The catch? Each teamhad only two and a half minutes to complete as many objectives as possible in order to score the most points.
“It encourages kids to think outside the box,” said coach Tandi Pough. She and fellow coach Ralph Kohler take a hands-off approach to coaching, letting the student engineers work through the problems on their own to come up with original - and sometimes unexpected - solutions.
“I think they keep getting a little bit harder each year,” said Roland Kohler, 11, of the challenges.
For Team Goofball members Sullivan Krol, 10, and Robbi Davis, 11, seeing their creations work was one of the best parts
of the summer camp. Team EV3N8’s Grace Roydhouse, 11, thought working with the robotics software was the best part of the event, while Team Pitchfork’s Spencer Tifft, 12, was happiest with seeing his programming come to life.
The summer camp is part of the FIRST Lego League, designed to help students in middle school with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. For the past eight years, Pough has lead groups in Rome and Oneida, but this is the sixth year for the OPL Lego group, which was originally founded by Kohler.
“I think it’s important to have it in small communities where there aren’t as many advantages,” said Kohler, who works with Pough at the Air Force Research Laboratory, also known as the Rome Lab. While Rome has the Griffiss Institute and other hightech companies, Oneida doesn’t, and Kohler wanted to give kids in the area a chance to participate as well.
“If you don’t get in early on with science and math, it’s harder to get in on it later,” he said.
“One of the things I really like about the League is it encourages kids to work together,” said Pough. Along with building their robots and programming them, participants in the FIRST Lego League also need to show teamwork and cooperation, a skill the Oneida teams have demonstrated several times at competitions.
Since the program’s inception in Oneida, Kohler has seen participants’ skills rise each year as technology becomes more and more ubiquitous and more families become aware of the program. He said he had one student build his own Lego oil well from scratch. “I don’t think anyone on the team in the first year did that,” he noted.
But those first year students continue to help train the newest members. Now in high school and college, they return to lead classes, guide the younger generation and even judge scrimmages and other events while continuing their robotics pursuits in the FIRST Tech Challenge and the FIRST Robotics Challenge, building off the knowledge they learned years ago at the middle school level.
“I like doing it,” said Gabriel Stone, 11. “I would enjoy doing it when I get older.”
Funded through a grant from the Department of Defense, the FIRST Lego League at the Oneida Public Library has room for 12 kids, which both Kohler and Pough hope to see expand when the new library is built in Oneida in the next few years. They’ve also seen the program expand to other schools and groups in the area, including Canastota, where the library offers Lego robotics kits for loan.
“We think technology is very important and has a place at this library,” said OPL Director Megan Gillander.