Almaden Resident
Cover Story
You Go, Girl!
Robot-building is not just a boy thing
By Emilie Crofton
Several Almaden Valley students had a busy day last Saturday. They created a dam, planted trees, removed uranium from farmland, recycled a truck and gathered corn for energy, all within 21/2 minutes.
Seven teams from Simonds Elementary, Castillero Middle, Bret Hart Middle and Almaden Country schools competed against 60 other teams in the eighth annual Northern California First Lego League Championship Tournament on Jan. 12.
Children ages 9 to 14 used their skills in science and computers to build a robot able to accomplish environmentally friendly task on a mapped-out board.
Bret Harte's Plank E4 team finished sixth in "Robot Performance" and won the "Old School Robotics" award. Castillero's Innovation Wizards took third in robot design, and the Technology Cougar Chicks, the all-girls team from Simonds Elementary, took home the "Rookie Team" award.
The contest helped inspire the young students to be future science and technology leaders, said Joel West, the robotics counselor at Simonds Elementary School.
"It forces the kids to think logically," West said. "They are learning two classic engineering problems: reliability and speed."
The teams were evaluated based on their performance in the robot game, which is the centerpiece of the tournament.
Two teams battle simultaneously at a table in 21/2-minute rounds, attempting as many missions as possible with the robot they built.
This year's theme was eco-friendly missions and how personal energy choices affect the environment, economy and lives worldwide. Some of the 14 missions included moving barrels off an oil platform, planting trees by moving them upright across a river, and moving a solar panel onto the roof of a house.
Each team was also evaluated on its robot design, spirit, teamwork, consistency and project presentation.
Girl power
Robotics may be commonly thought of as a boy's activity, West said, but the high number of girls competing in the event demonstrated that females have an equal place in the field.
West, who coached the Technology Cougar Chicks, said having an all-girls team was actually an advantage.
"Girls work better together than boys and are very patient, which is important in engineering," he says.
Five of the 13 teams that made the cut after the preliminary tournament at Gunderson High School in December were all-girl teams.
"That shows that girls clearly have the aptitude," West said. "We were extremely proud of them."
Nicole Kanga, 10, Anjali Govindaraj, 10, Katy West, 9, Sonya Huang, 9, Connie Xiao, 10, and Sahana Bansal, 10, were the six Technology Cougar Chicks who won the "Rookie Team" award. They said their first experience at the competition was fun but challenging.
"The whole team really has to work together to be successful," Anjali said. "It's our first time competing so it's hard, but I think we did good considering."
Having good math and computer skills in addition to teamwork was a plus, they said.
"It helps to be good at math so you can find the right rotation," Sonya said. "Then you just have to keep trying and trying."
The Greenalicious Strawberries from Castillero Middle School were another all-girls team from Almaden. The four-member rookie team was led by parent and IBM software engineer Laura Hall, who maintained a fun demeanor despite the competitive atmosphere.
Competing against teams named Robo Terminators, LEGO Lords and The Programmers, the girls said their team name reflected the common interest of the girls, who all love strawberries and the color green.
"It's been nervous and chaotic, but it's so exciting to be here," 11-year-old Erin Ridgeway said.
Hall has coached robotics teams for the past seven years and said dedication was key in order to be successful.
"It definitely takes persistence," Hall said. "You're really dealing with just a toy, so you need the persistence to deal with a lot of frustrations."
The Northern California competition was a culmination of months of hard work. The teams practiced twice a week since September, assembling robots, creating the tools and pieces needed for the missions, writing the software to program the robots and testing their work through a great deal of trial and error.
The girls said spending so much time together led them to develop close friendships.
When it came down to the competition, however, the girls were fierce.
"To be successful you need teamwork, concentration and focus," 11-year-old Natalie Kanga said. "You can't fool around."
No matter what the outcome, all the Almaden teams--girls and boys--benefited from the experience, said robotics coordinator Jim Mori, who coached one of the teams from Castillero Middle School.
Mori's son and two daughters all competed in the program in previous years and it was a positive experience, he added.
"This is really the perfect program," Mori said. "It can help kids get over their fears and obstacles when facing computer technology."