Pinhead Robotics Team team readies for comp

The "Pinhead FIRST Lego League Robotics team" is headed to Fruita Saturday for the First Lego League regional championships. Team members held a bake sale Tuesday to help defray the costs of the trip. Pictured before a table of treats are, from left, Charlie Clark, Henry Sieving, Lincoln Butson, Otto Adolphi, Keaton Koenig and Forest Olson with Coach Luis Tavares. (Photo courtesy of Carrie Koenig)

Ready! Get set! Change the world! While that might be a lofty end result of Saturday's Lego Robotics team competition in Fruita, what the Telluride Intermediate School and Telluride Mountain School students on the team learn in this STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) pursuit could, in fact, lead to just the kind of innovations that could change the future. The First Lego League (FLL) competition is the regional qualifier for the Colorado state championship.

The theme for this year's competition is energy. The team will work together designing its own robot, programming, and then executing, a series of missions for points within a certain timeframe. Sixth-year Pinhead staffer and coach, Luis Tavares said his teams have made states twice before and have earned accolades in the Best Robot category.

"This has always been an honor for me to be a coach," Tavares said. "Seeing the kids be so creative and learning how to work together is a cool thing to see. This is almost like team sports, but we only get one try to make it to states and maybe further."

Supported and selected by staff of the Pinhead Institute, this year's team is Cassidy Greene, Charlie Clark, Finn McGinty, Forest Olson, Henry Sieving, Keaton Koenig, Lillie Pearl Williamson (Telluride Mountain School), Lincoln Butson, Otto Adolphi and Sebastian White. The students are selected based on their interest in robotics and science. The "Brick Busters" meet twice a week in the Telluride High School STEM lab, brainstorming just what the team's approach will be within the theme of energy. As expected, it's creative.

"The kids have to build a robot and complete as many of the missions that they can in 2 minutes, 30 seconds," Tavares explained. "Also, they have to come up with a way to help their community or the world. For example, the kids this year have decided to try to get electricity from lightning into batteries."

Legos, as most parents who have ever stepped barefoot on a stray brick know, are extremely popular. Lego retail outlets typically have lines out the door on busy weekends, with kids — and adults — clamoring for specific pieces for custom projects, or the latest design kits. The Legos used by the robotics team are a bit different.

"The Legos that we use you can program them with an iPad or laptop and make it do what you want," Tavares said. "Coding is fun so it's not just building but to code, too."

Using Legos, Tavares said, creates a natural inroad to cultivating a young student's curiosity to build things and problem solve.

"Kids loves Lego because they are satisfying to build," he said. "STEM education is very important in my book because it's all hands-on. This might make kids interested in learning further robotics."

Carrie Koenig's daughter, Keaton, is on the team. Koenig said her daughter's interest in robotics started at an early age.

"She began by taking Lego Jr. Robotics through Pinhead for a couple years until she was old enough to join the First Lego League team (in fourth grade)," Koenig said. "I also think the recent showing of ‘Good Night Oppy’ about the Mars Rover really got the students even more jazzed about the practical applications of robots."

"Good Night Oppy" screened at this year's Telluride Film Festival and was offered to students in the Telluride public schools. The documentary follows Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rover dubbed "Oppy" by her creators and scientists at NASA. Originally expected to live for only 90 days, the sturdy robot roamed Mars for nearly 15 years.

Koenig said the Lego Robotics team members learn a range of skills that could apply in any field the students might choose in the future.

"This year I have realized that the program is about so much more than robotics," she said. "One component of the competition involves coming up with an idea to improve the energy supply chain, researching that idea, and presenting it to the judges at the competition. The challenge teaches the kids to have an entrepreneurial mindset at a very young age. In order to be successful, the team must exhibit ‘gracious professionalism’ and work well as a team. These are skills that are imperative in any career path, not just robotics. Their projects require a collaborative approach."

"Gracious professionalism" is one of the core values of the FLL and is defined as "a way of doing things that encourage high quality work, emphasize the value of others and respects individuals and the community."

With the embodiment of that ideal in mind, and with the skills learned as "Brick Busters," the world eagerly awaits the possibilities the team will carry with them to Fruita and beyond.

The TIS Lego Robotics team, in addition to bake sales and other efforts, is happily accepting donations at pinheadinstitute.org/cause-view/first-lego-league.

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