First Gorge LEGO robotics event a success

By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer

It wasn’t quite a scene from I, Robot or The Empire Strikes Back, but Saturday’s FIRST LEGO League robotics competition at Hood River Middle School was still pretty cool; especially since 9-14-year-old students designed and programmed the array of small robots being put to the test.

The competition — a first of its kind to happen in Hood River – was a qualifier for the FLL state tournament January in Hillsboro. With 14 teams in attendance from Stevenson to The Dalles and Parkdale to White Salmon, the turnout was proof of the growing interest in robotics in the Gorge.

“We ended up with around 100 kids and 200 or so adults,” said Jessica Metta, executive director of the Gorge Technology Alliance. Through cooperation between the GTA, Hood River 4-H, the Gorge Robotics Club, Google and Oregon State University programs, Gorge-area students now have more opportunities than ever to learn about and get their hands on LEGO Robotics kits.

“For our first home tournament, everything went very well. The winning team did outstanding; they were the clear winners and I have a lot of hope for them at the state tournament,” Metta said.

Taking top honors in the tournament was the Gorge Girls team, consisting of Melissa Nardone, Ella Mudry, Erin Sutherland, Rose Finstad and coach Joe Nardone. Runners-up honors went to Cranium Insanium from Stevenson and NXT Generation from Hood River. The Young Team award went to Mid-Valley 4-H Robotics. Those four teams will represent the Gorge at the state tournament.

In addition to testing their robot’s capabilities on a 4-by-8-foot playing table with tasks such as repairing a bone, performing a cardiac patch and installing bionic eyes, teams also had to devise and present a project consistent with the year’s FLL theme and undergo an interview by a robot design panel.

The theme this year for teams across the country is Body Forward: Engineering Meets Medicine, which encourages participants to explore the world of bio-medicine.

“I was extremely impressed with quality of the Gorge’s first LEGO Robotic Competition,” said Nardone, who volunteered to coach the winning team at his home. “The original plan was to get the girls together once a week for two hours a session and have the girls do the ‘homework’ on their own. We quickly found out that wasn’t enough face time for this first-year team, so we ended up meeting two times a week near the end. In the week before the competition the girls were meeting almost every day. We set up a mission table in a spare bedroom; which left our out-of-town guests without a bed, but gave the team easy access to the robot and programming.”

Until this year teams had to travel to Portland for first-round qualifying tournaments, so the home event brought out several new teams that might not have traveled farther to compete. The addition of several LEGO NTX robotics kits, purchased last year by the GTA using funds from a Google grant, has also helped grow interest in the area.

“I know our team would not have considered competing if this qualify event wasn’t local,” Nardone said. “As an engineer and business development manager with Intel Corporation for over 20 years I have to say I really was impressed with the level of enthusiasm shown by all of the teams for engineering and bioscience at this event.  Sometimes we engineers are perceived as a strange bunch, but we always appreciate others that share our passion for technology. The helpful volunteers and great prep-work by the event coordinators made all the difference for the girls and us coaches in our first year at this event.”

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Although it’s too late to join the FLL this season, anyone interested in the program is invited to attend the weekly Gorge Robotics Club meetings or the 4-H program. For more information contact Metta at GTA: 541-296-2266 or jessica@crgta.org.