Drumlin robotics team invited to compete at world championship

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

If you laid them out end to end, how many LEGO blocks would it take to go the distance between Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia and Atlanta, Georgia, USA?

Actually, as a team of students at Drumlin Heights Consolidated School will tell you, one well-designed LEGO robot will do the trick.

The school’s robotics team – the Drumlin Heights Energized Eagles – recently won at a provincial First LEGO League International event held at Acadia University. As a result, the team has been invited to compete at a world competition in Atlanta in April along with another 80 or so teams from 27 countries and global regions.

As you might expect this has the school’s robotics team, well…energized. The team is made up of students Ben Scott, Daniel d’Entremont, Vickie d’Entremont, Ally Greene, Clinton Crowell and Shane d’Eon, along with their teacher advisor Jamie Benham.

The robotics program involves combining a hands-on interactive LEGO robot in a sports-like atmosphere with research and presentations. Teams are challenged to design a robot – they receive a kit which comes with one standard component everyone uses, the rest of the design is up to each team – and that robot has to complete a series of tasks or missions.

This year’s challenge focused on energy.

It’s the second year in a row that the Drumlin team has won at the provincial level, which is impressive considering it’s only the second year the robotics program has been in place.

It was introduced to schools in the Yarmouth County area by Dave Crabbe, a facility member in the computer service technician program at the Burridge Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, who struck a partnership with Acadia University. “They have sports and music in schools, and they do have some science fairs, but this is another option for students at the junior high level,” he says.

Starting out with just a handful of junior high teams, now they have around eight schools participating from Digby around to Lockeport and interest is expecting to increase regionally, as it has globally. “There are around 10,000 of these teams doing the same thing world wide and in over 35 countries,” notes Crabbe.

The Drumlin team hopes to get a taste of just how big robotics is around the world by going to the world championship in Atlanta. But to get there isn’t cheap. The team will have to raise $10,000. It hopes to do this through corporate sponsorship and other fundraising.

Student Ally Greene can barely contain her excitement at just the thought of going to worlds. “I’ve never been on a plane. I’ve never been further than Halifax. This has always been my dream,” she says.

QUICK GLANCE

This year’s challenge was based on issues and missions surrounding energy, including solar energy, hydrogen cars, hydro-dams, wind turbines, grid connections and solar powered satellites.

Teams were judged on four aspects: •Teamwork: This includes being allotted 15 to 20 minutes to complete a teamwork project that they are then quizzed on. •Research: Part of this year’s challenge included having students carry out an energy audit on a building in which they explored alternative energy. •Presentation: Teams must explain to judges how their robots work mechanically. •Robot performance: This is the most popular part of the challenge as it involves having the robots complete missions on a play field.