Carlsbad Team Wins First Lego League Cup

by The Editors on December 6, 2009

Lego Team

Team “Four Wheel Drive” from the Carlsbad Education Foundation made up of Anna Lozar research mentor, Mark Rotenberg programming mentor, Kasey Cinciarelli – Team Coach, Jared John, Harlyn Fitzgerald, Alex Kaplan, and Noah Knudsentook took home the Championship trophy in the First Lego League (FLL) Cup at Legoland California today (December 6, 2009).

Team “Four Wheel Drive” was one of 52 teams of 9 to 14-year-olds to compete in this high-energy robotics competition. Teams from Encinitas, Laguna Beach, LaVerne, Palm Desert, Poway, Ramona, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Westlake Village were also honored.

Follow the jump for the entire press release.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO® League (FLL) is designed to teach children how to apply creative thinking and robotics to real-life situations. Teams participating in the FLL Cup came from all over Southern California.

With missions exploring transportation solutions such as vehicle impact, passenger safety, and limiting traffic, teams programmed their robots to explore the challenges facing modern-day transportation. The competition was judged in four areas: project presentation; robot performance; technical design and programming of the robot; and teamwork.

Team “Ninjaz” from Encinitas took home the second place Champions Award and the first place award for Robot Performance. Other Robot Performance Awards went to the “iBots” from LaVerne (second place) and to the “Electrically Operated Penguins” from Park Village Elementary in Poway (third place). Robot Design Awards went to the “Ramona Knights” (first place) from Olive Peirce Middle School in Ramona; “Robominds” (second) from San Diego; and “People Movers 1”(third place) from Santa Barbara. Project Awards went to the “St. Jude Roboters” (first place) from Westlake Village; “Calavera Laser Storm” (second Place) from the Carlsbad Education Foundation; and “X-Treme Team” (third) from Ronald Regan Elementary School in Palm Desert.

Other winners include Eagle Engineering Blue from Chatsworth for first place Teamwork; the “iBots” from LaVerne for second place Teamwork; and team “GOAL” from Ronald Regan Elementary School in Palm Desert for third place Teamwork. “LEGOna Beach” from Laguna Beach won the Teamwork Award; the “Brick Bots” from La Costa Heights Elementary in Carlsbad won the Rising Star Award.

FLL is a partnership between FIRST and The LEGO Company, which has been helping young people discover the fun in science and technology while building self-confidence, knowledge and life skills since 1998. FIRST is a non-profit organization founded by world-renowned inventor, Dean Kamen, to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org

With so many teams in Southern California, LEGOLAND has added additional robotics competitions to the schedule for 2010 – the Winter Robotics Tournament in February, featuring robot performance and teamwork and the Spring Showdown Tournament in March featuring a space odyssey theme. There will also be a Junior FLL Tournament held January 30 for young robotics enthusiasts ages 6 to 9. Call 760-438-LEGO for more details.

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any December 21, 2009 at 12:06 am

Way to go coach Cinciarelli! Starting with dreaming up and then making Lego Club a reality last year – (a free weekly afterschool club where kids, a high percentage of whom have special needs can make friends while exploring mechanical fundamantals with Lego’s) to taking on a robotics team this year, because you couldn’t stand to NOT see it happen! Hopefully parents will continue to drive this shot of innovation at Hope Elementary – as it’s clear staff won’t. Kudos to Eric and Andy for running Lego Club this year. There is virtually no hands-on science in 5th grade this school year, so at least this is an opportunity for students to use their hands and heads together. They build the Mindstorms robot and program it to run missions and learn to research their ideas. First Lego League is a good program for schools, some “really on the ball schools” integrate it into their cirriculm for all 4th and 5th graders – exposing girls to engineering who may not sign up for this type of club.

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