Orcas Christian School lego robotics team wins regional championship
Published 11:56 am Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The “Piecemakers,” Orcas Christian School First Lego League Robotics team, earned the Champions Trophy at the regional championships hosted at Walla Walla University over the weekend of April 11.
The competition included 19 school teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
The team members, in grades fourth through seventh, included Peter and Robert Miller, Cole Smith, Skyler Gregg, Jeshurun Roach, Elliot Claus and Peter Kamin. The team’s volunteer coaches were Scott Miller, Steve Gregg, Beth Smith, and Paul Kamin.
The First Lego League Robotics competition requires teams to build robots with Lego materials and then program the automation to lead the robot through a series of challenges. The teams also had to develop a special project and presentation on a local transportation issue. They won top scores for their project on “How to improve ferry service in the San Juans,” as well as for robot programming teamwork, which is a central goal of the program.
The ferry service project included a ferry ridership survey, research into the workings of other ferry services, an investigation into WSF financial issues, and the development of a number of recommendations. The survey found the community’s top ferry related priorities included onboard internet access, year round food service, and more energy efficient boats. The three top recommendations of the team for improved WSF service were:
• Develop a reservations system that supplements but does not completely replace the current first come-first serve system.
• Extend the usable life of existing boats by supporting the development of a private “co-op car” system in Anacortes that would provide member access to “community owned vehicles.” This system under the brand name “zip car” and others is being successfully implemented in hundreds of cities around the world.
• The state needs to address the lack of a long-term sustainable financial plan and address the wide disparity between income generated from ticket sales and operating costs.
