• Inserting a stent to help expand and
support constricted vessels where
fluids need to pass through
• Creating a dispensing system to
separate different simulated medi-
cations so patients can be more
self-sufficient
In the research portion of the com-
petition, teams choose and explore
a problem that today’s scientists and
engineers are trying to solve. They
develop an innovative solution to the
problem either by creating something
that does not exist or by building on a
current solution. They also share their
findings in the local community.
In today’s meeting, students share
their latest research and discuss how
they can better organize their programming missions to be more efficient and collect more points in an
FLL match. Many of the kids on the
FLL team have never participated in
traditional team sports, so this is a
new concept to them.
The students have been focusing
on how biomedical engineering has
been used throughout history and
how current applications are solving
problems in all areas of the body. They
have brainstormed ideas for the problems that need to be solved, and now
they are applying this groundbreaking
research and technology to ways that
they believe could improve lives.
The teams design their robots to
perform a variety of tasks, and it is
up to the programmers to make the
autonomous robots come alive and
tackle the challenges on their own.
A huddled group of students col-
laborates to figure out which route
the robot needs to take to maximize
its efficiency to complete each of the
missions, which will allow them to
score as many points as possible. The
returning students show the younger
ones the ins and outs of writing and
testing the programming and encour-
age them to help with the program.
They happily make multiple trips back
and forth between the computer sta-
tions and the playing field.
Final Results
As it approaches 5: 15 p.m., Clark announces that it’s time to begin the
clean-up process. This is met with
many groans because it means that the
build session is nearly over for the day
and homework is not far behind. He
adds a reminder for an upcoming parent meeting about our school’s help in
hosting the regional tournament, and
everyone is on their way.
As the future engineers gather their
books, musical instruments, jackets,
and backpacks, their engineer mentor
Cindy Chung and I take a seat to catch
up. She relays a story about the last
competition, where Chris from the Robotic Hot Dog team came dressed as a
giant hot dog to cheer on his team.
I check in with the teams every
week, along with members of my high
school team, who come to help mentor their younger colleagues. Watching the transformation of these young
students over the season into cohesive
teams that are helping each other to
reach their goals is what FLL is all
about. When these students come
to the high school for dual campus
events, they always give me an update
about their lives.
At the end of the season, after a
well-earned pizza party, the teams
shared with me some of their proudest
moments, including:
• The Lawngnomes earned Best Robot Performance and the Champions Award.
• The Lawngnomes earned first place
in the Teamwork category at the
L.A. FLL Championship.
• The Explosive Legos took first place
in the Teamwork category at our
qualifying event.
• The Explosive Legos took fifth place
in the FIRST Core Values category
at a showcase event at Legoland in
San Diego, California, USA.
I am confident that our FLL teams
will continue to do great things at
the middle school level and that the
students will be well prepared to
join their high school classmates in
the next couple of years, providing
us with many more opportunities
to continue to strive toward the
National Chairman’s Award, which
is the most prestigious recognition
that FIRST offers.
The greatest reward for me, as a
teacher and mentor, is seeing how
exploring, learning, and thriving in
FIRST programs spur students to
find a purpose and passion in engineering. Their FIRST experiences
enhance their natural curiosity and
maximize their learning. They see
classroom lessons come to life as
they engage in hands-on engineering lessons, solve problems, and
build robots to complete complex
challenges.
Every year, I graduate seniors
from our high school team who go
on to engineering schools across
the United States with a variety
of scholarships. Last year, several
young men had been part of our
program since sixth grade. Eric, our
team president; Chris, our lead in
electronics; and Garrett, our lead
builder, are perfect examples of how
FLL develops in students not only
a love of STEM but also leadership
skills and the ability to confidently
solve problems, work together, complete a job on time and within budget, and make friendships that will
last a lifetime.
Nancy McIntyre is the pro- gram director of the Eagle Engineering Team at Chaminade High School in Chatsworth, California, USA. She oversees the robotics pro- grams at Chaminade Middle
School and Chaminade High School and is the
Southern California FIRST senior mentor.
