Published: November 20, 2008 02:18 am      

SCHOOLS: Belknap's 'Robot Rockers' work to solve environmental problem

Most kids play with Legos, but students at Emmet Belknap Middle School are using them to solve an environmental problem.

A team of Emmet Belknap kids is participating in the FIRST Lego League, a competition that deals with building a robot and solving a real-life problem. The school is also celebrating its fifth anniversary of having a Lego team, which is called the Robot Rockers. The team is coached by technology teacher Michael Lieber and Cherie Anterline.

In a team of 11, the kids have to design a robot that will perform certain tasks, research an environmental problem and find a solution. Then they have to present their solution. All of these activities are centered around a theme, which this year is “climate connections.” It may sound like a lot of work, but the kids seem to like it.

“I like working on the robots,” said sixth-grader Hayley Franco. “It’s fun to try to figure things out, even though it’s aggravating sometimes. But when you do it, you feel accomplished.”

Emmet’s presentation involves a skit where the kids are discussing their chosen problem: mold.

In the skit, the kids talk about global warming, and some students are wearing hula skirts. That’s because they think the world could get too warm. Anterline’s dog, Gracie, plays a part in the skit as “green energy.” There is an appearance by a character portraying “mold,” who is actually played by seventh-grader Nate Walek.

“You’re doing something fun,” he said. “It’s entertaining but it does get hard.”

The kids also have done research on mold. Their goal was to find a way to keep mold out of homes. They had some help in their quest from Lockport Town Supervisor Marc Smith. Smith visited the team and mentioned Dave Marotta, who is in home construction. Marotta uses an environmentally friendly way of building that includes using IntegraSpec in the walls. It eliminates mold and is energy- efficient.

FIRST is an acronym that means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. There are FIRST competitions for kids of all ages, including the high school robotics competition and tech challenge, a junior Lego League for ages 6 to 9 and a learning program for all ages, called FIRST Place. The Lego League is for kids ages 9 to 14.

The second half of the competition is the game involving the robot. To score points, the team’s robot has to complete certain tasks, or missions, on a table. Some of these tasks include moving objects from one place to another, such as moving a little laptop computer to a house. The robot is built and the program to run it is written by the students.

The Robot Rockers will be participating in the Finger Lakes Regional qualifying competition on Saturday in Churchville. If the Emmet Belknap team qualifies, it will advance to the Finger Lakes Regional competition Dec. 7 at the University of Rochester. Success in Rochester will land the team in Atlanta in April at the Georgia Dome for the World Festival. The festival will be a competition involving teams from all over the world. The Robot Rockers made it there once.

“We went our first year,” Anterline said. “It was awesome — what an experience.”

Both Lieber and Anterline said the team’s sponsors have played a big part in the success of the team. Lieber has even incorporated some of the Legos into his technology classes.

“What I like about it, is that every team is different and doing their best,” Lieber said. “What’s big with me is that it’s the kids are doing it.”

“He’s just a big kid,” Anterline said.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.