This year in First Lego League, New Glarus put together two stellar teams: the Anti-Crash Force (members consisting of Merrick Fong, Ben Wolf, Luka Thelen, Anderson Justmann, Connor Piper, Jacob Piper, Linden Lounsbury, Bronwyn Mayhew and Coach Larry Thelen) and Night Vision (Roman Kendrick, Aden Runckle, Sutton Zimmerman, Keatan Zimmerman, Celeste Heberer, Grace Nommensen, Jessy Ruckman, Annelisa Smith, Ava Boyle, Maddie Thoemke and Coach Jennifer Boyle). For those of you who have never heard of First Lego League (FLL), FLL is a competition where teams from all over the world come together and compete against each other in three categories: Core Values, where judges evaluate a team based on its chemistry, problem solving ability, and its ability to demonstrate what exemplary citizens are; the Robot Game, where teams build and program an EV3 robot using EV3 Mindstorms software and LEGO parts and try to complete as many missions as possible in two and a half minutes; and the Project, where teams find a real world problem relating to the topic that changes each year.

This year’s topic was Animal Allies, where teams are challenged to find a way for humans and animals to work together to benefit both parties, design or innovate a product to solve the problem, and develop a presentation to show off the product to the judges. Some projects actually make it to be real products. Anti-Crash Force won the Core Values Award at the Regional Competition. Judges commented that they liked Anti-Crash Force’s enthusiasm and ability to communicate with each other. They also liked their Core Values poster so much that they took a picture of it. Anti-Crash Force had a solid project too. They developed a product that alerts drivers to wildlife on the road. A thermal detector snaps onto the front of the driver’s car, and when it detects a heat signature close to that of wildlife or people, a Bluetooth message is sent to the driver’s phone, which flashes red and gives off a sound like an alarm clock. To present this product to the judges, Anti-Crash Force appointed Merrick Fong to write a skit that combines humor and education. This entertaining skit got them nominated for the project award.

Anti-Crash Force also built a functional robot, completing several different missions in the robot game. It also has several innovative attachments that really help the robot out. As a team, the Anti-Crash Force was also nominated for the Champion’s award, which is given to the best team overall.

Both teams advance to the next level of competition, which will be sectionals held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Saturday, December 10th. The top teams from the sectionals competition will advance to the state competition in 2017 in Madison, Wisconsin.

For more information about First Lego League, the Roboknights of New Glarus, or the projects by the teams this year or to get involved or donate to the program, email ngroboknights@gmail.com.