WISE's M-Go Blue Bots robotics teams advance to state tournament

Walk into an M-Go Blue Bots practice on a Sunday afternoon and you may hear a comment like, "I added a function to my Google email so that I have to solve math problems before I can access my mail. I love math!" You may also hear discussions about programming, gearing, clothes, global warming, aerospace engineering, boys, girls, biochemistry exams, teachers and music.

Now in its fourth year, the WISE M-Go Blue Bots FIRST Lego League teams are going strong. These teams, composed of girls from ages 11-14, are an effort to expose girls to science, programming and engineering in a fun and positive environment. The teams use Lego Mindstorm robotics kits to compete against other teams from around the region and state. If an M-Go Blue Bots team advances to the International tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, they will compete against teams from across the US and Canada.

The FLL competition includes four equally weighted parts. The robot competition includes programming robots to complete tasks for points on a game board. The teamwork competition includes a task teams must complete together. The research presentation includes the results and solutions to a research problem that relates to the FLL theme, which, this year, was Climate Change. The final part of the competition includes an interview with judges about the teams' robot design and programs. In order to advance to the State competition, the teams had to excel in all four aspects of the competition.

WISE Assistant Director, Jamie Saville credits the M-Go Blue Bots coaches, who are themselves UM students, with the success of the program. "These are enthusiastic, talented and fun students. Our middle school girls want to return to the program every year because of the competition, the camaraderie, and especially the coaches." Saville continues: "They talk about senior design projects, their homework load, their research and what they do outside of class. They give the girls a good understanding of what it means to be a fully engaged University of Michigan student."

The 2008 season coaches include Colleen Monahan, and Aerospace Engineering Senior, David Lorch, a Biomedical Engineering PhD student, Neetu Galuti, a Biochemistry sophomore, Julie Xiang a Chemical Engineering sophomore and Fei Chen, Psychology senior and Kirsten Walker, a sophomore Aeorspace Engineering student.

Teams participated in a practice tournament in Flint, then a regional tournament where the new M G-Blue Bots team, or Newbots, won a trophy for teamwork and the old M-Go Blue Bots team, or Old School, won a trophy for robot design. Both teams did well enough to advance to the State tournament, which was held in Flint.

December 2008 eNews

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