The Bender Bots, a robotics team with students from Village and Community middle schools, received the project award for excellence in research, problem solving, and sharing innovative solutions with local communities at a recent competition. This is the second year this team has been recognized for exceptional work in the project area of the FIRST Lego League competition.
This year’s competition theme was Nature’s Fury. The Bender Bots conducted individual research and consulted expert Joseph Gribbins, lieutenant of West Windsor Fire and Emergency Services, to identify problems such as road blocks and evacuation routes. After interviewing High School North Principal Mike Zapicchi and victims of Super Storm Sandy, the Bender Bots decided that live electrical wires following any natural disaster or an incident was a unique problem with the fewest solutions available.
The team presented its product idea called the “Balltitude” to judges. The device uses solar cells, a back-up battery, an altitude sensor, and a transmitter to sense abnormal drops in the altitude of a power line to turn off the power in that section of the wire thus, reducing electrical hazard. After an electrifying performance, the team rejoiced with energetic robot runs, scoring a high of 255 points on the playing field.
Members of the Bender Bots team include team mentors from High School North, Avni Mandhania, grade 9; and Shrishti Kedia, grade 12. Sixth grade students include Vihaan Kedia, Anish Rajesh, Shray Vats, Pranav Balachander, Anika Mandhania, and Vinay Vishwanathan. Fifth grade students include Pranav Mahableshwarkar, Eddie Chen, and Daniel Wang. Abigail Johnson is in fourth grade. The coaches are Vish Kecia and Rajesh Ramachandran.
Students of Millstone River School from “Team IdeAmaze” participated at the NJ FLL State Championship on Saturday, March 8. They were among 60 teams who had won regional qualifiers. Team members include Jay Rana, Rajiv Chatterjee, Saketh Subramanian, and Akhil Paulraj.
Team IdeAmaze received first place in Core Values and Gracious Professionalism at the state robotics championship. The term “Gracious Professionalism” is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. The phrase was coined by Woodie Flowers, FIRST national advisor and professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
