Lego Mania

University School's First Lego League (FLL) team, named the US Terminators, was one of six teams to advance to the district tournament after participating in the regional competition held recently at Hathaway Brown School.

The US team is comprised of students Miguel Martinez, Calvin Chesler, Zachary Keum, Ethan Banks, Zachary Rutherford, Warren Coleman, and Graeme Thomas.

The FLL is an international lego competition for students, ages 9-14. This year, the tournament theme was Food Factor. Each team was required to research a problem regarding food contamination and formulate an innovative solution.

With the recent outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe, the US Terminators invented a Cantaloupe Car Wash whereby cantaloupes are carried by a conveyor belt into a special solution that kills listeria and other bacteria. The conveyor then loads the cantaloupes onto clean trucks headed to the supermarket.

In addition to their problem solving skills, the boys were judged on teamwork, robot building, robot performance and programming skills.

Based on their overall performance, the US students earned an invitation to the University of Akron's District Tournament in January. The boys also won the FLL" Regional Gracious Professionalism Award."  The judges described the US team as "one of the most mature first year teams ever observed."