WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 11, 2018 21
BUZZ
Lego competition inspires students to make change
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Students from P.S. 71 in Ridgewood
are competing in an international
Lego robotics competition on Saturday,
but their ultimate goal is to have
a local impact on the quality of water
at their school.
The Owl BOTS, the robotics team of
fourth- and fi ft h-grade students led by
teachers Janna Carbone and Kathleen
Remson, are competing in the FIRST
Lego League Challenge, an annual
competition based on a real-world
scientifi c topic.
This year’s topic is hydrodynamics,
and part of the challenge
requires the students to develop
a solution to a real water problem
in their community. According to
Carbone, the students have chosen
to research the cost and process
of installing water filters on the
school’s water fountains due to the
rising concerns about the age and
cleanliness of the water pipes.
The competition doesn’t require
the project to actually be completed,
but the Owl BOTS want to see their
research come to life, Carbone said.
“We are hoping to come up with
a business plan so that NYC public
school students can have clean drinking
water with replacing or updating
plumbing,” Carbone said in a statement.
As a result of lead testing done on
the water fountains at P.S. 71, two of
the fountains were marked undrinkable
including a large fountain in the
cafeteria, Carbone said.
As part of their research, the Owl
BOTS connected with a company called
Quality Water Group, which is helping
the team come up with an appropriate
fi lter for school water fountains, as well
as providing them with cost, visuals
and explanations of how the process
would work. The team’s business plan
includes the cost and timeline for the
installation of approximately 14 water
fi lters. Carbone said the team plans to
present the plan to the Department of
Education in hopes that it will decide
to contract the project.
The fun part of the challenge is
the robot game, which takes place at
the FIRST Lego League Tournament
on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Renaissance
Middle School in St. Albans at 12:30
p.m. The students have to build robots
from specifi c sets of Lego Mindstorms
provided for the event. The goal is for
the robots to complete a series of tasks
on a table-top playing fi eld that are simulations
of real-world water problems.
The robotics teams will be judged on
their project, their performance in the
robot game and the core values of the
FIRST Lego League. There is a scoring
system for the robot performance, but
that is the only part of the competition
based on points. The judges deliberate
about the awards for the research
project and core values.
Carbone said that about 60 teams in
Queens are competing over the course
of two days in the qualifi er round. If the
Owl BOTS win, they can move on to the
regional competition held at the Jacob K.
Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
Last year, a team from P.S. 94 in Little
Neck took home second place in the
regional round. If they continue to win,
the Owl BOTS of P.S. 71 will have a chance
to compete in the national and international
competitions as well. There are
nearly 80 countries competing this year.
When asked about the students’
level of excitement for the contest,
Carbone put the call on speaker-phone
and let the students answer for
themselves.
“We are excited and nervous,” said
one of the students. “We built a complicated
robot, but it’s worth it because it
really means something to us.”
Photo courtesy of Kathleen Remson
Students from the Owl BOTS of P.S. 71 in Ridgewood work on their project
after school to prepare for Saturday’s competition.