The Roboteers, a robotics team of middle school students sponsored by the Department of Physics and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University won the recent West Virginia FIRST LEGO League (FLL) International championship at Wheeling Jesuit University.

This is the second year the state FLL competition was held in Wheeling, and the victory is the teams second state championship. For the second year in a row, they will attend the FIRST LEGO League World Festival held in Atlanta in April 2007.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was created to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. The FIRST LEGO League competition (http://www.firstlegoleague.org/) asks teams of students ages 9-14 to demonstrate problem-solving and research skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship and sense of community as they build robots that can perform the functions required in the competition.

Teams from all over the state participated in the event. The Roboteers were one of three teams from Morgantown and consisted of students from several different schools in the area. The competition for middle school students started in 1998 with 1,600 participants. Last year, more than 60,000 participated and this year that number is expected to jump to 100,000.

The team is coached by Earl Scime, chair of WVU s Department of Physics; Phil Tucker, electrical technologist for the department; and former team member, Tegan Walker. Team members and their schools include Brett Atkinson, Trinity; Shannon Ballard, Suncrest Middle; Adam Raese, South Middle; Jordan Roof, Morgantown Learning Academy; Luke Scime, Morgantown High; and Haley Tucker, Suncrest Middle.

Young women tend to drop interest in the sciences in middle school, and our team tends to be mostly girls,said Earl Scime.One of the most powerful things about this program is that keeps young women interested in the sciences.

Weve seen these kids grow through this experience, and we are consistently surprised by their ability,Scime added.When judges ask the team questions, the kids really step up and show everyone just how much they have learned.

The competition consists of three parts: a research project and presentation, a teamwork exercise and a robot field competition.

The theme for this year wasNano Quest,and team members looked for ideas for the research portion of the competition in the Department of Physics, meeting with researchers working in Nanoscience and taking tours of their labs.

Eventually, the team used the research to develop ideas about two rather practical implementations of nanoscience: Mood Hair and Length-Changing Clothing.

Mood Hair, a nanoparticle hair spray, would change the color of a persons hair according to fluctuations in their scalp temperature, according to the studentsideas. Length-Changing Clothing would utilize carbon nanotubes to change shorts into pants

and long-sleeve shirts into short-sleeve shirts at the press of a button.

For the robot portion of the competition, teams designed, built and programmed a robot that would perform certain tasks on a playing field in a set period of time. In building the robot, teams were allowed a certain number of motors and electronics, as provided in a field setup kit. The students used LEGO blocks, and they were allowed to use as many as were needed.

In addition to points gained for completing tasks in the arena, teams were judged on sportsmanship, presentation, research depth and understanding.

This year, the team must raise $4,000 to travel to the World Festival, where last year they were awarded third place in programming and were also nominated forGracious Professionalismrecognition by the other teams. The Roboteers are currently working on developing more fault-tolerant software that can better handle the slight differences that inevitably occur in each playing field.

For more information about the team, contact Scime at Earl.Scime@mail.wvu.edu . To learn more about this years competition, visit:http://www.firstlegoleague.org/default.aspx?pid=21380.