Schools

Gillispie School's Robotics Program Heading to Legoland

Gillispie's two robotics teams competed and placed against 22 other local teams for a spot at the FIRST LEGO League Regionals.

Written by Brittany Wiczek/The Gillispie School

On Saturday, Nov. 9, The Gillispie School's robotics teams participated in the qualifying round of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Robotics Competition at the Preuss School in La Jolla. 

Gillispie’s two teams, G6 and Team Stitem, competed against 22 other local teams for a spot at the FIRST LEGO League Regionals. G6 won first place in the Robot Design category and Stitem did well enough in the Robot Performance competitions to place 10th overall, making them alternates to move on to the Regionals held at LEGOLAND in December.

The First LEGO League, or FFL, is an internationally recognized robotics program for students ages 9 to 14. The league’s robotics competitions are centered on LEGO Mindstorm robotics, challenging teams to think about how technology can solve real world problems.

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This year is the second year that The Gillispie School has participated in the league as a complement to its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program. Gillispie parent John Otterson and science and technology teacher Chip Edwards coach the teams and are enthusiastic about how the School has embraced its new robotics program.

“Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway scooter and many other inventions, founded FIRST to engage students in STEM disciplines. STEM skills are increasingly important in today’s innovation economy, so I am super excited that Gillispie has embraced the FLL as part of its educational offering,” says Otterson.

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To demonstrate the real-world applicability of robotics, each year’s tournament has a different real-world theme, this year's being "Nature's Fury," how to respond to natural disasters.

For example, Team Stitem’s top-10 qualifying robot addressed a real-world problem that could occur during an earthquake. Students performed research by interviewing Dr. Pat Abbot, an earthquake expert and professor at San Diego State University. From their interview, they found that an often unconsidered danger during earthquakes is stepping on broken glass – particularly when getting out of bed in the dark after a nighttime earthquake. To address this problem, the team developed "Cut-No-More," a lever-operated tray that hides invisibly under the bed but, when deployed, brings a pair of glass-free shoes (lit by battery-powered LEDs) to your bedside.

After speaking with Professor John Orcutt, a renowned expert in the field of tsunamis at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, G6 designed a smartphone app that included education on the warning signs of tsunamis and best practices to avoid the dangers presented by tsunami events.

Gillispie's two teams did a great job of showcasing their many hours of effort in the areas of research, invention, and robotics, and it paid off in competitive scores for the teams and an alternate place at this year’s Regionals.


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